SC chef to compete in 'Hell's Kitchen'

A Lake City resident will compete in the 13th season of “Hell’s Kitchen,” a Fox reality show that begins airing at 8 p.m. Wednesday.

La Tasha McCutchen, a 1997 graduate of Lake City High School, will be one of 18 contestants in one of the hottest kitchens in America, where tempers can get as hot as a Trinidad Moruga Scorpion and chef is pitted against chef.

In previous seasons, a substantial prizes has gone to the chef whose skills, talents, tenacity and attitude him or her through the final door. Last season, executive chef Scott Commings from Woodstock, Illinois, won a new culinary position with a $250,000 salary.

Though McCutchen, who has worked in food services for 12 years, selected the culinary arts as an elective for all fours of high school, she didn’t pursue that path initially. She did, however, spend some time waitressing tables while in college.

“When I got into the service of food, I realized how much I cared about it myself,” McCutchen said. “I wasn’t actually cooking the food, but I would just serve anything. I just fell in love with it. “My first kitchen (position) was an open kitchen, and I fell in love with it when I sent a dish out to the table, watching their response as they ate. Seeing people enjoy food and knowing that I’m a part of that is really what kind of does it for me.”

It’s stressful in the kitchen, McCutchen said. “But that’s just the satisfaction I get from it, knowing that my food is bring a kind of happiness to other people,” she said.

After attending South Carolina State University for some time, McCutchen decided to attend Horry Georgetown Technical College, where she earned an associate degree in business culinary arts.

Later, in 2007, McCutchen moved to Florida and attended Johnson and Wales University, where she earned a second culinary arts associate degree. McCutchen learned she had been offered her first supervisory position the same day she found out she had earned a place in “Hell’s Kitchen.” She said her opportunity to try out for the show “fell in her lap” when casting call interviews were held at the hotel where she worked under Season 5 runner-up and sous chef Paula da Silva.

“I came into work one day, and I found out they were doing interviews, and I just went down and did it,” said McCutchen. “I love competing – in high school I played basketball, I played volleyball, softball – I love to compete.” McCutchen added that she was encouraged to try out for the show by da Silva once they found out about the interviews, telling her to “just go try.”

“Just having that little validation that she believed in me enough for her to recommend me to go and apply – even though I knew in my heart that was something I always wanted to do and that I have that competitive spirit – having that validation from her…was enough for me,” McCutchen said.

This story was originally published September 8, 2014 at 9:54 AM with the headline "SC chef to compete in 'Hell's Kitchen'."