This Delaware chef once beat Bobby Flay. But did he get 'Chopped' from the Food Network?

Delaware chef Robbie Jester, who honed his craft at Piccolina Toscana in Wilmington's Trolley Square, won a Tuscan food cooking competition on the Food Network.

Jester bested three chefs on the program "Chopped ‒ Battle Italiano: Tuscany," which focused on the food of that Italian region.

Jester's win will have him facing off on May 28 in the “Battle Italiano: Finale" against three more chefs, each representing a different region of Italy, and the chance to walk away with $25,000. The episode airs at 8 p.m.

"Are you looking forward to that?" "Chopped" host Ted Allen asked Jester after he won the three-round battle which first aired on Tuesday night.

"Hell, yeah, let's go," said the chef. "It feels pretty frigging amazing to win 'Chopped.'"

Jester is no stranger to TV cooking competitions. He was the winner of Netflix's "Pressure Cooker'' and has been a competitor on the Food Network programs "Guy’s Grocery Games'' and "Beat Bobby Flay."

"I'm super grateful to the community that supports me. I really feel, right now, I'm making the best food of my career," he told Delaware Online/The News Journal in an earlier interview.

Jester, who owns Pizzeria Mariana in Newark and runs a catering company, taped the series in December 2023. He said he loved the show's editing.

"I'm here to honor Tuscan cuisine," Jester said at the beginning of the hourlong episode, which was judged by chefs Scott Conant, Tiffany Derry and Gabe Bertaccini, who told the competitors he was going to be particularly critical of their dishes because he grew up in the Tuscan region.

Jester, who is not Italian, played to the camera when he was introduced. He puckered up to a fish and jokingly brushed off his shoulders as if to say he wasn't worried about three other competitors.

"There is a beautiful soul to Tuscan cuisine that doesn't exist anywhere else in the world," said Jester, who worked for several years as the executive chef at owner Dan Butler's Wilmington restaurant Piccolina Toscana. Jester said he didn't have to be Italian to make good Italian food.

"Tuscan cuisine taught me it's more important to cook with love."

Jester left the Trolley Square Italian restaurant in 2014 to become general manager and consulting chef at a now-defunct Newark restaurant. He held a party at Toscana on Tuesday night to view the "Chopped" battle to honor "the place I learned to cook Tuscan food."

"Chopped" challenges contestants to make a dish out of a basket of unknown ingredients during a set time period. Judges taste the dishes and the chef who makes the less appealing dish is then "chopped."

The first basket given to the chefs included wild boar, heirloom tomatoes, canned cannellini beans and cockscombs, or the comb of a rooster. They had 20 minutes to cook an appetizer.

"Not in my everyday repertoire," Jester said eyeing the chewy cockscombs before hustling to the pantry to gather ingredients for seared wild boar medallions with a warm cannellini salad and heirloom tomatoes with balsamic.

Jester decided his plan of action with the cockscomb was to crisp it in a fryer. But when he tossed the meat into the hot oil, it started spitting and popping.

Derry grimaced as hot oil flew into the air and onto the floor. She called the cooking method "terrifying."

"I might of went in the wrong direction," Jester joked as Conant asked, "Chef Robbie, how you doing?"

"Looking cute and feeling cute," said Jester, who topped his beans with the now crispy cockscomb.

"I feel fantastic," Jester said as he eyed his finished plate.

The judges told Jester his wild boar needed more salt, but generally seemed pleased with the dish.

"Great use of the basket," Conant said. Bertaccini agreed and added a major compliment: "It makes me feel like I'm at a lunch in Tuscany."

For round two, the two remaining chefs and Jester had to make an entree using porterhouse steaks, chicken liver mousse crostini, Tuscan kale, and negroni gelatin shots.

"I love it. Holy moly," Jester said and asked, "Can we do one of these shots?"

Jester made a compound butter with the chicken liver mousse, used the crostini for a salad with the kale, and turned the negroni gelatin into a vinaigrette. He pan-roasted the filet in the style of Bistecca alla Fiorentina, a popular steak dish in Tuscany.

"This round seems to be shaking people a bit," Derry said, and Jester seemed to agree. "I wish I had a few more seconds," he said as he plated the dish.

The judges loved the compound butter, but said Jester's bread was not toasted enough and didn't like the wilt on the Tuscan kale although Bertaccini said: "The inspiration is there."

Jester seemed to think that this was his round to lose.

"I don't feel great right now," Jester said after the judging.

When host Ted Allen lifted a cloche to reveal which plate was on the chopping block, Jester's eyes widened and then closed. He made it to the final dessert round.

The last basket of ingredients contained rose petal jam; dried strawberries; a sweet known for its gummy texture; lardo di colonnata, or fat from a pig; and an Italian cookie tray.

Jester, seemingly unphased, said, "I think that's a lot to play with. Super Tuscany to me."

He said the ingredients, especially the pignoli cookies, immediately reminded him of his aunt's strawberry pretzel salad that she makes for Jester's birthday each year. Jester decided to call the dish "Sweet Child of Mine."

Remaining competitor chef Julia Weeman opted to make an Italian cookies and cream dessert but hit a snag when she had trouble whipping mascarpone cream.

"I know she is going to fight to the last dang second," Jester said, who also used mascarpone, along with port wine and fresh strawberries.

When the clock ran out, the Delaware chef was ready for the competition to be over.

"It's hot, I'm sweaty and exhausted. My stress level is at a 10 right now," Jester said, but seemed confident. "I feel good about the way everything tastes."

The judges leaned into Jester's dessert.

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"I would like to eat this as a parfait. Really, really good," Bertaccini said.

Jester, declared the winner, will move into the finale. The Food Network teased the May 28 episode.

"The baskets are anything but standard issue, and the appetizer round features pizza in a tube," according to Food Network. "Emotions run high in a dramatic entrée round with just three chefs left in the epic tournament. Then, unfamiliar ingredients in the dessert basket promise to keep the two finalists on their toes."

Jester said if he wins the finale, he plans to use the $25,000 to start a fund for his new baby daughter. Stay tuned.

You can find Patricia Talorico on Instagram, X and Facebook. Email  ptalorico@delawareonline.com. Sign up for her  Delaware Eats newsletter.

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Did this Delaware chef get 'Chopped' from a Food Network series?