This Boise chef just won a Food Network show. Guy Fieri and judges ‘squealed for more’
A Boise chef brought home the bacon after competing on a Food Network reality show.
Basquenese co-owner Barbie Larrinaga left with a check for $15,950 after winning on “Guy’s Grocery Games.” The show, hosted by celebrity chef Guy Fieri, pits four contestants against each other in a challenge that combines grocery shopping and high-stakes cooking.
The episode, “Bad to the Bacon,” premiered Wednesday — and was packed with Fieri’s gleeful puns. Think “hampicked” chefs, “swine dining” and judges “squealing for more.” (And, yes, “bringing home the bacon.”)
Ridiculous or not, it’s fun to watch. Assuming, of course, you can handle the usual reality-TV melodrama. (When Larrinaga — aka “Bacon Barbie” — accidentally drops a baguette on the floor, it is a heart-stopping moment. “Oh my gosh!” she says. “Oh nooo!” a judge laments.)
Offering both Basque and Vietnamese cuisine since 2023, Basquenese first earned a following as a food trailer parked in Garden City. Earlier this year, Barbie and her husband, co-owner Matthew Larrinaga, expanded to the Warehouse Food Hall, 370 S. 8th St., in downtown Boise.
That’s where Barbie will host a watch party at 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 27, according to Basquenese’s Instagram page. If you can’t make it to the festivities, check your TV listings. Like other Food Network shows, the “Bad to the Bacon” episode is airing in reruns. You can also buy it for $1.99 on YouTube.
Either way, plan to visit Basquenese at some point. As the judges discovered on Food Network, Barbie’s banh mi will make you want to, um, pig out.
(That one was for you, Fieri.)
“I cannot believe I just won,” Barbie says at the end of “Guy’s Grocery Games.” “To be a Vietnamese woman, and coming on the show, and being able to win against three incredible chefs ... I am so proud.”
This story was originally published October 24, 2024 at 2:32 PM.