Bruce Kalman is rediscovering his love for food TV, by doing much more of it and hosting parties to watch the results.
Neon News chatted with the SoulBelly BBQ chef about his rekindled romance with the genre on a recent Monday night at one of the potluck watch parties Soulbelly BBQ has been hosting to celebrate his appearance on Season 5 of Food Network’s BBQ Brawl.
From Burned Out To Missing It
As Kalman reminded us, he’s no stranger to cooking on the small screen, cutting his teeth on Season 15 of Chopped, and doing much more before the work began to take its toll.
“I did a lot of TV, mostly competitions, as judge, [and] a couple of episodes of Hell’s Kitchen,” Kalman notes, before mentioning “another little show that I was on.”
“I did Top Chef, and it kind of burned me out. That was a really rough show. The amount of time we were there, being away — my son was born [while] I was there. I was just fried. [And I said] ‘I’m not doing TV ever again!’”
As time went by, however, the accomplished Italian chef and creator of The Las Vegas Arts District’s SoulBelly BBQ began to soften his position. And when the producers of BBQ Brawl called, he was ready to take the Zoom meeting/audition.
“I had missed it,” he now admits.
Brawl Opens Doors
Kalman landed the spot, partly thanks to recommendations by famous friends like Brooke Williamson and Michael Symon. And he now describes BBQ Brawl as “probably the most fun experience I’ve ever had filming.” In particular, he enjoyed working alongside and learning some TV cooking shortcuts from his friend Michael Voltaggio
“This is a different side of Michael that I love to see, because I got to compete side by side with him … and I learned a lot [about] how to compete.”
His experience on the show has convinced the chef to do more TV, including an appearance on an all-star episode of Guy’s Grocery Games he recently shot with his friends Adam Sobel (Mina Group) and Damaris Phillips (Southern & Hungry). From there, he says, more opportunities began to present themselves within Guy Fieri’s vast television empire.
“Guy wants me to judge [on some shows]. And the cool thing I’ve noticed is, Guy is one of those people, he sits at the judges table while you’re judging, [and] he’ll coach everybody, which I want.”
Join The Party
Fans will have to wait a while to see what Fieri taught Kalman. But they can watch him working with Voltaggio and interacting with TV pros Bobby Flay and Sunny Anderson every Monday night on BBQ Brawl—at least until he’s eliminated. The chef has even been opening SoulBelly BBQ, usually closed on Mondays, for some B.Y.O. watch parties.
“We’re doing these little watch parties. We opened our bar, and then it’s sort of a potluck if you want to bring something to eat.”
“I mean, this could be the last one, it might not be,” he teased before Episode 4. (It wasn’t).
Burger Pop-Up
Kalman survived that episode — teeing up at least one more party. But next Monday’s event (Episode 5, August 5) will be a little different. It will be preceded by a pop-up dinner to preview a new burger concept that Kalman is bringing to Allegiant Stadium this football season.
“It’s called Burgersmith by SoulBelly,” Kalman says of the stadium spot, located on the 100 Level, across from section 128. “It’s sort of a Smashburger, [but] not like the really, really super-smash burgers with the crisp meat.”
“It’s just simple, inspired, delicious burgers with great quality ingredients. … two smaller patties, and it has New School American cheese. And then we have a pastrami burger. And then we have like a barbecue burger.”
Fans who want to try any of those on Monday must reserve it beforehand at SecretBurger.com. The burgers are $15 each, with $6 fries and $7 onion rings also available.
