Las Vegas chef’s ‘Project’ chokes up viewers, participants

You may not guess it from looking at me, but I'm not that interested in food. Especially not on TV, where the Food Network seems to be all about cuisine this and fusion that. (For the record, the only cuisine I've eaten had the word "lean" in front of it, and the closest I get to fusion is ordering fries with my quesadilla at Del Taco.)

And the whole inspirational thing? That's not exactly me, either. I tend to prefer my TV a shade of dark between charcoal and Dick Cheney's soul.

In other words, give me dirty cop Vic Mackey and some In-N-Out and I'm good. Give me serial killer Dexter Morgan and a box of Ho Hos and I'm even better.

I'm revealing all this -- besides the fact that it's way cheaper than an ad on Match.com -- to illustrate just how surprised I was to be moved by "The Chef Jeff Project" (10 p.m. today, Food Network).

The six-episode reality series finds Las Vegas chef Jeff Henderson -- whose storybook rise from prison inmate to executive chef at Café Bellagio was recounted in his best-selling memoir, "Cooked" -- bringing six at-risk young people into his Posh Urban Cuisine catering company for a "culinary and life skills boot camp."

His goal was to give his students, half of whom already had been in jail, the same sort of training and life-changing experience he only got from spending nearly a decade behind bars.

"These kids, some of them have never been told they're smart, or been hugged, or (told) 'Hey, I believe in you, and I'm gonna give you a shot,' " Henderson says. "And it was very heart-pulling, man, I'm telling you, through the whole show."

"The Chef Jeff Project" begins with each member of Henderson's new crew, whose ages range from 18 to 24, being challenged to make their signature dish, "Hell's Kitchen"-style.

Some, such as Alonzo, who's served time for selling drugs, obviously have had some formal training. And gang member Adam whips up a professional-looking dish he calls South Central Sushi. Then there's Kathy, a former heroin and cocaine addict, who barely can put together a salad.

Henderson, though, is quick to find something encouraging to say about each dish, just another example of how he's changing lives in a meaningful, hands-on way, as opposed to the here's-a-half-million-dollar-house-and-good-luck-paying-the-taxes method favored by most feel-good reality shows.

"It all came very natural, because that's what I do," Henderson says, adding that he's been giving back for nearly 20 years, including during his days as chef de cuisine at Caesars Palace. "I hired a lot of young people. People who had felonies, who just couldn't pass a regular interview. I believed in them and gave them those chances."

The first chance Henderson gives his new crew members is catering an eight-course lunch for the cast of "General Hospital." And seeing each of their faces light up when the actors praise them and take an interest in their lives, I'm not going to lie, I got choked up.

But the biggest chance "The Chef Jeff Project" offers was enough to make even a gangbanger weep: If each of them completes the tasks at hand, they'll receive full two-year scholarships to culinary school.

"For the first time in my life, I wanna accomplish somethin'," says Adam, easily the most volatile of Henderson's students, while choking back tears on today's premiere. "Somethin' positive, somethin' that's not gonna break the rules, you know?"

The students aren't the only ones being rewarded for hard work. There's the potential for a second season of "The Chef Jeff Project" as well as an additional Food Network show for its star. Henderson's first cookbook, "Chef Jeff Cooks: In the Kitchen with America's Inspirational New Culinary Star," comes out Tuesday. Then there's the autobiographical movie, which he says earned him "a really nice seven-figure number" for the rights, that's due late next year or 2010 with Will Smith set to play Henderson.

"The bad boy, hustler, drug dealer, the convict in prison who finds a love of cooking and finds redemption. ... Those are all roles that he's never played before," Henderson says of the different aspects of his life Smith will portray. "And he's in pursuit of that Oscar."

Henderson says he just may be the person to finally give it to him.

After all, he's made a second career out of helping people realize their dreams.

Christopher Lawrence's Life on the Couch column appears on Sundays. E-mail him at clawrence@reviewjournal.com.