Macomb, MI — It has been exciting times for some Michigan chefs along the foodie front in recent weeks. On April 3rd, the James Beard Foundation announced the 2024 James Beard Restaurant and Chef Awards finalists, including two Michigan chefs/restauranters. This final round list vastly narrowed the field since my last report from when the semifinalists were announced in January, which included several great representatives from Michigan. On top of that news, two additional Michigan chefs are representing our state on the national food stage, featured in Food Network’s latest cooking competition challenge — 24 in 24: Last Chef Standing.

A quick shout out to our James Beard Award finalists from our state: Hamissi Mamba and Nadia Nijimbere of Baobab Fare in Detroit for Outstanding Restauranteur and Hajime Sato of Sozai in Clawson for Best Chef in the Great Lakes. I had the privilege of interviewing Hamissi when he won an episode of Food Network’s Chopped just over a year ago, and I couldn’t be happier for Hamissi and his wife. This would be a well-deserved award for such kind folks sharing a part of their culture through their excellent cooking while giving back to the community that took them in when they first arrived in America. I have yet to meet Chef Sato, but Sozai has been high on my list of restaurants I’ve wanted to try. I now have a very compelling reason to get up to Clawson as soon as possible to check out Chef Sato’s culinary experience!

Not too long after the JBF’s finalists announcement, the Food Network’s newest cooking competition show, 24 in 24, premiered on April 14th. The premise for the show, which is hosted by Michael Symon and Ester Choi, combines a culinary marathon with a social experiment where 24 chefs take on 24 challenges over 24 non-stop hours. When the 24-hour clock stops, the last chef standing takes home $50,000. The set stage and kitchen size from the trailer alone shows the sheer scale by which these two dozen chefs would be competing. The two chefs representing Michigan in this inaugural season for the show are Gabriella Baldwin of Testa Barra and Josie Clemens, a Vegan chef who has also appeared on season 20 of Hell’s Kitchen.

RELATED: Testa Barra shines as a community staple in Macomb with stellar food

I’ve had the joy of interviewing Gabriella and her husband/fellow Executive Chef Mike Baldwin on several occasions for my blog and job. Believe me when I say the only thing possibly as wonderful as they are is their cooking! Gabriella and Mike are the Executive Chefs at Testa Barra in Macomb. The epic husband and wife chef duo met while training at the Culinary Institute of America in New York. After coming to Michigan ten years ago and becoming part of the Baldwin clan, Gabriella helped form the Baldwin Restaurant Group with Mike and his brother, Jeffrey Jr — an expansion of the family business started by Jeff Baldwin, a Detroit culinary icon.

Over the years, Gabriella has participated in several Food Network competition shows, including Guy’s Grocery Games, which she won! So, after interviewing Gabriella for CBS Detroit on her latest Food Network endeavor, 24 in 24, I drove out to Testa Barra in Macomb the following day to interview Gabriella for my food blog to learn even more about her latest culinary adventure with the Food Network.

I arrived Wednesday afternoon, about an hour before the restaurant officially opened (and about 5 hours before my flight to Las Vegas for a bachelor party). One of the Testa Barra team members guided me to the recently enhanced patio for the interview. I shot some quick footage of establishing shots around the interview location, a large, prominent roundtable I immediately encountered after walking out of the patio doors. Gabriella rolled out a few minutes later as I admired artwork featured along the bottoms of skateboards that decorated the wall’s arched galleries along the patio. If you haven’t connected the dots yet, Gabriella and Mike are quite the skateboard enthusiasts. It makes sense; they’re pretty rad people!

Gabriella and I sat down at the roundtable and commenced with the interview. We discussed a range of topics from her newest Food Network competition show, 24 in 24, how she prepared for such a wild challenge, the next chapters in her culinary career, the evolution of Food Network shows, and the increasing national spotlight on Michigan’s culinary talent and food scene. The whole discussion is featured in the video at the top of this article. Below is a recap of some of our conversation’s highlights.

One of the first things I asked Gabriella about was how she got involved in her latest Food Network project.

“It’s definitely a world that you have to be kind of kooky enough to jump into, but I actually did not go seeking it; it found me, thankfully, about five years ago. That’s when my journey first started on Triple G, Guy’s Grocery Games, and I had won that. And, I really grew a hunger to keep on going on these wild competition shows. So, fast forward to 24 and 24; it’s my sixth appearance and, by far, the most daring, coolest, most talented culinary crew. It was just a wild ride and a great experience,” Gabriella explained.

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Gabriella elaborated on some of her challenges and what made this competition experience different from the rest. What many of us don’t see on screen after the challenges are typically the cleanup and resets, where teams will come in and reset/clean cooking stations for the competitors’ next segment. Gabriella explained how the non-stop nature of this show was a different tempo she had to adapt to.

“Some of the difficulties were definitely like, when Esther Choi and Michael Symon did the teaser, like the trailer for this, they were talking about how on a normal show, culinary teams get to come in and reset a station and help you reset to get to the next challenge. With this, the clock is running, the cameras are running, so that reset time doesn’t exist. So that was definitely, like, a totally different structure than I was used to, you know, six times later having the same structure,” Gabriella said. 

I then asked Gabriella what it felt like to be one of the two chefs representing Michigan on the national stage for such an intense culinary challenge.

“To represent the glove, it was really amazing because, you know, I’m from New York, I’m a transplant here from New York about ten years ago. And I didn’t know much about Michigan, not gonna lie, before I came here. But once I visited, I fell in love with it. I think it’s so much more diversified than people understand. And when they really come here, they can experience that, the culinary roots,” Gabriella explained. “You know, now we’re a destination, Detroit, to come and dine. So, being a part of that growth in the last decade, I feel like there’s a passing of the torch. And although this isn’t my birth home, this is where I chose to raise my family. So, I feel honored.”

For several weeks, a popular topic of discussion in the food realm has been about cooking competition shows and how they’ve become the mainstay of food programming. The debate became even more fueled after a former Food Network host and chef criticized the network for what she believes to be a shifted focus toward competition format shows. While I do personally miss having more diversity in formatting, I still love and enjoy most of the new food shows that routinely come out. And even while every show might not be my cup of tea, that doesn’t mean someone else somewhere might enjoy it. Regardless of how we may each feel, it’s important to remember that people like you and me are the writers, producers, production staff, etc., on these shows and are trying to bring you entertainment through the shared conduit of joy: food. At the end of the day, what should matter most to us all is what we should be here for — the food, regardless of how it’s presented to us. 

Since Gabriella has competed in several Food Network competition shows, I asked her thoughts on the matter and the current state of the Food Network.

“It’s a hot topic right now. Whether people are mentioning it or not, a lot of people are, as that chef is, or that host, there are those shows still live, like there’s Girl Meets Farm. There are quite a few other ones that are instructional. The demo shows, I call them, or those shows that are, you know, more demonstration and recipe-driven, not competition-driven. They definitely still do exist. I think that, along with the restaurant industry, food TV has evolved. And it’s important to evolve because people’s palates evolve,” said Gabriella. 

“Just like I said, in Detroit, we go from generalized restaurants now to more specific, like honed-in scopes. And, you know, the growth of social media platforms and streaming platforms, I think, has affected media as a whole. Like, not just food TV. So, those do exist. And, you know, when you go to Food Network’s Instagram or TikTok or these channels or their streaming platforms, you do find even more of those. But people love a thrill. So, when they come home from work, and they’re 9 to 5, or working their restaurant job, I think the thrill level, the seeking of that thrill, has gotten higher. So, I think they still do exist, but I give it to Food Network because you have to grow and you have to evolve, and restaurants do too. Otherwise, they die. We practice that here every day, and you can ask any restauranteur — that’s the ticket to staying alive,” Gabriella said.

Finally, I inquired about what’s next for Gabriella in her Food Network journey and with her group’s newest impending concept set to debut in another month: Oro. 

“My vision with Food Network is to continue on this journey. I’ll say I always have something cooking or something in my back pocket, and I’ll leave it there. I’d love to do 150-person cooking classes every month with my husband. So the goal would definitely be to hopefully bring that Food Network that you were talking about back and, you know, maybe one day get my own show or do something cool, like judging or hosting. I think that’s where my comfort lies, you know, the competitions are fun too, but that’s kind of where my journey is going with the Food Network,” Gabriella explained. 

“With the restaurant Oro is a restaurant within a restaurant we’re opening up, and it’s something I really hold near and dear to my heart because of my Puerto Rican/Latin heritage. We are doing a Latin fusion concept on our terrace. And it’s not going to be this tacos and tequila bullshit, right? I want it to be so much more and show various types of Latin cuisine because I think all of it is beautiful and flavorful and vibrant and electric.”

Watch the full video at the top of this article for more of the conversation.

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After the interview, Gabriella and I chatted about Oro’s upcoming grand opening as I packed my gear. I had to hurry off to meet up with my roommate/bestie, Rob, so we could head to the airport and catch our flight to Las Vegas for our other bestie, Vince’s bachelor party! I thanked Gabriella for the interview and parted ways as Gabriella scooted off toward the kitchen to check on opening prep. I headed out about 10 minutes before the restaurant was set to open for the day, a new day full of entirely new experiences but always ending with the same result: a remarkable restaurant run by some great chefs and a great family!  

Gabriella is a fantastic chef and a great person, so seeing her continued success in achieving her culinary goals is inspiring. Her husband Mike also routinely competes in the International Pizza Challenge every year in Las Vegas, and he tore it up last time around! Mike and Gabriella have such a great story and they are helping carry on the Baldwin family torch along with Mike’s brother, Jeffrey Jr, who serves as the Director of Operations and leads the sommelier program. If you get a chance, check out and support Gabriella and the Baldwins in their food and business ventures. This family knows food and hospitality!

For more information on Chef Gabriella Baldwin or Testa Barra in Macomb, click here. To learn more about Food Network’s 24 in 24: Last Chef Standing, click here. And finally, click here to learn more about the Baldwin Restaurant Group’s latest concept, Oro, set to open on June 6th.