Chapel Hill chef Sera Cuni fell short of winning a top prize on a Food Network game show, but still turned it into an opportunity to fundraise.

Cuni, the head chef of the Root Cellar restaurant, competed in an episode of “Guy’s Grocery Games” that aired on Wednesday.

 

Hosted by renowned chef and television personality Guy Fieri, “Guy’s Grocery Games” is a competitive cooking show where four chefs prepare food based on specific challenges, with ingredients found in the show’s own supermarket. Cuni’s episode on Wednesday was a “redemption” themed episode since she and the other contestants finished second in their prior episodes.

Cuni survived the double-elimination first round that left her only 20 minutes to complete the meal. Her first meal, a salad with a poached egg, bacon, blackberries and a ghost pepper vinaigrette, earned praise for the cooking of the egg.

The final round added an additional challenge: using only ten total ingredients to cook a chicken dinner. Cuni went with fried chicken livers tacos with a spicy marshmallow sauce and pickled red onions. Her score fell just short, though, of earning the better score and a chance to win $20,000.

Cuni’s episode served as an inspiration for the Root Cellar to hold a fundraiser. The restaurant hosted a viewing party of the episode at the Lumina Theater in Southern Village, with proceeds from the event going to the CORA Food Pantry in Chatham County.

According to organizers, the event raised $300 for CORA, as well as collected several canned goods for the nonprofit TABLE.

The Root Cellar has locations at Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in Chapel Hill and Suttles Road in Pittsboro where it offers a made-from-scratch menu.

Photo via The Root Cellar/The Splinter Group.

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