CLIFF CROOKS

Chef Boot Camp Thursdays, 10/9c, Food Network, Discovery+

-  DAMIAN HOLBROOK

FALL IN! CHEF Cliff Crooks (above) is back for a second tour as host of Chef Boot Camp, where the New York-based chef puts struggling professional cooks through a three-day gauntlet of drills designed to up their kitchen skills. If they're lucky, they'll be able to create something as mmm-mmm-good as his ricotta gnocchi dish (below) one day. And if we're lucky, the insightful Crooks will send some our way.

Is it true you've been working in restaurants since you were 15?

Oh, yeah. I started in high school, and not even in the back of the house. I started up front [as a busboy]. I really just love the environment, the people and no two days are the same.

Who was your culinary hero growing up?

In terms of the upper echelon of the food world, Emeril Lagasse was on TV at the time. He was like watching Superman. So, for me, it was Emeril and Julia Child and [watching] Great Chefs of the World. The chefs on that were the best.

What was your boot camp?