Chef Jamie Lynch dishes on the Top Chef experience ahead of his All-Stars debut

If you were given less than an hour in a kitchen that you’d never cooked in and told to create a dish to impress some of the world’s toughest food critics — using random ingredients that didn’t pair well while cameras followed you — how would you perform?

For 5Church chef partner Jamie Lynch, that was his life for about 8 weeks while he filmed season 14 of Bravo’s Top Chef in 2015. Next week, he will return to the television screen for the show’s 17th season with Top Chef All-Stars.

“When Padma [Lakshimi] and Tom [Colicchio] call, you don’t say no,” Lynch told CharlotteFive. “That was pretty much it. I didn’t need to do it again, but I knew in the back of my mind if they called me for All-Stars, I would do it because All-Stars is a big deal.”

His first appearance on the show is remembered for his decision to give up his immunity during a team challenge, which ultimately led to him leaving the competition.

During a private dinner hosted at 5Church Charlotte, Lynch prepared three courses inspired by memorable moments in his initial appearance on the show. He began with a tofu sloppy joe paired with a side salad, which he created during the ‘Quickfire Challenge’ on episode 6.

For that challenge, competitors were asked to create vegetarian versions of traditional comfort food.

“The Surgeon General of the United States was a guest for that episode. He challenged us to create heart healthy dishes while sticking to the theme of health and physical activity.”

Contestants were only allowed to grab one cooking utensil or ingredient at a time, which forced them to run between the kitchen and pantry. Lucky for Lynch, his son is vegetarian, so he had lots of experience getting creative with non-meat dishes. His creation for that round awarded him immunity from elimination.

The second course at the private dinner was a rendition of Lynch’s ‘Quickfire Challenge’ from episode 7. The goal was to use cooking techniques and ingredients based on contestants’ astrological sign. As an Aries, a fire sign, Lynch was limited to things like chili peppers and actual fire. He ended up with another immunity-saving dish, which was a spiced lamb lollipop with a fire-roasted pepper yogurt and almond brittle.

“You have to really prepare yourself for the critiques because they’re filming and some of this stuff is heartbreaking,” he explained. “It was tough sometimes. You had to remind yourself not to make faces or grimace as they gave feedback.”

For his last course of the evening, Lynch prepared a reworked version of the dish that sent him home — chicken satay. During a team elimination challenge on episode 7, Lynch and his two teammates had to prepare for 150 guests attending a pirate-themed party inspired by Blackbeard’s exploits. If creating a dish for that many guests under time constraints wasn’t enough, the chefs had to first find seven treasure chests that were hidden all over Charleston to gather up their ingredients. They weren’t allowed back into the kitchen until each chest was found.

Lynch’s team had to work with peanut butter, chicken breast and fennel.

“On the show, Padma thought that my peanut butter sauce was a little too funky,” he said. “This time around I used a lot less peanut butter and added an Asian slaw and toasted sesame seeds.”

Due to the show’s rules, Lynch won’t be adding the updated dishes to the 5Church menus just yet. You can watch the All-Star’s season premiere on March 19 at 10 p.m. An event to celebrate had been planned, but now that efforts to stem the coronavirus have closed bars and restaurants to dining in, the team at 5Church Charlotte and Sophia’s Lounge are instead taking donations and offering the opportunity to purchase private dinner experiences with Lynch, signed items such as wine bottles and tote bags. All funds raised will support the staff.

5Church Charlotte

127 N. Tryon St., Suite 8 (at the corner of 5th and Church streets)

Instagram: @5churchcharlotte

This story was originally published March 13, 2020 at 11:02 AM.

DeAnna Taylor

The Charlotte Observer

DeAnna Taylor is a NC attorney turned travel blogger and writer. She writes for Travel Noire, XONecole, CharlotteFive, and a few others. She is a native of Charlotte and loves highlighting the city whenever she can. You can find her on social media at: @brokeandabroadlife.