MasterChef’s Michael Silverstein talks about his partnership with Grubhub and return to the MasterChef kitchen – Exclusive

Season 12 of MasterChef is all about second chances. And for Michael Silverstein it is a second chance to prove why he deserves to be there. But before we ever get a chance to see what he can do in that kitchen (again), some very lucky people in 20 cities are going to get the ultimate opportunity to actually try his food for themselves.

Thanks to a very special partnership between Grubhub and MasterChef, fans of the cooking competition will get a very special experience. They will get a chance to try dishes created by a collection of chefs from the series. The experience kicked off on June 1 where, “diners in over 20 markets can order dishes from MasterChef Table, a premium delivery-only restaurant concept exclusively available on Grubhub.”

So what does Chef Michael Silverstein have to do with this? Well, he is one of the chefs who created dishes as part of this partnership. It’s the ultimate chance to actually try three unique dishes that were designed by the chef. The dishes he created for the experience are the “Loaded Blue Cheese Lover’s Steakhouse Wedge, Queso-Smothered Texas Fajitas and the Triple-Stacked Smash Burger.”

And we got the chance to actually talk to Chef Silverstein about this partnership with Grubhub and his return to the MasterChef kitchen! In a chat that included talk of what comfort food means to him and even what he considers to be a Guilty Eat, we learned more about the chef and what he hopes we get out of his food and his return to the Fox series.

Guilty Eats chats with Michael Silverstein about his Grubhub parternship and return to MasterChef for Season 12

Guilty Eats: To start off, can you tell us more about the partnership with Grubhub and the MasterChef Table?

Michael Silverstein: “I’ve been so lucky is that I’ve actually been able to sit and create food that people can actually order to their home. It’s kind of the first time that this has ever been done. You know, getting to cook on TV for Gordon Ramsay and for MasterChef is a really once in a lifetime opportunity and the fact that I get to do it twice makes it extra special. But I am not able to bring that to people’s homes. People don’t get to taste my food when they watch me on MasterChef. But now that has been changed. I mean, this is an opportunity where I can kind of share my food on a much more personal level and people get to taste my flavors. It’s a bit of my home state of Texas and they get that right at home. I think that’s really special. I’m very honored that I get to be a part of something kind of revolutionary in the food world.”

GE: They describe these dishes as comfort food dishes and I have to ask what makes them comfort food for you?

MS: “Comfort food to me it’s an interesting topic, because I think comfort food has a very different meaning to everybody. It really depends on where you grow up. The through line for me when I think about comfort food is the food that feels like home, the food that tastes like something your mom made or where you grew up. It is a taste of home on the plate to me, and I think that that’s what I try to do every day, is to create food, whether in a cookbook, whether on TV, or whether for a MasterChef table, that when people taste it, they are tasting home, they are tasting a smile. They’re tasting love on a plate and that’s what my menu is about.”

GE: Did you enjoy this experience? Would you do it again?

MS: “Oh my god, this is so much fun. You know, again, for me, my goal as a chef is to create food that everybody can enjoy. And I don’t get to do that when I’m on TV. There’s other things that are very special about being on MasterChef, but I don’t get to share my food with people. Now I can. So that’s thrilling for me to be able to know that my food, my flavors are going to end up in people’s homes, in their kitchens, on their plates. So it’s really thrilling for me. I’d love to be a part of this as long as it can possibly go. This is what I set out to do as a chef. And it’s kind of what it’s all about for me.”

GE: So, obviously you’re back on MasterChef, but what inspired you to go back?

MS: “I had a bone to pick with MasterChef. Not because they did anything wrong, but because I felt like leaving season 10, I felt like I didn’t really get to show the best of what I had to offer. I left pretty early in my season at 15th place. And I remember Gordon talking to me and saying ‘you’re better than this.’ The pressure in the kitchen got to me. And so even though I felt like I had the culinary skill to be a winner even or at least do much better than 15th place, I didn’t get a chance to show that. And so when the opportunity came to try again, as scary as it is, as vulnerable as it is to potentially fail again, I had to do it. I could not look back and wonder and regret not trying. And that’s all it is for me as a chef, as a human being. I had to redeem myself. I had to go back and prove that I really should have been in that kitchen and that I’m one of the best chefs that’s walked into those double doors.”

GE: And since we are Guilty Eats I have to ask, what is your favorite guilty eat?

MS: “That’s a pretty easy answer. For me, it’s got to be like a fried chicken sandwich and fries from Popeyes. It’s my guilty eat. It’s my ultimate comfort food and I don’t know why. You know, in general fried chicken is just probably one of my favorite foods in the world. I think it’s just a perfect food. That being said, I’ve gone through a really long health journey. You know, after losing over 80 pounds and really changing not only my physical health, but my mental health and how I view food. But I also don’t think that we should demonize food. I think we need to understand that food is love and that we shouldn’t feel shame around anything that we eat, as long as we’re happy eating it and so once in a while I treat myself to a really good crispy chicken sandwich and some fries and it’s my sinful delight. I don’t regret it.”

We appreciate Michael Silverstein taking the time to chat with us about his Grubhub partnership and his return to the MasterChef kitchen. And to see Chef Michael Silverstein cooking for Gordon Ramsay once again, check out MasterChef on FOX every Wednesday night.