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I thought he liked me because he offered me a job. Anyone familiar with the New Jersey food scene knows Chef David Viana – a former Bravo “Top Chef” and current Food Network “ Tournament of Champions ” competitor – as well as his life and business partner, Neilly Robinson.

This is not how David Viana saw it all happening. Two weeks later, after washing dishes, I realized he probably didn't like me too much.

My parents would buy broccoli in the frozen aisle and boil it, it would be like mush all the time. My parents weren't the best cooks, is basically what that came down to. In every restaurant there's good, bad and ugly or indifferent. About Us Our Story Lita is a modern Iberian restaurant in Aberdeen Township, New Jersey—and the third restaurant from Neilly Robinson and Chef David Viana: the duo behind the beloved restaurant and cooking school Heirloom Kitchen, and the award-winning Heirloom at The St Laurent.

The whole time I spent daydreaming about my days in the restaurant. David Viana: "I never really had a passion for cooking. And when did you know you wanted to pursue cooking as a career? I knew the industry, I knew it was a lot of hours, I knew it was difficult.

Now, he's a partner and executive chef at the critically acclaimed Heirloom Kitchen in Old Bridge, a James Beard Award nominee and has millions of foodie fans watching him compete on the hit Bravo cooking television show, now in its 16th season. It was the 80s and 90s, it was all frozen vegetables and stuff.

The James Beard Foundation announced the semifinalists for the Restaurant and Chef Awards on Wednesday, Jan The awards recognize the nation's best restaurants, chefs, food writers, and others in the hospitality industry. My first girlfriend I ever dated, her dad owned a restaurant.

But it was just a better way to spend my day and enjoyed the unpredictability, the camaraderie, the action, how every day was similar but different, new experiences all the time. NJ Advance Media sat down with Viana this week to discuss the best and worst parts of being on "Top Chef," the best places to eat in New Jersey and why the state's food future is bright.

About mdash Lita: Heirloom Kitchen's David Viana was nominated for a James Beard award, inducted into the Hall of Fame at ICE and became a Top Chef contestant

DV: "I guess it was at that job where I started to enjoy food. Lita, an Iberian cuisine restaurant in Aberdeen by Chef David Viana. How did your work as a young chef prepare you to run Heirloom Kitchen and compete on "Top Chef? I just thought that's what you do to make money in college, work in the restaurant industry.

It was there that people were like 'Oh, try this, try that.

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DV : "I think from the moment I picked up a knife I've been preparing for my opportunity to be the chef. The pair are local celebrities in Central Jersey, acclaimed for their James Beard Award -nominated Iberian restaurant, Lita, and its sister bar, La Otra, both in.

Whether it was learning great habits at 11 Madison Park in Manhattanlearning the highest levels of food and what food could become and how artistic and pristine it could be, to learning what to do if your toilet backs up. The Elizabeth native, who has been a front-running contestant on the current season of " Top Chef " and has consequently become one of the hottest chefs in New Jersey, worked in a probation office and planned to go to law school before pursuing a career in cooking.

But they made a home cooked meal every night, it just wasn't very edible. I worked in that restaurant and others throughout high school and college, never considering it a profession. When and where did your love of cooking begin?

There's a lesson to be learned and paying attention and taking diligent notes and observing and learning and soaking it all in, from culture to how you want the culture of your restaurant to be, from who you want to partner with to what kind of food you want to offer, there are so many lessons to learn in this industry.