Chef survives first round of ‘Hell’s Kitchen’

The talented chefs of San Antonio are once again in the national spotlight with Emily Hersh beginning her run on Gordon Ramsay’s “Hell’s Kitchen: Young Guns,” which debuted Monday on Fox. Hersh, along with all the other contestants on the program, survived the first episode of the elimination show.

Herch, who crafts vegetableforward, Mediterranean-inspired dishes at restaurateur Jason Dady’s Jardín at the San Antonio Botanical Garden, is one of two plant-based chefs (she cooks both vegan and vegetarian dishes) competing this season — a first for Ramsay’s show.

It’s reasonable to expect fireworks. Celebrity chef and prolific restaurateur Ramsay has famously egged on vegans and vegetarians over his long and storied career, tweeting in 2018, “I’m a member of PETA! People eating tasty animals.” He notoriously suckered a unwitting vegetarian into eating a pizza laced with ham in 2005, although his stance towards those who eschew meat has softened in recent years. The notoriously carnivorous Ramsay dropped jaws with a vegan eggplant steak recipe on his Tik-Tok account in March.

Hersh, who was 22 at the time the show was filmed prior to the COVID-19 outbreak and had only been working in restaurants for half a year, was raised in San Antonio and attended Churchill High School. She graduated from The Natural Gourmet Institute NYC and The University of Texas at Austin.

While she focuses on plantbased cookery, Hersh worked to hone her mastery of cooking meat in preparation for “Hell’s Kitchen.”

She is a prolific recipe developer in addition to her duties at Jardín. She’s created recipes for bean-based sliders, avocado fritters, vegetarian desserts and more for her website at chefemilyhersh.com

Hersh is keeping the San Antonio flame burning. She follows chef Mary Lou Davis’s recent stint on “Hell’s Kitchen” in which Davis, who works at San Antonio’s Whiskey Cake Kitchen & Bar, advanced to the final round of the show before falling to chef Kori Sutton, who cooks at Garza Blanca Preserve Resort & Spa in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

Hersh fans can join a viewing party to cheer on the chef for the show’s second episode 6-9 p.m. Monday at Alamo BBQ Co., 511 East Grayson St.

Courtesy photo Chef Emily Hersh of Jardín in the Botanical Garden is just beginning her run on TV’s “Hell’s Kitchen: Young Guns.”