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Denver’s own Peter McTiernan, executive chef at Dio Mio, is set to showcase his talent on Netflix’s new competition cooking show, Next Gen Chef, premiering on Wednesday, September 17. Best known as the man that brought Dio Mio in RiNo to Michelin Bib Gourmand status, McTiernan will compete alongside a roster of 21 chefs under 30 years old for the chance to win $500,000.
“I had applied for Guys Grocery Games and didn’t make it, but a couple people from [Alfred Street Industries] reached out to me in regards to my interest in this show,” he recalls. “I was super stoked, it’s still completely mind-blowing. It’s been life-changing and humbling.”
The show aims to “find a chef who defines their generation,” as host Olivia Culpo says in the trailer. Carlton McCoy, Master Sommelier and CEO of Lawrence Wine Estates, and Kelsey Barnard Clark, Top Chef winner and James Beard nominee, will judge the competitors on their performance each week. They will be joined by a rotating lineup of culinary heavyweights throughout the season, like first female Iron Chef Cat Cora, executive chef of Momofuku Paul Carmichael, and more.
While filming, McTiernan lived at the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) campus alongside his competitors, facing challenges that went far beyond typical kitchen work.
“I’d never done a cooking competition for TV before. There was a room full of incredibly talented people, some from the French Laundry, Per Se, and other prestigious kitchens, and I definitely wanted to show up and impress,” he continues.
According to McTiernan, the show will give viewers a look at the day-to-day life of a culinary student at the CIA, but with intense, high-stakes challenges. Some episodes feature one big challenge, while others showcase multiple challenges, with a combination of team-oriented and individual tasks.
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“We lived on campus in the dorms, which was completely new for me since I never attended college or culinary school,” McTiernan explains. “Competition cooking reveals a lot about yourself and others. It tests your stamina, your morals, and your ability to stay composed under pressure. It brought out honesty in everyone, including myself.”
Maintaining composure under stress was one of the toughest parts. “I’m naturally anxious, but I pride myself on keeping a positive attitude. Balancing that while being away from home, managing high-pressure challenges, and competing against top-notch chefs was a huge learning experience,” he adds.
As McTiernan puts it, the young chef comes from humble beginnings in a house on Perry Street in Binghamton, New York. He began working at age twelve and cooking at age fourteen in local pizza shops. Due to a stressful home life, he moved out of his parents’ home by the age of fifteen, often relying on friends for support, and had his own apartment by sixteen.
“I was working, playing sports, going to school, and trying to do the best I could, but I really didn’t have a lot of adult supervision — and kids make bad choices when they’re not supervised,” McTiernan admits. “There were a lot of nights sleeping on friends’ couches. … My buddy Mathias Silberstein, I’ve been friends with him since I was twelve years old, and his mother Dara, let me sleep at their house more times than I could ever repay her for. I was given a lot of help by a lot of people who didn’t need to give it to me, and I feel like it would be really treacherous of me to squander that.”
His path to Dio Mio began after he was fired from Uchi for “being mean to a co-worker,” he notes. “It all comes back to attitude. I have the exact same ability of the exact same person I was when I got fired, I just have a completely different attitude and mentality towards the way we conduct ourselves.”
Once McTiernan re-entered the restaurant world with a fresh perspective, he started at Dio Mio washing dishes, worked his way up through line and pastry roles, helped open its sister restaurant, Redeemer Pizza, and eventually returned to Dio Mio as sous chef. Six months later, he was promoted to executive chef, a position he’s held for nearly four years.
“I believe that the next generation of chef is somebody who is well tempered, fun to be around, and not like the traditional toxic, yelling, crazy chef,” he says. “Being able to create cool food that nobody’s ever done before is amazing, but for me, [being the ‘Next Gen Chef’] is more about long-term sustainability. How can I personally affect the industry that I’m in that employs 10 percent of Americans? How can I affect that positively for the next generation?”
McTiernan practices that philosophy through his daily work at Dio Mio.
“I have to lead by example. I have to practice what I preach every single day,” he says. “Every day, you have a million reasons to be in a bad mood, but you can choose to focus on one reason to be in a good mood. If you want a fun, positive work environment, it starts at the top.”
Fans of the show can head over to Dio Mio to try some of McTiernan’s cooking for themselves. Come the beginning of October, the restaurant will transition to its fall menu with dishes featuring squash; fried Brussels sprouts with prosciutto vinaigrette; and a fall mushroom carbonara, alongside year-round staples like spaghetti, cacio e pepe, lasagna, and McTiernan’s signature black-butter marinated artichokes.
“The 27-year journey that I’ve been on has been pretty cool, and it didn’t necessarily start out that way. Overcoming adversity and always putting your best forward no matter what the circumstances are, that’s really what I hope to get across,” McTiernan continues. “If one person watches the show, sees my story, and thinks, ‘I have the power to turn my life around,’ then I’ve succeeded.”
Next Gen Chef premieres on Netflix on September 17.
