The thing about country club cooking — between golf outing cookouts, fine dining dinners and special event menus — is you never know what to expect.
“We do a lot of fun stuff; there are specials every week,” says Michael Lovano, executive chef at Medina Country Club. “This past weekend, we did sushi. We’re doing roasted pig this weekend. I've got a clambake coming up. We try to touch on every point and really display the quality of food that we can put out.”
It’s a range that is handy when you enter Chef Gordon Ramsay’s Hell’s Kitchen.
On Sept. 26 at 8 p.m. on Fox, Lovano makes his debut in the 23rd season of Hell’s Kitchen. The season’s theme is Head Chefs Only, with 18 chefs from across the country vying to head up one of Ramsay’s restaurants (or a big bag of cash).
Lovano started his career at Lola Bistro, where he worked from 2016 until its closing in 2020. He also opened Terrestrial Brewing Co.’s Terra Bistro and served as executive chef of Summer Place.
The chef says he saw a casting call on Instagarm and decided to DM the producer on a lark. Turns out, the producer already had Lovano on his short list after a recommendation from chef Alejandro Najar, formerly of Blue Door in Cuyahoga Falls and UnHitched Brewing Co. in Louisville, Ohio, who competed on the show in 2022.
Lovano traveled to Foxwood Resort Casino in Connecticut in May for a grueling taping schedule.
“The way they have things orchestrated is phenomenal,” he says. “You have no idea what’s coming. One day you’re going to bed at 2 a.m. The next day you’re waking up at five in the morning. They keep you on your edge, on your toes, the entire time, which makes it more fun and exciting.”
Lovano can’t tell us how he did, but with such high competition, Lovano’s foundation in Mediterranean cooking
helped him act fast.
“You’re just piecing all these ingredients and techniques together on the fly,” he says. “With the curveballs that were thrown, I always tried to kind of put my own spin on it and make it fun.”
Ramsay is known for his prickly demeanor, resulting in catch phrases like “idiot sandwich” and a very active bleep button. But his high expectations matched Lovano’s approach to helming a kitchen
“When it comes to running a staff, running a brigade, I come from the philosophy of make it right or make it again,” he says. “I feel like I developed a new level of standard based on the show. Chef is one of the greatest coaches you'll ever have, because when you're wrong, he’ll let you know you're wrong, but when you're right, he’ll let you know you're doing the right thing.”
While the chef can’t tell us how he performed, he’s ready for the world to see what he calls “one of the most fun and also stressful experiences I’ve had in my life.” No matter how he did on the show, he’s already brought back lessons to his work at Medina Country Club, which is hosting a season premier watch party for their native son. The cheers are sure to be as loud as any contest on the golf course.
Lovano says he worked to represent his hometown among a group of mostly salad-making West and East Coast chefs. He hopes that shines through in the show’s final edit.
“I always tried to make something that was Midwestern,” he says. “I just tried to do my best to represent Cleveland.”
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