Biloxi chef won his last Food Network competition. Here’s how he fared on ‘Chopped’

Biloxi chef Austin Sumrall emerged victorious in May on the Food Network show “Alex vs America” when he competed against Chef Alex Guarnaschelli and two other renowned Southern chefs.

Tuesday he was back on Food Network — this time on “Chopped” — as one of four Southern chefs competing for a chance to advance in the All-American Showdown and win $50,000 in the grand finale.

In the showdown, 16 chefs representing four regions of the country compete by preparing courses using mystery baskets of mismatched ingredients. A chef is “chopped,” or eliminated, after each course.

“There’s pride on the line,” Sumrall said. “And money — lots and lots of money.”

Sumrall made it through the appetizer and entree rounds, and faced former “Top Chef” finalist Sara Bradley of Paducah, Kentucky, in the final dessert round.

This time, Sumrall finished second to Bradley.

Judges Geoffrey Zakarian, Alex Guarnaschelli and Gregory Gourdet ultimately said the Southern hoe cake he made in the appetizer round was a little big, and the beignet he made in the dessert round was greasy.

On the show, Sumrall said he was “obviously a little disappointed and I hope I did Mississippi proud.”

The judges eliminated Javier Becerra from Houston in the first round and Scotley Innis from Atlanta after the entree round.

Three courses to win

“Austin comes from a long line of chefs, and he wants to prove that he is the best chef from the South,” according to his bio on the Food Network.

His Southern roots were kicking in, Sumrall said, as he began making an appetizer of red eye gravy with barbecue Gulf shrimp, topped with salty fingers he said grows wild on the beach.

On the show, he said he hoped he wouldn’t get eliminated for undercooked or overcooked shrimp — or he might not be able to return to Biloxi.

“I think the shrimp is really, really nicely cooked. It pops. It’s juicy. It’s tender,” Gourdet said, while Guarnaschelli said his hoe cake was nicely cooked.

“It’s unrecognizable but it’s unmistakable at the same time,” she said.

With basket ingredients of chicken and waffles, swamp cabbage, minute steak and moonshine-soaked pickles for the entree round, Sumrall completely transformed them into Vietnamese style curry meatballs the judges said were tender and velvety.

A lot of people from Vietnam live in Biloxi, he said, “So we have this cool melting pot of fun flavors.”

Sumrall used the dessert ingredients to make peach and sour candy ice cream with beignets, which he said “gave him fits.” As they were falling apart, he said he was “seeing the competition slipping through my fingers.” He came back and got the beignets fried and on the plate.

A wild competition

Sumrall called the competition “a wild ride” and said everything he does is for his wife and their 6-year-old son.

Sumrall, a Mississippi native, attended the Culinary Institute of America and was nominated for a James Beard Award for Best Chef: South. Austin and Tresse Sumrall opened White Pillars on the Beach Boulevard in Biloxi in December 2017. The restaurant was recently named one of seven restaurants in Biloxi and 22 in the state to win the Wine Spectator Award.