Chef Joshua Grimes, a 2002 LAHS graduate, advances to the final round in the Food Network’s Cutthroat Kitchen. Courtesy photo
By KIRSTEN LASKEY
Los Alamos Daily Post
Joshua Grimes, a 2002 Los Alamos High School graduate, achieved a career highlight few others share – he showcased his culinary skills on a national television program.
The nation watched as Grimes competed Feb. 21 on the Food Network’s Cutthroat Kitchen. The show requires its contestants to create the same dish and whoever makes it the best advances to the next round.
What makes the program cutthroat is the chefs are sabotaged as they cook. Grimes said participants may have to make a hamburger but they can only do it with one hand or cook it without a pan.
Chef Joshua Grimes. Courtesy photo
On the show Grimes competed in, he and his fellow contestants’ culinary skills were tested with cashews. Grimes’ sabotage included having his arms bound and his selected ingredients taken from him. Despite these obstacles he advanced all the way to the final round.
Grimes described the experience as, “exhilarating, exciting, I would definitely do it again. (It was) over the top and a whole lot of fun.”
Grimes’ trip into the national spotlight began when he saw an ad for the show online. He applied and five months later was interviewed via Skype. He also submitted pictures of himself and of his food. The show was filmed about seven months ago.
He explained he had watched the show in the past and said, “being on TV and doing cooking shows was always something I wanted to do and this show allowed me to do that.”
This is not the only career milestone Grimes has achieved. He currently works as the executive sous chef for Bon Appetit Company at Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, Calif.
Grimes said they serve 5,000 meals a day in addition to catering meals. The company also oversees 10 different cafes on the university campus and runs private events such as weddings and graduation parties. Bob Appetit also has a food truck.
In addition to working for a large company, Grimes has taken first place at a garlic competition, the Garlic Bowl, two years running. Three universities compete in the event, which a part of the Gilroy Garlic Festival.
Perhaps the most impressive accomplishment is that Grimes has taken his passion and made it his career.
“I am very proud to see that he has really done well in terms of finding his passion,” said his mother, Barbara Tenorio-Grimes of San Felipe Pueblo. “He’s a very hard worker; he loves working with his hands. He is very outgoing and willing to take risks and get out there.”
She added that her family had a viewing party Feb. 21 and Grimes’ grandmother had tears in her eyes, watching her grandson on TV.
“It is truly a blessing to see how far he has come in terms of what he loves and is passionate about. To me that is a blessing.”
Grimes may work for a large company in California but he got his start in the kitchen in Los Alamos. He explained that he started working in “a little, tiny Mom and Pop” restaurant called Amberly’s on the Green when he was 14. The restaurant closed but Grimes continued working at the former Hill Diner restaurant. He said making and manipulating food really grew on him.
Grimes earned his associate degree in applied science in culinary arts from the Santa Fe Community College in 2006. He worked in Las Vegas, Nev., before moving to San Jose, Calif.
Tenorio-Grimes said she loves her son’s cooking. But, she added, when he comes to visit, he loves eating New Mexico food.