He suffered broken bones, backstabbing, and Gordon Ramsay’s degrading tirades, and yet chef-hopeful Dave Levey triumphed over it all and won the season finale of “Hell’s Kitchen” this week. His reward? Title of head chef at Araxi in Whistler, British Columbia.
Every week, more than eight million viewers tuned it to watch Chef Ramsay challenge (and torment) a group of aspiring chefs as they competed in various challenges and struggled to complete dinner services at the restaurant “Hell’s Kitchen.” The prize was winning the position of head chef at Araxi and working under renowned Executive Chef James Walt. Known for its regional menus, Araxi has built an illustrious reputation because of its fresh cuisine, impeccable service and its incredible views of snow-capped Whistler. This year, Araxi received its tenth consecutive “Best of” Award of Excellence from “Wine Spectator” as well as gold’s at the Georgia Straight Golden Plate Awards and the Urban Diner Restaurant Awards.
“Hell’s Kitchen” just wrapped up its sixth season, and is the highest-rated competitive reality show in the U.S. This year’s finale pulled in enough viewers to make FOX the top-rated network that night. It’s no wonder – the ultimate comeback kid and winner, Levey basically eliminated the competition one-handed (for most of the season he was cooking with a casted broken wrist).
“I would hope that I won because I showed a lot of determination,” Levey said in an interview on the site realitywanted.com. “In the end, I chose a menu that was true to the prize, to the location of the Araxi restaurant. I based it off of the local and regional cuisine of the Whistler area. I proved that a broken wrist can’t stop me.”
