Not ‘Chopped’
WINNING TV CHEF COMES BACK TO CONNECTICUT
“Iremember my grandmother’s cooking,” Calin Sauvron says. “There was never anything fancy about it, but her cooking felt like home. She made this mac n’ cheese that was to die for, I wish I had gotten her recipe. To this day it’s something I cannot replicate correctly.”
Sauvron says there wasn’t any one particular thing that inspired her to be a chef, but she’s always loved cooking, and it’s led to some exciting experiences – most recently, her win on the Food Network series, “Chopped.”
The Bethel resident was named a “Chopped” champion on the reality competition that pits four chefs against each other in a trio of challenges. They receive baskets of mystery ingredients and must craft an appetizer, entrée and dessert on the spot. The episode she won, “Quail Without Fail,” aired July 28.
Born in Bristol but raised in Watertown, Sauvron, is executive chef at Note Kitchen & Bar and Notch 8, both in Bethel. She says her grandma’s macaroni dish (and homemade meatball sauce) continue to inspire her, along with other chefs she’s worked with, plus her own love of art and photography.
She discovered that love in high school and pursued it in college, but wound up leaving for a fulltime restaurant gig. “I feel my art background really helps with my food plating and color usage,” she says.
Sauvron, 33, also discussed how her first job influenced her career, and what it was like to be on “Chopped,” where she won $10,000.
“When I was 20, a friend of mine told me about a pizza place in Litchfield (closed now) that was looking for a full-time pizza maker, hence one of the reasons for the pizza oven in Notch 8…” she says via email. “When I started they were only doing pizza/salad/grinders, but they had almost a full kitchen set up with a full oven range that they never used! Myself and another worker … would always talk about all the other items the restaurant could be making.
“At one point they hired a man who was an Italian/Greek chef; with his help we finally ended up making more of an Italian menu. He didn’t last too long, and that’s when the owners approached me to be their chef.”
Sauvron stayed as chef until the place closed, then worked in several Carmen Anthony restaurants until deciding it was time for a change.
“That was when a friend of mine (whose family owns Tina Rose Produce) gave me a call about a restaurant in Litchfield looking for a sous chef. She told me it was At The Corner, I said. ‘I know that restaurant,’ and when she told me it was with chef Brendan Martin, I said ‘I know that guy!’ He and his kids would come into the Italian place I worked at and we would chat.
“So I went to At The Corner for the quickest interview ever,” she said. Martin came out, asked how she’d been and when could she start? Within two weeks she was full time.
“Working under Brendan Martin, I learned so much about cooking and pairing foods. He was a very creative and knowledgeable chef. When the time came for him to leave, I felt as if I could be a good replacement as executive chef.”
After a year as executive chef there, Sauvron wanted a new challenge for herself. That’s when she saw an ad for a position at Note Kitchen & Bar.
“I took the drive to Bethel to meet Tony (owner Tony Heslin). My first thought of the restaurant was that it was super cute and cozy. I liked Tony and the idea he had for the restaurant and I felt I would be a good fit.
Tony has allowed me to be fully creative with the menus at Note. I tend to change them every season, sometimes having a spring/summer menu.”
So, how did she wind up on “Chopped”?
“They actually called the restaurant looking to talk to me,” she said. “I had to go to NYC to interview. I was super nervous that day and they ended up not calling me back for almost a year.
“They wanted me to interview again. They said they liked me a lot but really wanted to see my personality shine through. So again I went down to the city and interviewed. Within weeks I heard from them again . ... They had chosen me to compete the day after Mother’s Day.
“I ended up working almost all day Mother’s Day and by the time I arrived in the city I was exhausted. I had chosen to stay overnight due to having to meet at 6 a.m. to start the day (which lasted about 12 hours).”
That was in 2019. “We couldn’t say anything about the episode at all. We signed a ton of papers.”
The most challenging thing about the whole process was trying to fit it into her schedule, and, of course, competing, she said. “At the time I was working almost six days a week. We were having a hard time fitting in the day that they could come to the restaurant and film me there. We ended up filming on one of my off days, very early in the morning.”
We asked Sauvron to walk us through the whirlwind of her competition day experience.
“The day of ‘Chopped’ for me started at about 4 a.m. I slept like absolute garbage. My nerves were through the roof all night long and the hotel I stayed at was drafty, creepy and noisy. There was actually a moment where I questioned whether or not I even wanted to do it. But there I was grabbing my knife bag and meeting my Uber to bring me to the meeting spot for all the chefs.
“We pretty much had a ‘babysitter’ with us all day long. Once all the chefs met at the secret location, we walked with the sitter through the city to get to the location for filming.
“When you got to the location, everything moved fast. Next thing I knew we were in the chef coats and aprons lining up to walk onto the set. I tried to stay very calm and collected, but inside I was freaking out. A part of me couldn’t believe I was even doing this, that they called me one day out of the blue to go and interview.
“We started by lining up in front of our baskets. This is when they take about five takes of you touching the basket, opening the basket, etc. Then it’s go time. You open the basket and try and figure out what you’re making in the limited time given.
“The first basket for me was a doozy. I had never worked with hominy, cactus or gopchang before.
I had so many different ideas and honestly changed what I was planning on making a few times. When I realized someone else had taken the taco shells that really threw me for a spin. Right then and there I thought I was done.
“I quickly recovered and made a tostada. But time was running out. I remember the judges screaming at me to get plates. I went running down the line, grabbed my plates and started plating, only to realize I had left the pan with the gopchang turned on. I burned the basket ingredient and still had to use it. This is when I really doubted myself. But when I made it through the first round I felt so much better.
“The second basket seemed so easy. The ingredients were all items I had used before. When I walked up to the judges table I was super confident (honestly I think all the chefs were very confident this round) only to have the judges leave (me) feeling unsure. So again (I was wondering) if this is now the round I leave?
“For the dessert round I was both excited and nervous. My skills in desserts are minimal. I make a lot of cheesecakes at the restaurant so when I saw an ingredient that reminded me of goat cheese, I knew I had to somehow turn this into a cheesecake.
“After that round I was super confident… but there is still always a little fear when walking up to the judges table. When they said I won I honestly was very shocked. I ended up tearing up because … this is something I never thought I’d see myself doing, let alone winning.”
Sauvron said she has always worked very hard. “I love this industry. But to be invited to stand in front of these well-known and respected chefs on worldwide television was an honor. I am still very humbled by this experience. Some days I feel as if the realization of it all has yet to set in.”
She’d originally planned to go on a food tour of Thailand and Vietnam with her winnings.
“The flavors from that area are some flavors I love to use in my cooking and pull influences from,” she said. “But now with the way this year has turned out I am honestly not too sure what I am going to do. Maybe hold onto the money for when the day comes that I can go over there.”