Rated Test Kitchen’s Juwan Rice to appear on Food Network’s 'Chopped' on Aug. 13

The chef-owner will compete against three other chefs from around the U.S.

Rated Test Kitchen and Rated Cafe chef-owner Juwan Rice will appear on Food Network’s Chopped on Tuesday, Aug. 13. The episode, which will see Rice compete against three other chefs from across the United States, will air at 7 p.m. Central.

The Chopped episode will be Rice’s second Food Network appearance. In 2021, he appeared on an episode of Guy’s Grocery Games with host Guy Fieri. “One of the casting producers from Guy’s Grocery Games shared my information with the producers from Chopped, and that's kind of how the introduction happened,” Rice said. He flew to New York City in January to film the episode where viewers will see Rice and the other contestants create dishes from Chopped’s signature basket of mystery ingredients. At Food Networks’ request, Rice was unable to share details of what was in the mystery basket or what he cooked for the episode, so you’ll have to watch to find out.

Rice said appearing on shows like Chopped gives chefs like him a showcase not only to demonstrate their own individual talent, but the broader talent that is coming out of St. Louis. “We don't get many opportunities in St. Louis to advertise our city on a national platform, so it's always great when the food networks or the cooking networks reach out to me or someone else from our food scene or from our culture that's pretty well known for us to display the talents that we have in St. Louis,” Rice said.

He added that he used his Chopped appearance to challenge preconceptions about what defines St. Louis and Midwestern cuisine. “Many people have this record of thinking that St. Louis is only known for gooey butter cake and toasted ravioli and Imo’s pizza, and obviously the Midwest is known for fried food and all that type of thing. So I made sure that it was very well known on the show that we definitely do a lot more than just that. We have some really fantastic chefs and curators here in St. Louis.”

Rice, a 2021 Sauce Ones to Watch honoree, also teased a forthcoming announcement, but would say no more at this point in time. Stay tuned to Sauce for more details as we get them.