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A picky eater as a child, Tedoro “TJ” Torres has since enjoyed acquainting himself with the irresistible allure of food.
The 36-year-old resident of the 2500 block of South Camac Street has made culinary curiosity and competence his career and earned acknowledgment for his constancy by winning the April 19 episode of The Food Network’s “Chef Wanted with Anne Burrell.”
“Receiving the recognition was unbelievable and left me in shock,” Torres said last week from his Lower Moyamensing home. “It’s a big achievement that validates the hard work I’ve put in my entire adult life.”
The native New Yorker, who has spent most of the last 15 years in South Philly, returned to his home state in February after responding to social networking correspondence from producers. The second-season show finds Burrell, herself a veteran of culinary competitions through the network’s “The Next Iron Chef,” assisting establishments in their hunts for executive chefs, with Torres eager to see if he could fry his three competitors and emerge victorious.
“Despite my interest in winning, I didn’t necessarily participate to find a new job,” the fifth-year executive sous-chef at the Center City-situated Pyramid Club said. “I wanted to sample the experience and see what it could bring.”
Along with helping him to test his talent, the program gave Sonia and Monica Zaldivar the chance to hire the first executive chef in the 50-year history of their New York City-based Cuban restaurant Victor’s Cafe. Spending a week consulting for the proprietors, Torres gained a great feel for their ambition and sought to rely on his Latin cuisine expertise fostered through his Puerto Rican heritage and jobs with Stephen Starr and Jose Garces to impress them and Burrell. He endowed them with a rack of lamb rubbed with the Cuban marinade abodo, sweet plantains and shiitake mushrooms for his first presentation, which they deemed the most flavorful. For his second task, he honored Cuban tradition by plating top-round steak with green beans, pigeon peas and rice, then prepared filet mignon with a spicy crab salad and grilled asparagus. With no major critiques of the contestant following the final round, Burrell left deliberation to the mother-daughter pair, who tabbed Torres as their hire.
“I’ve always looked to provide quality food, and I’m grateful they believed in my skills,” he said. “The whole time I was composed and set on giving them my best.”
Having informed personnel he would listen to the job offer’s specifics, Torres decided to turn down the position for a few reasons, including only a marginal difference existing between his current salary and prospective wages. With New York City’s cost of living topping Philadelphia’s, he would not have been able to thrive and feared having to subsist.
“The show understood my decision, and we’ve all moved on amicably,” he said. “I’m excited to stay in Philly, where I can still practice my craft and show my passion for food by working on growing as a chef.”
The confident figure credits his upbringing for his pursuit of seeing sated diners. Hanging out in the kitchen as relatives prepared meals, he always believed cooking’s inherent hands-on qualities could yield his vocation.
“My family at times wasn’t sure, but I knew I could put my all into cooking, which I found so artistic and deserving of someone’s full attention,” Torres, who increased his adolescent interest by watching public television segments, including the late Julia Child, said.
Fully aware of his first turf’s reputation for producing appetite-answering professionals, he chose to come to Philadelphia to build his skills in 1996 and enrolled at The Restaurant School at Walnut Hill College. The facility helped him to absorb different influences that have continued to inspire tendencies to explore and experiment.
“Certain people have their distinctions, but I dabble in everything because I don’t want to be limited,” Torres said.
Searching for his niche, he went through a self-described cocky period, but he modified that streak through Starr and Garces, highly revered restaurateurs with multiple Philadelphia eateries.
“I came to realize I had to turn a corner and be even more passionate about what I’m all about, which is learning to enjoy helping people to enjoy their time out,” Torres said.
His present occupation marks his longest stint at any location and solidifies his quest for stability. Knowing someone could charge him with hypocrisy because he interrupted that post to appear on a show, Torres counters by contending he ventured to the Empire State to devise options for his future, which he hopes will include his own restaurant.
“Exposure is always a plus,” he said. “The chance to go on ‘Chef Wanted’ came out of nowhere, so maybe someone will look at the episode and consider backing me down the road. Who knows?”
No matter where he wields his utensils, Torres plans to continue to appeal to taste buds courting a little diversity yet does not aim to reinvent the wheel when pondering his creations.
“I had initially thought of cooking as a business because it involved something that would never go out of style, obviously,” he said. “As I’ve taken in all these experiences, especially the ones from the show, I know there is definitely an economic element, but it’s more so about having great products at fair prices. From my standpoint, I want to cook for everybody and take on all tastes.”
Contact Staff Writer Joseph Myers at jmyers@southphillyreview.com or ext. 124.
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