Chef Janelle Reynolds Competes on 'Chopped' Tuesday Night

Watch party scheduled at Willie G's Steakhouse

By Virginia B. Wood, 6:05PM, Mon. Sep. 23, 2013

Catering chef Janelle Reynolds joins the list of nearly a dozen local chefs to compete on the Food Network's Chopped this season. She makes her cooking competition debut on Tuesday, Sept. 24 at 9pm CST.

Chef Janelle Reynolds (Photo by Lauren Lesley)

Janelle Reynolds is a Lubbock native and graduate of the Texas Culinary Academy who has been cooking around Austin kitchens for the past ten years. She worked at many of Austin's favorite restaurants such as Starlite, Sienna, the Driskill Grill, and Vespaio before becoming sous chef and finally executive chef at Bess Bistro.

Chef Janelle Reynolds and her crew in the Bess Bistro kitchen (Photo by Laurten Lesley)

These days, she's staying home with a young son and operating a personal chef service called @tlarge with her husband, chef Jayson Reynolds. Though she can't divulge how she did in the competition, Reynolds is inviting friends and fans to join her at a viewing party Tuesday night at Willie G's Steakhouse (401 Congress Ave.), hosted by her former mentor from Bess, Mizael Saucedo, who is the general manager there.

A note to readers: Bold and uncensored, The Austin Chronicle has been Austin’s independent news source for over 40 years, expressing the community’s political and environmental concerns and supporting its active cultural scene. Now more than ever, we need your support to continue supplying Austin with independent, free press. If real news is important to you, please consider making a donation of $5, $10 or whatever you can afford, to help keep our journalism on stands.

Support the Chronicle

More Austin chef competes on Chopped