Birmingham Chef of local Slice Pizza shares his experience on Food Network
Reading time: 4 minutes
Terrill Brazelton, executive chef of Birmingham’s Slice Pizza and Brewhouse, has joined a very select club that few chefs are members of. Brazelton joins other chefs who have competed on the Food Network TV show “Guy’s Grocery Games.” The show may be familiar to Food Network fans, or fans of the celebrity chef, the one with the spiked hair, Guy Feiri.
Terrill Brazelton will be featured on the “Pizza Masters” episode airing this Sunday, Oct 29, 7:00 central. Don’t worry, no spoilers here! Terrill is contractually forbidden to spill any secrets, or surprises. He prefers to let the suspense build, and just continue doing what he does best in Birmingham; creating great recipes and rolling out amazing pizza dough at Slice.
Terrill says he was was completely suprised by the offer.
My kids had been bugging my for a while to audition for Food Network. They called the restaurant one night and asked to speak to the Chef. I answered and they asked if I would be interested. I said yes then went through about four interviews to see if I was what they were looking for.
When we asked him about the experience, what is was like to be a Food Network star for a day, Terril expained,
The television world is exactly what they tell you it is, make believe. A lot of pre recording and editing goes in to the production of one of these shows. Guy was really cool and I found out that time limit cooking is tougher than it looks. I enjoyed the experience tremendously and would do it again in a heartbeat.
Check out the Food Network’s “Guy’s Grocery Games” website. A description of the episode explains a bit more about the grocery shopping, elimination round, cooking show.
“It’s sur-pie-val of the fittest when four dough throwers compete in a pizza playoff. First, the chefs must cook decadent pizzas featuring the high-priced topping and low-priced cheese chosen by Guy Fieri’s Pizza Wheel. Next, they must grab all the ingredients to make a guilty pleasure pizza with their bare hands. Then, the final two are forced to make a pie that’s “out of the pizza box” because pizza dough is suddenly out of stock! In the end, only one pizza pro gets the dough — up to $20,000!“
Be sure to tune in and see if our local pizza chef takes home some major DOUGH, and bragging rights!
Exposure and attention like this might go a long way if a business wanted to franchise, or rapidly expand. For now that is NOT the plan for Slice. The owners take the motto “Eat Local. Drink Local. Be Local” quite seriously.
They just want to keep offering delicious gourmet pizza, other great menu items and expertly crafted local beers. Slice strives to source as much as possible locally, and to continue to build relationships with their customers. With Birmgham as their focus, Slice will be growing a bit. They will open in Vestavia in 2018!
Since 2011, in Birmingham’s Lakewood neighborhood, Slice has introduced customers to their unique take on pizza, its gourmet and there are some unusual choices, like Brazelton’s signature Soul Pie, which features black-eyed peas and collards.
Slice also offers the classic pizza flavors that we all are familiar with. The ambiance is cozy but fresh at the same time. The bar area is smack dab in the middle of the dining room, and creates a great bustling vibe.
Tune in Sunday night. Slice is already a local star, let’s see if Terrill Brazelton takes home the dough!
