Zuri Resendiz Off Last Chef Standing, but Denver Got a Consolation Prize

Zuri Resendiz, owner of Luchador Taco & More in Whittier, was one of the 24 chefs who started out in the second season of Food Network's 24 in 24: Last Chef Standing. Although Resendiz's stint on the show was cut short, he brought home something better than prize money — better for us, at least. The lamb dish he made on the show didn't save his spot, but it's a winner on Luchador's menu.

The show 24 in 24 pits 24 chefs against each other for 24 challenges during 24 uninterrupted hours — no sleeping and few-to-no breaks. The last chef standing takes home $75,000. For season two, Food Network divided the 24 hours into five weeks of episodes that conclude on Sunday, May 25. Resendiz was one of the eleven chefs who left after the first episode.

Resendiz spent nine hours on the set before he was booted after his lamb lollipops lost out to Virginia-based chef Brittanny Anderson's Mediterranean lamb tartar. Resendiz didn't get to taste that dish, but it haunts him.

"I still dream of that tartar," he says. "It must have been so fucking good." The judges certainly thought so: Anderson's tartar was ultimately named the best bite of the third-hour challenge. Knowing he lost to the best bite out of twenty dishes softened the blow a bit, Resendiz admits: "This is why we compete. You're cooking alongside the best of the best."

Resendiz might not have gotten past the third challenge, but he did get 24 minutes to perfect a dish that had been marinating in his mind for weeks. This was Resendiz's fifth time on a Food Network competition; typically, he prepares for these shows by getting a selection of unexpected ingredients at a farmers' market and timing himself as he creates dishes. For 24 in 24, he didn't have time to do specific training. He was launching Luchador Tacos & More, his food truck turned brick-and-mortar restaurant that opened at 2030 East 28th Avenue just a month before filming began. All he did was watch the first season of the show and take what he'd seen to the set.
For the challenge that sent Resendiz home, he chose to work with lamb. He had been contemplating how he wanted to add lamb on Luchador's menu, and knew he wanted to eschew the usual lamb flavors, like rosemary. The 24-minute challenge didn't give him time to overthink the dish, so he made a lamb chop with crispy garlic potatoes, salsa macha, an aji verde sauce and queso fresco. The judge complimented the dish, saying, "This chef 100 percent knows how to cook lamb with their eyes closed."

Without sharing where he first made the recipe (his participation on the show was a secret until it started airing), Resendiz put the lamb on the menu — sans the queso — and it was a quick hit. "I keep asking myself, why did I lose with this dish? Everybody likes it!" he says.

But these shows are often surprising, filled with unexpected challenges. In the first, Resendiz and the 23 other chefs had to whip egg whites, tournée potatoes and juice lemons, with the assumption that finishing first would give them an advantage. But instead, the winner of the challenge immediately had to go head-to-head against the chef of their choosing, with the threat of going home if they lost. This shocked them all, Resendiz says: "He finished number one, but then suddenly he could be going home! I immediately thought, 'Oh, no, this is not going to be like season one."

But Resendiz isn't about to give up on the reality TV world. He's already applied to appear on another television series, saying only that it's "every chef's dream to get on this show."

And in the meantime, you can catch Resendiz at Luchador, where the $37 lamb lollipops aren't the only addition. The restaurant will introduce its version of brunch, a Sunday Funday with trumpo tacos — the pork is shaved from a vertical rotisserie, similar to a gyro rotisserie —  on Sunday, June 1, and will run from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. every other Sunday. For $35, guests get bottomless mimosas and their first order of tacos.

Luchador is open from 5 to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 5 to 10 p.m. Friday and 4 to 10 p.m. Saturday. Sunday brunch starts June 1. For more information, follow the restaurant at @luchador_taco_and_more on Instagram or go to luchadortacoandmore.com.