Courtesy Photo / Lucy Cooper's Ice House
San Antonio restauranteur Braunda Smith will compete on Food Network’s Chopped.
Braunda Smith, also known as Chef Lucy, will appear on the culinary competition show's Tuesday, March 14 episode.
The long-running program pits four professional chefs against each other as they turn baskets of mystery ingredients into three-course meals for the chance to win $10,000.
Smith co-owns and operates two Lucy Cooper’s locations — one in San Antonio and one in New Braunfels. The casual restaurants are known for hefty eats such as chicken-fried deviled eggs, prime rib quesadillas and fried green tomato BLTs. They also dole out boozy cocktails and feature some two dozen beers on draft.
The Food Network didn't release spoilers to the Express-News about who wins the bout. However, it did reveal that Smith’s episode is called “A Bunch of Abalone!” The mystery baskets will feature a mystery sea creature — presumably abalone — along with a steak and a dessert basket that includes worms, according to the daily.
Celebrity guests Tiffani Faison, JJ Johnson and Geoffrey Zakarian picked the winners for the taping, the paper also reported.
Smith told the Express-News she’ll host a Chopped viewing party at her San Antonio location, 16080 San Pedro Ave., the day it airs.
Just last week, Smith announced an upcoming appearance on another Food Network show: Guy Fieri’s Guy’s Grocery Games. That episode is scheduled to air Friday, May 24.
Food Network has tapped the Alamo City for Chopped talent before. Chefs Geronimo Lopez of Botika, Tim McDiarmid of The Good Kind and Jesse Kuykendall of the Milpa and Ocho at Hotel Havana are also alumni.
In 2021, Kuykendall became the first SA chef to win the contest. She remains the only one to emerge victorious.
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