Saugerties Chef In the Running for $50,000 Prize

It looks like one of the Hudson Valley’s favorite chefs just might be everybody’s favorite chef. Ric Orlando, who owned New World American Cooking in Saugerties for years, is one of the favorites to win $50,000 in the Feeding America Favorite Chef national competition. 

Ric has made it to the top ten and voting for the top 5 ends this Thursday, March 11 at 6PM. Final voting for the contest will on April 8. If Chef Orlando wins he not only gets the cash, but also a 2 page spread in a national food magazine. Not too shabby. And thousands of dollars will also benefit Feeding America, a hunger relief organization that helps the hungry right here in the United States.

Ric has been the winner of Food Network’s Chopped show and he also appeared on Beat Bobby Flay. I actually watched him on television beating Bobby Flay at making latkes. Many of us here in the Hudson Valley know Ric from his days of owning New World Home Cooking, a great restaurant that was in that perfect Saugerties/Woodstock area of Ulster County. You could always count on New World for delicious food at reasonable prices. And a good time. Always a good time.

So, let's wish good luck to the Hudson Valley’s very own celebrity chef Ric Orlando. We’ll find out this week if he makes it to the top 5. And he promises that if he wins, he’ll throw a big post-covid party and everyone’s invited. Hope to see you there.