Preston Paine, Exxir Hospitality’s executive chef, has over eight years of culinary experience. On Food Network’s new show, Ciao House, he will compete in a culinary competition against nine other chefs from across the country.
Chef Preston Paine, a Dallas native, will have to live at the Ciao House with the other chefs while attempting to create the best Italian food possible. Preston is the owner of Shug’s Bagels and is well-known in the hospitality industry for his work with Exxir Hospitality. In the Bishop Arts District, he currently manages five restaurant concepts.
Chef Preston Paine previously worked at the three-Michelin-starred Chef De Partie
Chef Preston Paine graduated from Tulane University’s A.B. Freeman School of Business in 2015 with a degree in Business Management. He used to be a football player and a member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Council. Preston learned to cook from a close family friend named Chela, who showed him how to use a knife and grill.
During his undergraduate years, he worked in a number of restaurants and began his culinary career by writing menus and developing ideas for restaurants in the Culinaire group. After two years, he decided to broaden his skills and became a traveling chef with Quarterdeck Life Ltd, for which he had to work long hours aboard boats for a year.
When he returned in 2018, he was offered a position at the three-Michelin-starred Chef de Partie, also known as the world’s best restaurant. Covid, on the other hand, was forced to close the famous diner and return to Dallas. He then spent several months working for Thompson Dallas and Apheleia Restaurant Group.
Preston Paine will open Shug’s Bagel, one of Dallas’ most well-known bagel shops, in May 2020. He also opened a few more restaurants in the Thompson Hotel. He is introduced as follows on the Food Network website:
“He’s just as competitive in the kitchen as he was on the (football) field, and his goal is to define himself as a chef by creating his own unique dishes – rather than recreating other people’s recipes.”
The Food Network casting directors have been trying to get Preston on their network for a long time. The opportunity to travel to Italy, his favorite destination, delighted the well-known chef. Paine contacted the filmmakers again and was invited to participate in the interview process. He stated, ”
“I went through the interview process, which took a couple of months.” The population shrank from 100 to 50 to 20. And finally, I was chosen.”
He described his time in Italy as teaching him “beauty in simplicity.” Preston Paine was also inspired by the episode to establish “more family ties” with food suppliers and businesses, such as the chefs in Italy who have been buying from the same butcher shop for many years, if not generations.
Ciao House aided him in prioritizing high-quality components over cutting-edge processes. Paine had this to say about his time in the competition:
“When I arrived, I was already in game mode, dialed in.” As a result, I’m not sure what they’ll do. Fortunately, no major explosions occurred. Nothing was cursed or hurled.”
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