Students After Wowing Gordon Ramsay, Student Chef Is Really Cooking Stories You May Like In Asheville, Chef Katie Button ’05 Serves Up Hope After Helene Hotelie Aims to Bring Brown Butter to a Dairy Case Near You Chef Irene Li ’12, BA ’15, Marries Culinary Verve and Social Action Meet Hotelie Arnav Kamulkar ’26, who ran a pop-up restaurant and self-published a cookbook while still in high school Editor's note: Scroll down for a Mexican-Indian fusion recipe from Chef Arnav! By Melissa Newcomb Arnav Kamulkar ’26 has created gourmet dinners in fraternity house kitchens and turned his childhood home into a restaurant serving six-course meals. And the Hotelie’s culinary skills have landed him a variety of even-more-notable gigs while still a student—including cooking for NFL players and competing on a TV show headlined by notoriously exacting celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay. In spring 2025, Kamulkar finished seventh out of 24 contestants on season four of Fox’s “Next Level Chef.” Fox TVGetting some tips from Chef Ramsay. Lorraine O’Sullivan / FOXMaking pasta during the show's team audition phase. Fox TVAwaiting the judges' verdict. The competition pits teams comprising a mix of home cooks, professionals, and social media food stars against each other in various challenges. The teams are formed after the hopefuls audition for the show's celebrity chefs, each of whom recruits cooks from the three categories of competitors. Ramsay recruited Kamulkar for his own team—lauding his energy, attitude, and “absolute focus.” Ramsay recruited Kamulkar for his own team—lauding his energy, attitude, and “absolute focus.” Under the pro's tutelage, the young chef made a variety of dishes, including butter-poached lobster tail with saffron pasta and roasted rib eye with parsnip puree. “It was a surreal experience,” Kamulkar says of appearing on the show. “My biggest takeaway was learning how to be more creative with food—because you don’t have time to go through cookbooks for inspiration when you have 30 seconds to frantically grab ingredients and then develop a dish.” A young Kamulkar at the stove. Interested in cooking since childhood, Kamulkar was a sophomore in high school when he decided he wanted to become a chef. His parents helped him test his passion by transforming their Edison, NJ, home into a weekend pop-up restaurant offering international cuisine. As a highschooler, presenting dishes to al fresco diners at his home restaurant. Dubbed Fork in the Road, it hosted family and friends—and was booked months in advance. “My mom was my sous chef and my dad was the server,” recalls Kamulkar, who currently has more than 14,000 followers on Instagram. “It taught me and my parents that I loved doing this, because I spent every second of my time on it.” In the kitchen at Phi Kappa Tau. At age 16, Kamulkar self-published a cookbook, Chef Arnav’s Signature Guide to Gourmet Cooking. It offers a sampling of globally inspired dishes, from shrimp tacos to chicken bao buns, palak khichdi (an Indian stew of spinach and lentils) to “deconstructed tiramisu.” Kamulkar continued his culinary adventures on the Hill, launching an enterprise that caters elaborate meals for fellow students in their dorms and apartments—complete with curated music playlists that complement the courses. He also cooks for his Phi Kappa Tau fraternity brothers and runs a meal-prep business. “My dream is to open my own restaurant,” says Kamulkar, who’s interning as a dining room manager in a NYC bistro in summer 2025, aiming to broaden his experience. “And I will keep taking life one step at a time until I figure it out.” My dream is to open my own restaurant. And I will keep taking life one step at a time until I figure it out. Stories You May Like In Asheville, Chef Katie Button ’05 Serves Up Hope After Helene Hotelie Aims to Bring Brown Butter to a Dairy Case Near You But what was it like to compete on a "Next Level Chef" team led by Ramsay—a taskmaster notorious for his tirades on shows like "Hell's Kitchen"? "He was very sweet," Kamulkar says. "There’s a lot more to him than what you see on TV—though I did get yelled at a bit, too. He always expected the best from us, and would help us if we messed up." Among Kamulkar’s other notable gigs, gleaned through connections he made on “Next Level Chef”: helping cook for a NASCAR race’s VIP event, and spending several weeks as a private chef to four NFL players during their offseason training. “I was under a lot of pressure,” Kamulkar recalls, “but that’s where I shine.” One of Kamulkar's creations: braised beets with homemade ricotta, dill oil, and cherry gastrique. Tostones Rellenos with Maggi Aioli (Adapted from Chef Arnav's Signature Guide to Gourmet Cooking) Ingredients For the tostones: 3 green plantains, peeled and cut into 2-inch rounds Vegetable oil 1 medium tomato 1 lime, juiced ½ small onion ½ jalapeño Small handful cilantro Salt to taste For the Maggi aioli: ½ c. mayonnaise ½ c. Maggi Hot & Sweet Tomato Chili Sauce ½ tsp. garlic powder Instructions Pour oil into a deep skillet or sauté pan until it comes up about 1–1½ inches. Bring oil to 350 °F over medium-high heat. Test by putting a scrap of plantain in the oil; once it sizzles actively, carefully use tongs to add plantain rounds until the pan is full, but not crowded. Fry plantains for about 4–5 minutes, flipping periodically until they’re not quite golden brown. Remove from oil, drain on a plate lined with paper towels, and sprinkle lightly with salt. Once cooled, put each plantain piece between two small bowls that nestle together, forming it into a cup shape. (Alternatively, you can use a traditional press called a tostonera.) To make the aioli, combine the three ingredients. (Maggi chili sauce can be found wherever Indian groceries are sold.) Finely chop tomato, onion, cilantro, and jalapeño, and combine with lime juice. Season with salt to taste, and stuff into tostones cups. Serve with Maggi aioli. (All images provided, unless otherwise indicated.) Published May 23, 2025 Leave a Comment Cancel replyOnce your comment is approved, your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *Comment * Name * Class Year Email * Save my name, email, and class year in this browser for the next time I comment. Δ Other stories You may like Alumni Alum Scores as Team Owner in First Women’s Pro Volleyball League Alumni Remembering ‘a Fighter, and an Activist for the Hungry and Poor’ Campus & Beyond The ‘Morris Worm’: A Notorious Chapter of the Internet’s Infancy