Edmonds chef reps Pacific Northwest on new Food Network show

EDMONDS — Edmonds chef Brian Madayag will compete — and represent the Pacific Northwest — on Food Network’s new competition show, “Beachside Brawl,” this weekend.

“Beachside Brawl” premieres 10 p.m. Sunday on Food Network. You can also catch repeats over the next few weeks.

The show is a contest that pits West Coast versus East Coast cuisine. Pacific- and Atlantic-based chefs compete “over which coast does summer food best,” according to a Food Network news release.

Madayag, who owns Barkada in Edmonds, flexed his culinary skills and Pacific Rim roots on the show.

Host Antonia Lofaso challenged two teams of four chefs from each coast to create a menu of boardwalk stand dishes that best represent their side of the country. The menu had to include something fried, on a stick, in a bun, cheesy and sweet. Those dishes were then served to beachgoers.

Chefs Tiffani Faison (East Coast) and Brooke Williamson (West Coast) led and mentored each team throughout the competition. After each round, one member on the losing team was eliminated.

“You had to have all your guns ready and be able to think on the fly,” Madayag said. “It was very challenging as far as using all your skills at one time.”

The show was shot on the Redondo Pier in southern California in mid-March.

“They had us dress up in summer attire, but it was 60-something degrees,” Madayag said, laughing. “The producers were like, ‘Don’t shiver on camera.’”

Madayag opened Barkada in 2018 to showcase his family’s Filipino and Hawaiian roots — and bring more food diversity to Snohomish County. The Filipinx American restaurant was his Edmonds “homecoming” after working in Seattle eateries for years. (He began his culinary career at Tom Douglas’s restaurants).

Barkada’s menu is “inspired by those mom-and-pop shops you go to in Hawaii and get your mixed plates from,” Madayag said, referring to the standard, beloved dish of Hawaii that often includes macaroni salad, rice and mains like Kalua pig, chicken adobo or garlic shrimp. Musubi and lumpia are also on Barkada’s menu.

“I was representing not just the Pacific Northwest, but the Pacific Ocean,” Madayag said of the Food Network show.

The Food Network team contacted Madayag through Barkada’s Instagram profile about competing on “Beachside Brawl.” He went through “several” Zoom interviews and was under the scrutiny of a network scout who secretly visited Barkada.

Out of 100 chefs on the West Coast, Madayag was one of four who made the cut. He found out two weeks before the show was to be filmed.

“I was just in shock that we got called,” he said.

He said he didn’t sleep for three days leading up to the shoot. When he arrived on set, he saw cameras, huge tents and network crews everywhere.

“I was so nervous,” Madayag said. “Trying to stay relaxed and getting out of my own head, that was the hardest part.”

After the first challenge, the nerves subsided — somewhat.

While this was Madayag’s first competition show, he was featured on PBS’s “No Passports Required” in 2019. Host Marcus Samuelsson visited the Filipino community in the Seattle area for the first episode in Season 2.

“We got to take him squid fishing on the Edmonds Pier,” Madayag said.

On “Beachside Brawl,” Madayag competed with chefs who’d already been on Food Network shows, including Seattle chef Kaleena Bliss. Earlier this year, Bliss won the “Chopped: Casino Royale” cooking tournament.

Would Madayag compete on a Food Network show again?

“I think I would say yes to do another one,” Madayag said. In fact, he’s already gotten a few calls for potential shows following “Beachside Brawl.”

As far as the winner goes — and which coast came out on top — Madayag said you’ll have to tune in this weekend.

“Just being on the show, I feel like we won already,” Madayag said. “They liked us more than all these other chefs they interviewed on the West Coast, and I got to tell my story about my heritage. Even before the competition started, I felt like a winner.”

Taylor Goebel: 425-339-3046; taylor.goebel@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @TaylorGoebel.