Philly chef Brian Duffy to contend on Foodstuff Network’s ‘BBQ Brawl’

Brian Duffy has carried out a lot in his quarter-century of chef’s do the job in the Philadelphia location, functioning kitchens at restaurants these as Downey’s, McCormick & Schmick, Manayunk Brewery, Harvest, Kildare’s, and Flying Fish Crafthouse. He’s finished Television, like 9 episodes of Spike TV’s Bar Rescue collection. He grew up on the Major Line and is now a cafe consultant, with a roster of clients about the region.

But till now, Duffy has never competed on truth television. At 9 p.m. Monday, the eve of his 52nd birthday, he begins as one particular of 12 pitmaster contestants on Period 4 of Food Network’s BBQ Brawl. The 10 episodes have been shot in Northern California with cooks Bobby Flay, Anne Burrell, and Sunny Anderson as coaches.

At the outset of the 90-moment period premiere, the contestants will make tacos as the coaches decide their groups. Carson Kressley, Rodney Scott, and Brooke Williamson are judges. The finale will be Sept. 4.

“I went in a small bit anxious, and I can actually say it was a person of the hardest factors that I have ever finished in my culinary job,” Duffy reported by phone from Key West, in which he was functioning with a customer.

Duffy said he has opened 15 barbecue places over the very last 10 several years, which include Ardmore Q on the Main Line through the pandemic. Performing on a grill or a smoker “has just entirely lit a fire inside of me,” he claimed.

The challenging part of BBQ Brawl was the teamwork, claimed Duffy, who as a advisor is accustomed to calling the shots. “Everybody is even now competing against each other, even while we had some allies as we were being doing the job alongside one another, figuring out whose strengths have been what, whose weaknesses had been what.”

Duffy reported he and the other contestants “forged an unbelievable bond. We have a daily textual content thread now, and two of the people today on the present are now fairness partners in projects that I have heading on. It was a strategic go for me to do a demonstrate like this. We had a legitimate regard for each other, and I hope that [the producers put] that out.”

“I definitely think that we did not give a good deal of drama in nearly anything and not only that, we weren’t speaking [trash] about persons,” he stated. “I come to feel actually powerful about the way that I’m likely to be represented. I didn’t stab any individual. I consider we’re fantastic.”

The other obstacle was that the cooking was totally outdoor, “so you never have the ease and comfort of an oven or a fryer or stuff like that. We seriously had to be kind of innovative with what we were being undertaking.”

Duffy said he signed on to the demonstrate for the reason that he has judged Defeat Bobby Flay for 5 years. “I’ve worked with the creation crew for so lengthy that I know that it is a high quality show,” he reported. “I wasn’t seeking to have a microwave thrown at me in the center of a competitors. Or like, ‘Oh, hey, by the way, we’re heading to swap your knives now with sporks.’ I knew it was likely to be a culinary challenge.”