Oxygen reality show Naughty Chef gives Dallas chef Blythe Beck her 15 minutes

by Teresa Gubbins

DALLAS — While the list of Dallasites who've participated in reality shows is long, none have occupied the front-and-center role that chef Blythe Beck will assume in the new "docu-drama," The Naughty Kitchen With Chef Blythe Beck, which debuts on Tuesday on the Oxygen network.

Until now, the locals-on-reality-shows field has consisted of people who've been mere contestants competing on shows, with some such as pop-rock singer Kelly Clarkson, who won the first season of American Idol, achieving great success, and others such as Lisa Garza, Casey Thompson, and Tre Wilcox, carving out smaller doses of fame.

But Beck is the star of this show. For more than a year, two to three film crews have been following her around as she manages the kitchen at Central 214, the restaurant located inside Hotel Palomar at Mockingbird Lane and US-75 in Dallas.

Anyone who's dined there in the past few months was warned at the entrance by a sign stating that the show was being taped and to enter meant you gave your approval to be filmed. Diners appeared thrilled, mugging for the cameras and offering the "thumbs up" gesture when their food was delivered.

The staff became Beck's supporting cast, in a format that's similar to The Restaurant, the infamous behind-the-scenes reality show about Rocco's restaurant in New York starring chef Rocco DiSpirito.

That show ended up creating a tension between Dispirito and owner Jeffrey Chodorow so deep that it eventually shut the place down. But that was all the way back in 2003. People have developed a better understanding of the "benefits" of reality TV, including a spike in business.

"We all get along so well that I didn't expect anything bad would happen," Beck says. "But the show has already affected our success -- we are getting busier and people are fired up to come meet me."

Meanwhile, here's the official one-paragraph blurb:

Beck's life has already switched into overdrive, with stories in all the local press as well as a piece in the September 12 issue of Star magazine. On Sunday, she presided over a float at the "Pride" Parade on Cedar Springs, and this week she's in New York to ring in the premiere.

The show is produced by Authentic Entertainment, a Los Angeles-based production company whose track record is impressive, including Food Network's Ace of Cakes, another behind-the-scenes show following a chef; House & Garden programs such as My First Home; and Bravo channel's Flipping Out -- all verging on a car wreck, all supremely watchable.