Fans of the Food Network cooking competition show Chopped may recognize Demetrio Zavala, a corporate executive chef, from the several times he has competed on the show. His most recent Chopped appearance was when he won their last tournament titled “Grudge Match”, which earned him their biggest prize to date, $100,000, and made him the first five-time Chopped winner. But, how did his time on the show lead to this title? Let us take a look back at Chef Demetrio’s Chopped career and see how it progressed to how we know it as of today.

Zavala’s first episode was the season 31 premiere titled “Smorgastarta Your Engines”, which aired October 2017. Here, he was faced with ingredients like: smorgastarta (a savory sandwich like cake from Sweden), pumpkin swordfish, strawberry milk mix, and several others. His skill, outside the box thinking and passion for fresh ingredients were shown throughout each of his dishes. Examples include the way he let the ingredients shine in his appetizer, his successful transformation of the strawberry milk mix in his entree, which the judges said to him was “restaurant quality”, and his successful ice cream that he made in his dessert with preserved eggplant (one of his dessert round ingredients). Despite having undercooked dough in his dessert, he won because his opponent had disjointed components in her appetizer and an overly sweet vinaigrette in her entree. Zavala’s opponents may have thought of him as overly cocky, but he has a heart. He stated in the confessionals that he planned to give half of his $10,000 prize to an employee of his who was battling cancer at the time.

Exactly one week after his debut episode aired, he returned for part one of “Chopped: Beat Bobby Flay”, a 4-part tournament where 12 past winners competed for a chance to compete against Food Network legend and ex-Iron Chef Bobby Flay, and win a grand prize of up to $40,000. His preliminary round involved an appetizer basket that had lutefisk (cod preserved in lye) and Crunch Berries, a mostly sweet entree basket that contained a chocolate covered vegetable and fatty cut of lamb, and a savory sandwich and odd flour in the final round. Zavala fought tooth and nail, but the dessert round was the deciding factor that earned him his second win, partly due to his opponent’s dry dessert component. In the “Chopped: Beat Bobby Flay” finals, he and the other two finalists competed over the first two rounds to decide the winner, who would win a guaranteed $15K and cook against Bobby Flay in a bonus round for the remaining $25K. He was off to a rough start with the carpaccio made with the camel tenderloin from the first basket, but his determination and handling of flavors helped him go to the final round. There, Demetrio was faced with a basket which had a breakfast version of Mexican food and a treacherous seafood, eel. The judges loved the glaze on his eel, but ultimately, it was his puree made from the waffle nachos and his camel carpaccio that led to him getting chopped. He ended up being the runner-up to the grand champion Seis Kamimura, who won the $15K, but lost to Bobby Flay in the bonus round.

Zavala’s time on Chopped did not end there. In the spring of 2020, he returned for “Beat The Judge”, an series of six special episodes where each had three past winners competing over the first two rounds for the chance to compete in a bonus round against one of the regular Chopped judges and earn $10K. Demetrio competed in the third episode of the event. As expected in a champions episode, the baskets were brutal. He and the other champions competed over the first two rounds with an appetizer basket containing chicken chips and carrot cake soda, and an entree basket that contained an odd dessert, shakshuka doughnuts. In round one, he showed passion not only for his food, but for helping others out as well when he stepped in to help one of his opponents finish plating while she was racing the clock. In terms of his own appetizer. Zavala successfully incorporated the carrot cake soda into a broth, with a judge saying that the broth would not have worked without the soda. His only real flaw was that he could have included a piece of bread with his dish. Zavala was very comfortable with the second basket’s protein, venison tenderloin. He remembered how a chef he worked for in France said “if you cook it past medium rare, you’re buying it”, being the culinary version of “you break it, you buy it”. He stuck to that chef’s advice and his venison was perfect, a spot on rare to medium rare. His entree was also praised for its nuances of flavor, with very few flaws. Ultimately, Zavala earned his third win and a spot in the “Beat The Judge” bonus round for the $10K. The judge he faced was new regular judge Tiffani Faison. The two made savory courses using: a drive-thru food, fish, canned green beans, and chocolates. The canned beans and the tacos were hard for him because of their quality, I personally do not blame him. His final dish was pan seared sole with an almond mojo and a bean and tortilla puree. The judges loved the balance, cooking technique, and textures in his dish, with the mojo in particular appealing to one judge. The execution from both dishes impressed the judges, but the decided to chop Demetrio. To be honest, I think he was robbed because Tiffani’s sauce drowned out the fish and she overused the basket ingredients. Despite the loss, he technically won this episode as the third round was played as a bonus round and did not factor in the earlier rounds for elimination.

But, he would get another chance when he returned in January 2021 for “Grudge Match” a 5-part champions versus judges tournament featuring 8 “champs” (8 past winners who have participated in “Beat The Judge”) and 8 “judges” (7 regular judges and a 4-time Chopped winner who competed as a judge possibly due to his victories) competing for a chance at the show’s biggest prize to date: $100K. Zavala was in the “champs” group and took part in the third heat, where he faced a few other past winners, including a former protege of one of the judges. You could tell how much he wanted to win based on his performance. The battle required the champs to use things like: kraut soup and ground pork rinds for appetizers, an entree basket with mustard gelatin and wild boar rack, and desserts that required unicorn shakes as a basket item. He used his outside the box thinking to make a sardine brandade with a radish gremolata and pork rind crumble. The only negative comment was from only one of the judges, who did not like the bones were left in the fish, while the other two judges liked leaving the bones in. While the entree basket may sound intimidating for some home cooks, Demetrio rose to the challenge by making a quince mostarda with the mustard gelatin, and cooking the boar chops like an expert. Like before, he only had a minor flaw, which involved a component that only had pantry ingredients. During the dessert round, he struggled to get his unicorn shake creme patissiere cooled down fast enough, so he went to plan B and turned it into a chantilly. He paired it with a lap cheong crumble and raspberry compote as a trifle. Based on feedback, he was able to save his unicorn cream and the trifle was a hit, with high marks for technique, while critiques included lack of crunch and a different serving platter. Once again, dessert was the deciding factor, and Demetrio earned his fourth win.

Then came the finals. Here, the 2 remaining “champs” and “judges” competed against their own group in the first two rounds, both having the same basket ingredients. Demetrio’s group played the first round and the judges played the second round. He and other “champ” Tara Khattar, were faced with a seafood that I never heard of before, cod throats, along with: hot chicken, creme brulee, and galangal. He trimmed the sinew off the cod throats and pan roasted them, served with a hot chicken dashi and spicy crema. Zavala finished plating before time was up, while Tara raced around like Spongebob during his boating test to finish. I will admit, watching her take it down to the wire made me want a defibrillator on hand. The judges loved Demetrio’s first dish, praising his techniques, especially with the cod throats, and balance. A lack of a fresh element was the only major flaw. When it came to elimination, the pendulum shifted in Demetrio’s favor, citing the error from Tara’s cod throats that led to the judges decision to chop her. In the final round, Zavala faced remaining judge Marc Murphy, who’s track record of competing in the Chopped kitchen was not that good until “Beat The Judge”. The two had to make one last savory course using: avocado milk, loaded nachos, butternut squash, and a meat so big it needed a separate basket, a suckling pig. The round was chaotic, so much so that Marc’s station was a bit disorganized. I am not surprised since it is always hectic when you are cooking for such a prize. Demetrio marinated the pork in a mojo, crisped up the pig skin for texture, and transformed the other ingredients into a mangu (a Dominican dish similar to a mofongo). It is risky to use at least three basket items in just one component, but his final dish was well received. The mangu in particular was so good, it left one judge nearly speechless. Both of their rounds were considered to decided the winner, with the burning question being who put the pieces of the basket together in a more harmonious way. With the final pull of the cloche the winner was revealed, and it was Demetrio winning the $100K prize and earning his fifth Chopped won. The verdict stemmed from Marc’s lack of broth in his first dish, and an unnecessary component in his final dish. Due to this win, Demetrio made Chopped history in multiple ways. Not only does he have the most winnings ($110K cumulatively), he now has the record for most wins, five. If a judge had won, the $100K prize would have been donated to Turn Up! Fight Hunger to combat childhood hunger. Although a “champ” won, Turn Up! Fight Hunger received a smaller donation in an undisclosed amount in honor of Marc’s performance. Zavala said that he would use the prize for his family, with his daughter coming home from the Armed Forces and his son about to finish graduate school.

From looking back at Demetrio’s time on Chopped, I can say that I have a lot of respect for him. A chef like him who can think outside the box and make food in such a refined way can earn anyone’s respect. One thing we both have in common other than our love for gourmet cooking, is that we both had to overcome the odds growing up. Zavala grew up in a rough area where most of his friends did not make it, but he is now a successful chef and the biggest Chopped winner to date. As I mentioned several times, having autism handicapped me growing up. People thought that I am unteachable and that I would drop out at 16 and be institutionalized, and would not be a great cook. But, I graduated high school and started college at 17, graduated college with a bachelors degree, and have had recognition for my above average cooking skills. It goes to show that a person can overcome the odds to become a success in life. With all of his successes on the show, I am proud to call corporate executive chef Demetrio Zavala a Chopped Titan.