Growing up in Freeburg, Illinois, Austin Beckett’s diet consisted primarily of TV dinners and microwave meals. But he craved more—not just in terms of flavors and ingredients, but for the sense of community that often thrives around the dinner table.
Now a professional chef based in Wellington, Beckett found that community, and then some, on season four of Fox’s Next Level Chef.
The cooking competition series involves mentors Gordon Ramsay, Richard Blais, and Nyesha Arrington creating teams out of three contestant categories: professional chefs, home chefs, and social media chefs. Each week, the cheftestants compete within a three-tiered kitchen, wherein each level is outfitted with a range of cooking equipment. The top level has the best and most comprehensive, the middle mimics a standard commercial kitchen, and the bottom level (or basement) is bare bones, to say the least. The chefs’ level assignment also impacts the quality of ingredients available to them.
In mid-May, Beckett was crowned the season’s Next Level Chef, securing the win for Team Blais. He notes that his diverse professional background and eclectic home-cooking experience set him up for success on the show.
“I’ve cooked all over the world—from kitchens where the plumbing doesn’t work to kitchens [that have] the finest marble tables that you only roll pasta on,” Beckett explains. “I’ve done it all and everything in between. I’ve worked for multibillion-dollar families and mom-and-pop restaurants in small towns. So, that show, for me, I felt at home no matter which level I was on.”
After a stint in the Philippines and Southeast Asia, Beckett relocated to South Florida to join the culinary team at the Four Seasons Resort Palm Beach. He now primarily works as a private chef and has a passion for organizing multicourse events that spotlight local ingredients, farms, and purveyors. Together with some of his fellow chefs from season four, Beckett launched The Seventh Course, a series of pop-up tasting events in cities across the country.
But regardless of where or for whom he is cooking, Beckett says his culinary philosophy remains the same: flavor-forward food that speaks for itself.
“It’s something that tastes good, first and foremost,” he continues. “It’s something that, for me personally, is cooked over wood fire. Something that is the most elemental form of cooking. It’s basically finding the best ingredients that you can and giving them the respect they deserve without altering them too much.”
You can taste Beckett’s food for yourself during a Live-Fire Dining Experience July 19. The event will take place at Sol Haus in Juno Beach and include five courses celebrating wire-fired flavors. Tickets are $139 per person (plus tax and fees). More information is available here.
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