RAE TYSON

SPECIAL TO SALISBURY DAILY TIMES

A prominent Sussex County chef will appear in an upcoming episode of Food Network’s popular “Beat Bobby Flay” show.

Bill Clifton, executive chef and co-owner of the Counting House restaurant in Georgetown, competed in an episode of the program that will air at 10 p.m. Thursday, May 2.

“It was an amazing experience,” Clifton said.

The show was taped at a Food Network studio in Brooklyn in March 2018 – when Clifton was still executive chef of the Henlopen City Oyster House in Rehoboth Beach.

Clifton and partner Miguel Batiz took over the restaurant in Georgetown’s historic Brick Hotel last August, renaming it The Counting House.

The format of the show involves two celebrities who judge a pair of chefs cooking a dish with an ingredient selected by Bobby Flay.

The chefs are given 20 minutes to prepare the dish using ingredients in a studio pantry.

The winner of the two-chef face-off gets to select a “signature dish” to prepare in a faceoff with Flay.

For Clifton’s episode, the initial judging was done by celebrity chef Alex Guarnaschelli and comedian Tony Rock.

Competing against Clifton was Stephan Bogardus, then cooking at North Fork Table & Inn in Southold, New York. Bogardus is now executive chef at The Halyard in Greenport, New York.

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Once one of the chefs is eliminated, the survivor competes in a cook-off against Flay.

The completed dishes are judged in a blind tasting by a panel of three culinary experts — Melba Wilson, Jimmy Bradley and Michael Lomonaco. All three are professional chefs.

Though Clifton is not allowed to reveal how he fared, his reaction was positive.

“I thought I did pretty well,” he said, adding, “You have to have a lot of confidence in your skills.”

The taping, in a studio that also is used for other Food Network shows, including “Chopped,” took 12 hours. The program is 30 minutes long.

“It was a long day,” Clifton said “But it also was quite an experience.”

Clifton said he enjoyed meeting and talking with Bobby Flay, who seldom loses on the long-running show.

“He was very nice, very respectful,” Clifton said.

And, speaking of Flay’s culinary skills, Clifton said, “He’s very impressive.”

Though the show was Clifton’s first appearance on a televised culinary completion, he enjoyed it enough to try it again.

“It was fantastic and I enjoyed the challenge,” he said.