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Corn on the cob

Season 12, Episode 5

"All-American Competition"

Chopped Champion Mike Gowland

Episode theme: America / July 4

Original air date July 3, 2012

Image of corn on the cob; dessert round ingredient.

Image by Cornell Frühauf from Pixabay

Meet the Chefs

Kimberly “Kimi Michelle” Parris

Born in the island country of Trinidad and Tobago, Kimberly Parris shifted careers to follow her dream of becoming a professional chef. Based in New York City, she’s been the chef/owner of several Caribbean cuisine-focused catering & events companies over the years. The CaribDiva Company launched in 2017, and by 2022 morphed into a food subscription box company. The mission of 'Cuterie is to be “a curated snack & prepared food brand whose mission is to make snacking fun, while highlighting underrepresented BIPOC, black-owned, & women-owned businesses.”

Mary Rusch

Chef Mary Rusch keeps a low profile, but her American diner cuisine speaks for itself. She moved west from Ohio and opened Mary’s Hash House in 2002. This well-known neighborhood breakfast and lunch cafe west of the Las Vegas Strip serves many housemade items, including hash (of course), cinnamon rolls, and jellies.

Steve Overlay

Chef Steve Overlay is best known for barbeque and smoked meats. In his long culinary career spanning Denver, southern California, and Las Vegas, he's trained and worked with some of the best in barbeque. As a pitmaster, he captained the Sin City Smokers competition team to over 100 top-ten tournament finishes. He's given back to the 'que community, too, as a founding member (and former President) of the Nevada BBQ Association. Chef Overlay brought his expertise in restaurants and bbq together in a Sin City Smokers BBQ & Catering establishment, but sadly, it appears to have permanently closed.

“Fireman Mike” Gowland

Known as "Fireman Mike", Chef Gowland was a career firefighter with no formal culinary training. At the time he competed on Chopped, he was Captain of New Orleans Fire Department Engine 14; he retired with twenty-two years of service the same year. In his spare time from the NOFD, he fed his passion for food by working part-time as a line cook in area restaurants. From 2001, he and his family also ran the "Fireman Mike's Kitchen" booth at the yearly New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, serving classic New Orleans food. In addition to winning Chopped, Gowland won an episode of Destination America’s Deep Fried Masters by deep frying a po’boy sandwich at the Kansas State Fair. In 2018, Chef Gowland opened Fireman Mike's Cafe & Sweet Shop, but was forced to close after only a year due to health issues.

Hungry for more?

Visit Las Vegas, NV and eat the food of a Chopped competitor.
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