Diana Dávila and Katie Button remain in the running for the $1 million prize.
There are two left! Of the 16 chefs who were featured on the March 4 premier of America’s Culinary Cup — a cooking competition series hosted by former “Top Chef” host Padma Lakshmi — three were representing Mexican/Latin restaurants. Those 16 original contestants have been reduced to just six heading into Episode 4 of the show, and el Restaurante is happy to report that two of the chefs from Mexican/Latin restaurants — Chicago’s Chef Diana Dávila of Mi Tocaya Antojeria and Chef Katie Button of Cúrate Bar de Tapas in Asheville, North Carolina — remain in the running for the $1 million prize that awaits the winner!
Both passed the bar on the Episode 3 sustainability challenge to collect produce from a local farm, then transform those hyper-sustainable, locally sourced ingredients into bold, elevated dishes. Davila advanced with her Mar y Terra (stuffed eggplant with lobster and a salsa ranchera made with chiles, calabaza and all of the vegetables she’d collected), while Button moved forward with her Mejillones en Escabeche (pickled mussels with ratatouille blended into a sauce that included the vegetables she’d gathered).
The third original contestant from a Mexican/Latin restaurant was Michelin-starred Chef Michael Diaz De Leon, formerly of Denver’s BRUTO and currently of Molino Chido in Aurora, Colorado. During episode three, his ant-rubbed pan-roasted quail put him in the head-to-head cook-off, which he lost to lost to Chef Keith Corbin of Alta in Los Angeles.
Episode 4 of America’s Culinary Cup airs Wednesday, March 25 at 9:30 p.m. ET/PT on CBS, and streams next day on Paramount+.