Matt Schickling, the Wire
Christine Hazel was chewed out by Gordon Ramsay in front of a national audience and lived to tell the tale, for another week.
The Levittown native and Northeast Philly local appeared as a contestant on Fox’s Hell’s Kitchen, hosted by Ramsay, and survived one of the celebrity chef’s infamous, expletive-laden confrontations.
“It got out of control,” she said in an interview on the show, after she and her team were thrown out of the kitchen on account of some undercooked lamb. “I know I’m a better chef.”
Hazel is used to this kind of pressure. She works as chef advisor for Chickie’s and Pete’s, where she oversees new menu development and upscale catering and recently put together a dessert menu for the sports bar chain.
She worked through the ranks, starting out as a bartender while she was a culinary management student at the Art Institute of Philadelphia, and moved to her current position with the Parx Casino Chickie’s and Pete’s in Bensalem as her “home” location.
In 2013, she served as an action chef in the U.S. Open hosted by Merion Golf Club in Haverford, which paved the way for the opportunity to work as a sous chef in the Masters Golf Tournament in Augusta, Georgia.
At 32, Hazel seems like the type of person who has it all together, but it’s been a winding road to this point.
Hazel graduated Truman High School in 2000. Her family still lives in the Levittown area.
“That’s where my core is,” she said.
She attended St. Joseph’s University to study pre-med and biology, and, after graduation, took a job as a life insurance agent.
“I wasn’t sure I was doing the right things,” she said.
So she changed paths, and a few years later, it landed her on the set of Hell’s Kitchen.
“Hopefully, it would put my food on a new platform,” she said. “To get a lot of exposure, to help my career.”
Hazel pushed hard to be where she is, but no one pushes back quite like Ramsay, which became evident to Hazel in their first meeting.
“We’re trying to get acquainted and figure everything out and you get off the bus and see Gordon Ramsay on a roof, expecting you to jump off,” Hazel said. “My stomach just dropped.”
Two “contestants” immediately volunteered to jump from the multi-story building onto a landing pad. There was an understanding amongst the others about the demonstration: if you don’t jump, you don’t compete.
“I need to know all of you are 100-percent committed,” Ramsay said.
The others followed suit, raising their hands to participate next. The exercise, of course, was a test and the jumpers were actually stunt people.
After the initial fanfare, Hazel and the other contestants took to the kitchen, and when things started heating up, “It basically became like working at a restaurant,” Hazel said.
“You have to go in confident,” she added.
For the first round of competition, Hazel prepared her signature dish of seared scallop with braised pork belly, polenta cake, poached quail egg and pesto. It was reviewed positively by Ramsay.
Though she can’t reveal the results of the season, Hazel can say that working with Ramsay has been an enlightening experience.
“I admire him so much more,” Hazel said. “He’s screaming and yelling, but at the same time, he takes the time. He has this energy that is just contagious. It makes you want to be a better chef.”
Chickie’s and Pete’s will hold viewing parties for Hazel each week the show airs at various locations throughout the region. The first was held at the Parx Casino location during the March 3 premiere.
Hell’s Kitchen airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. on Fox. For more information, visit www.fox.com/hells-kitchen.
Viewing parties for Hell’s Kitchen for the month of March will be held at the following Chickie’s and Pete’s locations:
3/10 Parx Casino, 2999 Street Road, Bensalem
3/17 Parx Casino, 2999 Street Road, Bensalem
3/31 1526 Packer Ave., South Philadelphia
