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LIFE

Fans cheer as Stone Balloon chef beats Bobby Flay

Jordan L. McBride
The News Journal

Local chef Robbie Jester took home some serious bragging rights after winning it all on Thursday night's episode of “Beat Bobby Flay" on the Food Network.

Jester, executive chef at Newark’s Stone Balloon Ale House, beat celebrity chef Bobby Flay in the final round of the cooking competition. The episode was filmed back in December, but the outcome of the episode was not revealed until it aired.

"It feels pretty damn good," Jester, 31, said of the win. "Not only did I beat Bobby Flay, I beat an Iron Chef, and that's a pretty big deal."

Stone Balloon Ale House chef Robbie Jester (facing camera) shares a congratulatory hug with Sean Riley, a manager, after watching himself beat Bobby Flay on the Food Network show of the same name during a viewing gathering at the Newark restaurant.

His winning dish? Shrimp scampi, one of the first dishes that Jester's father, Bob, taught him how to cook. Jester's father passed away in January after a long battle with lung cancer.

“It feels like it came full circle to represent my family that way,” Jester said.

The elder Jester opened several restaurants around the area including the Harbor House in Chestertown, Maryland, which closed in 2014. According to Jester’s mother, Crystal, it was there where her son sharpened his culinary skills under the watchful eye of his father.

Bobby Flay gets ready for culinary battle on the Food Network TV show “Beat Bobby Flay.”

The Stone Balloon held an open-to-the-public viewing party for the episode, where Jester’s friends, family, restaurant staff and loyal customers chowed down on tasty dishes such as maple bacon wrapped barbeque chicken thighs and wok-fried green beans while eagerly awaiting the results of the show.

Cheers erupted throughout the restaurant as the opening sequence for the show began and Jester flashed up on screen. All eyes were on the man of the hour, who watched the show at a private table with his family and closest friends on the second floor of the restaurant.

For the first round of the show, he squared off against chef James Laird of Restaurant Serenade in Chatham, New Jersey, for a chance to face Flay in the second round. Laird, who touted himself as a “self-made man,” was knocked out of the competition by Jester’s veal Milanese.

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As soon as show judges Lance Bass, a former member of boy band 'NSYNC, and Michael Voltaggio, the winner of the sixth season of Bravo’s "Top Chef," announced that Jester would be going head-to-head against Flay, the smack talk began between the two chefs, each one claiming that they could easily out-cook the other.

According to JoAnn Foraker, Robbie’s aunt, that kind of lighthearted banter is par for the course with Robbie, who she described as an extremely funny and kind person.

For the second and final round, Jester and Flay both prepared their own versions of shrimp scampi. In the end, Jester’s dish, pan-roasted and accompanied by cavatelli, heirloom tomatoes, basil and a garlic bread remoulade, won it all.

Although Jester and his mother knew the outcome of the show ahead of time, the rest of the crowd did not. Family members jumped out of their seats and instantly leaped across the table to hug Robbie when Voltaggio announced him as the winner.

“This is just tremendous,” Jester’s mother said of her son’s victory. “ I was so fortunate to go watch this be filmed back in December, and I can’t tell you how proud I still am now.”

Stone Balloon Ale House chef Robbie Jester (left) watches as family friend Gloria Graf celebrates as he advances on the show 'Beat Bobby Flay.' A viewing party was held at the Newark restaurant for the show's broadcast Thursday.

After the show, Jester said that he was more nervous during the viewing party than he was during the actual taping of the episode.

Although Jester was not cooking Thursday night at Stone Balloon, he said that playing host and making sure that everyone got their food was running him a bit ragged. The support he received from his fans, however, made it all worth it.

“Obviously I knew what was going to happen ahead of time,” he said, “but seeing everyone’s reaction was great. It’s always overwhelming seeing how supportive everybody is.”

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One of Jester’s biggest supporters there that evening was Tyler Parsons, his best friend and a fellow chef at the Stone Balloon. Parsons was helping out in the kitchen that night so that Robbie could take a night off, but he was still able to catch most of the show.

Parsons, who was unsurprised that his friend was able to get the best of Flay, said that on top of being the best chef that he knows, Jester is also the smartest, most genuine and hardest working.

“His success is not an accident,” he said. “Robbie has an unstoppable motor and has worked tirelessly to achieve what he has.”

This is not the last the world will see of Jester, Parsons added. Many in Jester’s inner circle said that they believe this be true as well. Both his mother and aunt see a future in television for the chef.

After a year filled with triumph and loss, Jester seems to hold a pretty positive outlook on life. His friends described him as fiercely loyal and humble, which makes sense considering that the chef donated the proceeds from the viewing party to help pay for his friend John Gilroy’s medical bills, who is battling Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

“The biggest thing for me is to try and inspire other people to do things that they never thought that they could do,” Jester said. “That’s really where I’m at in life and what I’m all about.”

Contact Jordan McBride at jmcbride@delawareonline.com or on Twitter @jordanlmcbride.