The recently released Netflix series Next Gen Chef has already climbed into the platform’s Top Ten list. This unique and refreshing culinary competition is filmed entirely on the campus of the renowned Culinary Institute of America (CIA) in Hyde Park, New York.
The eight-episode series brings a fresh twist to the cooking show format, and three Alabamians are at the heart: two of the co-creators and executive producers, Nan Strait and Dr. Tim Ryan of Birmingham, and celebrity chef Kelsey Barnard Clark of Dothan, who serves as a judge. Nan Strait is the Executive Vice President of Current Programming for Alfred Street Industries, the company behind other hit series such as Top Chef and Project Runway. Though she now lives in Los Angeles for her work, she graduated from The University of Alabama and often returns to Mountain Brook to visit family and friends.
Dr. Tim Ryan, Chancellor of the CIA, recently retired as the school’s president and moved to Mountain Brook with his wife Lynne, a Birmingham native. Ryan is one of only 63 Certified Master Chefs in the nation—and the only one with an Ivy League doctorate, earned at the University of Pennsylvania. Born and raised in Pittsburgh, he has been widely recognized for his leadership in culinary education, even being named one of the “50 Greatest Pittsburghers in History,” alongside Andrew Carnegie, Dr. Jonas Salk, Andy Warhol, and Fred Rogers. Kelsey Barnard Clark, judge on Next Gen Chef, is a proud Alabamian from Dothan. She attended Auburn University before graduating from the CIA, later working in New York City for acclaimed chef Daniel Boulud. Winner of Top Chef Season 16, Barnard Clark is also the author of Southern Grit and the owner of KBC, her namesake restaurant, bakery, and catering company in Dothan.
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