A Portland Chef Will Appear on ‘Guy’s Grocery Games’ This Month

Fresh off his recent traipse around Portland, Flavortown spokesperson and noted philanthropist Guy Fieri will soon appear on camera with a local chef. Bryant Kryck, the chef at Craft PDX within the Hi-Lo Hotel, will appear on the Food Network competitive cooking show Guy’s Grocery Games on February 12.

According to the episode description, competitors like Kryck will have to “make family favorites without any of the key ingredients,” including dishes like spaghetti and tacos. For those unfamiliar with the show, Fieri assigns a dish to four contestants with some sort of limitation. Contestants then run through the aisles of the grocery-style set and make an improvised dish to present to the judges; the winner goes home with $20,000. Past Portland contestants include Adam Sappington of the Country Cat and Althea Grey-Potter of Oui at SE Wine Collective.

Oregon born-and-raised, Kryck didn’t grow up thinking he would be a chef. After serving in the military in Iraq, Kryck came back with an injury and unsure of his next life move. “The military pays for your college, but I knew school wasn’t for me,” he says. “So I thought, ‘What about culinary school?’” He developed a love of cooking, and worked in kitchens in Texas before returning to the Pacific Northwest.

The chef was approached by the show’s casting team on Instagram. “I first thought it was a scam,” he says, with a laugh, but after going through a few Skype interviews, he ended up making the show. “When you go on the show, you don’t know what you’re getting into,” he says. “You have 20 minutes to make a dish, so you’re just relying on your natural instincts. It’s a different ballgame.”

Kryck’s episode is scheduled to air on the Food Network February 12 at 10 p.m./9 Central.

• Guy’s Grocery Games episode synopsis [Official]
• Craft PDX [Official]
• Is the Frosted-Tipped Wonder Himself, Guy Fieri, Lurking Around Portland? [EPDX]
• The 12 Days of Guy Fieri: Diners, Drive-ins and Do-Gooding [Eater]