‘Selena + Restaurant’ is a spinoff of Gomez’s Food Network show ‘Selena + Chef’
Selena Gomez might have moved out of her kitchen and into the restaurant scene but she still keeps it real.
In the actress’s new Food Network show Selena + Restaurant, which premiered on May 2, she explores buzzy Los Angeles restaurants and learns from their chefs. The six-episode series is a spinoff of her show, Selena + Chef, both of which are available to stream on Max.
On the May 9 episode, Gomez heads to Hollywood hotspot Lemon Grove to learn from Marcel Vigneron. PEOPLE has an exclusive look into the delicious dishes they create and the blunt comments that come with making them.
The Rare Beauty founder is joined by her longtime friend Raquelle Stevens in Vigneron’s kitchen. The pair are equipped with safety goggles — and the gear alone proves that the dishes on the new series will be less conventional than what she made on Selena + Chef.
Vigneron guides Gomez, who is also wearing gloves and an apron, to put blackberries into liquid nitrogen.
“Sel, I feel like you’re in a music video right now with the glasses and the smoke,” Stevens jokes.
After flash-freezing the berries, the Top Chef alum tells Gomez to put them into a plastic bag.
“Do I smash it? Because I really want to use this,” she says, picking up a meat pounder, and Vigneron confirms her suspicions.
Gomez hits the blackberries, breaking apart the “individual cells.” Vigneron is closely watching to make sure she does so safely.
“This is for sure getting out some anger,” Gomez says gleefully, getting a little carried away before Vigneron stops her.
“You’re looking pretty good there, Chef,” he says, clueing the “Lose You to Love Me” singer to stop. He then tells her to put the “blackberry caviar” into a cup and set it aside.
Vigneron explains that the concept behind his experimental dessert is a full moon. He spoons a blackberry puree to the bottom of a plate which “represents the night sky,” he says.
He continues, adding two dark-colored cake pieces to the puree. “And then our black sesame cloud is kind of, you know, a cloud,” he says.
“I’m sorry, before you continue, what the hell is that?” Gomez politely interrupts with her brow furrowed.
Vigneron happily explains that it is a black sesame praline sponge cake and Stevens replies, “Yum!” Gomez then sprinkles the “blackberry caviar” on the puree to represent stars before Vigneron adds the final element: a coconut semifreddo as the “full moon.” With that, the dish is complete and the friends cannot contain themselves.
“What the hell?” Gomez repeats while Stevens excitedly exclaims, “Woah!”
In the series premiere on May 2, Gomez and Stevens learned a spicy seafood dish from Wolfgang Puck at his restaurant CUT Steakhouse in Beverly Hills.
According to a press release about the show, the “ultimate goal” will be for Gomez to create a dish “good enough to make each restaurant’s menu.”
“After cooking mostly virtually from my kitchen with some of the best chefs for the last four years, I was thrilled to step into their world,” Gomez said in the release. “You’ll have to see if being in person helped my skills at all.”
Later episodes will feature chefs like Shirley Chung, Andrew and Michelle Muñoz, Keith Corbin and Stephanie Izard. Just like Selena + Chef, the chefs will choose a charity to highlight and receive a donation from the show.
New episodes of Selena + Restaurant air at 7 p.m. ET/PT on Food Network and stream on Max.
