On Feb. 15, Dan Jacobs, chef/co-owner of DanDan, 315 E. Erie St., and Ester Ev, 2165 S. Kinnickinnic Ave., competed on an episode of the Food Network’s “Tournament of Champions: VII.” The cooking competition, hosted by Food Network star Guy Fieri, pits all-star chefs against one another in a 32-seed, single-elimination bracket.
But before the tournament begins on March 1, Jacobs fought in the qualifying round alongside 15 other chefs who battled head-to-head for the final eight spots in the bracket. Each chef cooked once, and only half advanced.
Two back-to-back qualifying episodes aired on Feb. 15, and Jacobs competed in the second, titled “The Qualifiers: All it Takes is One Shot.”
Jacobs is no stranger to competition. In case you forgot, he was a finalist on “Top Chef: Wisconsin,” which originally aired on Bravo in 2024.
But did he earn a spot in the Tournament of Champions? Read on to find out.
How Food Network’s “Tournament of Champions” gameplay works
During the “Tournament of Champions” qualifying episodes, competing chefs are paired randomly, with Fieri’s son Hunter blindly choosing two balls with the chefs’ names on them from a container.
The paired chefs then stand in front of the Randomizer, a contraption that determines the various elements of the dish the chefs must create, with five categories: protein, produce, equipment, style and time they’ll have to cook.
The two chefs cook, working within the Randomizer’s constraints. After they finish, they retire to a holding space where they watch guest judges blindly taste the dishes, unaware of who cooked which.
The guest judges this time were “Tournament of Champions: VI” champ Antonia Lofaso, TOC IV champ Mei Lin (who will be cooking at EsterEv on April 14) and Iron Chef Alex Guarnaschelli.
In the first episode of the night, chef Aarti Sequeira beat out chef Brittany Anderson, and chef Katsuji Tanabe won over Chris Oh. Sequeira and Tanabe will move on to the bracket.
Jacobs competed in the second episode, after “Top Chef” season 7 contestant Kenny Gilbert beat “MasterChef” Season 11 winner Kelsey Murphy in the opening battle.
“The Tournament of Champions is where it’s at,” Jacobs said in the episode’s intro. “I want to wear that belt,” referring to the belt the champion wins at the end of the tournament.
Qualifying round competitors: Dan Jacobs versus Joe Flamm. How did it go?
In the final battle of the second episode, Jacobs’ name was called first.
“James Beard nominee, ‘Top Chef’ runner-up; this guy has been there and done that,” Fieri said.
Jacobs was paired with chef Joe Flamm, a “Top Chef” alum and chef-owner of Rose Mary and Il Carciofo in Chicago. The two are close outside of the show, so the rivalry was extra heated.
They’ve known each other for 15 years, have cooked in each other’s kitchens, and both seemed excited for the chance to compete against a good friend.
“Dan’s a chef I’ve looked up to for a long time. Not only is he a great chef, he’s a great friend of mine, and someone I have a ton of respect for.” Flamm said.
The Randomizer chose their fate. Their categories were shrimp for protein, broccoli for produce, mortar and pestle for equipment, poached for style and 28 minutes for cooking time.
“Midwest nice” was in full effect throughout their time cooking.
“It’s a Midwest intensity to it,” Flamm said. “I am going to so aggressively be nicer to you than you can to me. It’s like, we may be friends, but I’m going to make you a more delicious dinner than you make me, and then I’m gonna drive you home afterwards and make sure your walk is shoveled.”
Jacobs wore his signature blue-framed glasses that match the cane he uses for support in the kitchen. During the episode, Jacobs used his platform to talk about his Kennedy’s Disease diagnosis, raising awareness for the disease that affects how he walks, uses his hands and even swallows.
For his dish, Jacobs leaned into his experience cooking Asian fare at his restaurant DanDan. He went for a Southeast Asian-inspired a poached shrimp smashed cucumber salad with green broccoli curry made with mint, dill, cilantro, lemongrass, garlic and fish sauce.
Flamm stuck to his Italian roots and made olive oil-poached shrimp with broccoli pesto and spaghetti.
Both chefs looked noticeably nervous as they watched the guest judges taste their dishes.
It was a tough battle. The judges praised Jacobs’ multiple uses of broccoli and how he coaxed loads of flavor from a seemingly simple dish. But Guarnaschelli wanted a bit more “stanky” flavor, despite Jacobs’ liberal use of fish sauce in the dish.
Lin called Flamm’s dish a “perfect bowl of pasta,” which the other judges echoed. But one question was on everyone’s lips: “Where’s the broccoli?”
When Jacobs and Flamm returned to the kitchen, Fieri announced it was a tight battle: the winning chef won by one point.
And the winner was Jacobs! He nabbed his position in the tournament by scoring 82 points to Flamm’s 81. Breaking down the points, Flamm won taste 42 to 39, and the presentation 9 to 8, but Dan’s skillful use of broccoli won the Randomizer category by a whopping 35 to 30.
Jacobs and Flamm embraced after Jacobs was revealed as the winner.
Congratulating Jacobs, Fieri praised his resilience while competing with Kennedy’s Disease.
“You have such a good reputation. Everybody loves you in the industry,” Fieri said. “But you’ve been battling something more difficult than the competition, and that’s not slowing you down.”
That made Jacobs emotional.
“The best thing I can do that can come out of this is the fact that somebody will watch this and realize that they’re not going to let something dictate what they can and cannot do,” Jacobs said.
Jacobs advances to the tournament with chefs Sequeira, Tanabe and Gilbert.
On Feb. 22, the remaining eight chefs will battle to qualify for the final four spots in the tournament, including Jacobs’ friend Stephanie Izard, and Viet Pham, who will be cooking at DanDan on March 29 as a part of the restaurant’s guest chef dinner series.
That means Jacobs gets to rest easy for the week, as he’s already earned his spot in the bracket.
The next time we’ll see him is on the first episode the “Tournament of Champions VII,” which airs at 7 p.m. Mar. 1 on the Food Network. It will stream the following day on HBO Max and discovery+.
This story was updated to add a photo.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: How did Dan Jacobs do on Food Network’s ‘Tournament of Champions?’
Reporting by Rachel Bernhard, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
