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Chef Yehuda Sichel Wins ‘Beat Bobby Flay’
L OCA L
SOPHIE PANZER | JE STAFF
WHEN FOOD NETWORK
invited chef Yehuda Sichel to
appear on an episode of “Beat
Bobby Flay,” the owner of
Huda in Center City jumped at
the chance.

“I love the idea of competing
at cooking,” he said.

The show pits two chefs
against each other in a first round
before one is chosen to compete
against celebrity chef Bobby Flay
in making their signature dish.

Sichel appeared in episode 5,
“You Made Your Bread, Now
Eat it,” of season 27, hosted by
chef Michael Voltaggio and TV
host Jaymee Sire.

Sichel walked into the
kitchen ripping apart a challah
and ready to represent the food
of his ancestors. In his opening
biography, he talked about
getting his first restaurant job
in a Jewish deli when he was
15, going to culinary school in
Israel and becoming the execu-
tive chef at Abe Fisher, where he
still worked when his episode
filmed in late 2019 (he opened
his sandwich shop in 2020 and
the episode aired March 18 due
to pandemic-related delays.)
“Bobby, beating you will be
the greatest mitzvah of all,”
Sichel declared before the
cooking started.

In the first round, Sichel
faced off against Remy Pettus,
owner of Bardo restaurant in
Minneapolis. The two chefs
were given a secret ingredient,
semolina bread, and 20 minutes
to make a dish to send them to
the next round against Flay.

Pettus made a savory bread
pudding with bacon and mascar-
pone, while Sichel used semolina
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Chef Yehuda Sichel outside his
restaurant, Huda
Matzah ball soup at Huda
Photos by Mike Prince
bread to coat a chicken schnitzel.

He made the bread coating on
the thicker side to make sure the
secret ingredient was highlighted
and served it with mustard
greens and a tahini sauce made
with sesame seeds, lemon juice
and harissa paste.

Although he was criti-
cized for the mustard greens
making the dish slightly
soggy, Voltaggio said it was
a “perfect schnitzel.” The
hosts commended Pettus for
finishing a bread pudding in so
little time, but they ultimately
picked Sichel to go head to
head with Flay in round two.

The two chefs were given
45 minutes to make Sichel’s
signature dish: matzah ball
soup. Sichel originally wanted
to make latkes, but he said
the producers asked him to
switch because they thought
that recipe would be too simple
for a 30-minute episode.

Sichel prepared for the show
by testing recipes that could
deliver plenty of flavor without
bubbling on the stove for hours.

By his seventh attempt, which
involved roasting the chickens
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and concentrating flavors in a
small amount of liquid, he found
a version he was happy with.

He also shaved time off
preparing the matzah balls by
spreading the mixture very
thinly over a tray in the freezer
rather than letting it chill for half
an hour in a bowl in the fridge.

Sichel said he learned how
to make the classic comfort
food when he was young.

“I learned this from my
grandmother, who would sit
there before Passover and just
ball matzah balls for hours, so
there’s really no chance Bobby’s
beating me in this,” he said.

Flay confessed he had only
made matzah ball soup twice.

Once was on “Throwdown
With Bobby Flay,” when he lost
to his opponent, and the other
was on another episode of “Beat
Bobby Flay,” which he also lost.

When the three guest judges
selected Sichel’s soup as the
winner in a blind taste test,
Flay racked up his third loss on
the dish.

Sichel said Flay was nice and
“a good sportsman.” It seemed
strange to him that a celebrity
chef he had watched for years
on shows like “Iron Chef ”
acted like the underdog.

“He was definitely intimi-
dated, which is hilarious,” he
said. l
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