Marietta Chef Earns Spot on 'Chopped'

Marietta’s own Tom McEachern, who serves as corporate executive chef at Ray’s on the River, will compete on Tuesday’s episode of Chopped on the Food Network.

For Chopped, the show challenges four chefs to turn everyday, but unusual ingredients into a three-course meal. As expected, after each course a chef gets “chopped,” and the show continues until a final chef is left standing.

The theme of Tuesday’s show is grilling. For McEachern’s challenge, mustard, ketchup and mayonnaise were used as ingredients. So he came up with salmon and mustard as ingredients for an appetizer, wild boar chops and ketchup for the main entrée and mayonnaise in the dessert.

“What a fun, intense and great experience,” McEachern said. “We were not allowed to use our ovens in this particular episode, which was a real curve ball.  However, it was a rewarding challenge.” 

Another Atlanta-area chef—Jeffrey “Cheffrey” Gardner of South City Kitchen Midtown—appeared in a Feb. 1 episode of “Chopped.” He was eliminated in the final round.

McEachern will wait and let Marietta watch “Chopped” on Tuesday to learn his final fate on the program.