Local chef Gavin Kaysen is planning to have friends, family and staff from his kitchen at El Bizcocho restaurant at the Rancho Bernardo Inn over Sunday night to watch his television debut on the Food Network's latest reality series, "America's Next Iron Chef."

"We're all going to cook on Saturday, make some salads and maybe I'll make some pizza and stuff," he said of the gathering for the show, which will air at 9 p.m. Sunday. "I have seen about three-quarters of the first show, but I can't tell you anything other than that it was an absolute blast - an amazing experience - and how many people it takes to run a TV show and how much makeup it takes to make me look even younger."

Kaysen, 28, who made headlines this year when he was named one of Food and Wine magazine's best new chefs and competed for the United States in Lyons, France at the Bocuse d'Or, will be one of eight talented contestants to vie for the title of "America's Next Iron Chef."

"Iron Chef America" is a Food Network show starring celebrity chefs Mario Batali, Masaharu Morimoto, Cat Cora and Bobby Flay. Each week a chef challenges one of the Iron Chefs to a culinary battle. The winner of "Next Iron Chef" will join the ranks of "Iron Chef America."

In the first episode of the series, the chefs compete to see who has the fastest knife in the kitchen as well as who can create the best dessert by using a secret ingredient - without using butter or sugar.

"It is such an intense experience," recalled Kaysen. "We didn't have a clue what we would have to do. Every day, when we walked onto the set and they said, 'Action' … they would tell you the rules of the challenge and you are trying to listen but you are also looking at the ingredients and trying to think what you could do with them."

Three of the other contestants also are from California: Jill Davie, executive chef at Josie in Santa Monica; Traci des Jardin from Jardiniere, Mijata and Acme Chophouse in San Francisco; and Chris Cosentino from San Francisco's Incanto. The others are John Besh from Restaurant August, Besh Steak, L¸ke and La Provence in New Orleans; Morou Ouattara from Farrah Olivia in Washington, D.C.; Aaron Sanchez from Centrico and Paladar in New York; and Michael Symon from Lola and Lolita, Cleveland.

"A lot of those other guys are owners," said Kaysen. "I mean, Mike Symon runs an empire. Josie does, too. I think that's (a) big difference between this and 'Top Chef.' "

"Iron Chef America" is the Food Network's answer to Bravo's top TV hit "Top Chef," though Kaysen doesn't think much of the comparison.

"This is very serious about the food, and it needs to be very well respected," he said. "This person becomes an Iron Chef and will take on challengers every week. They have to prove themselves. And though obviously there are comparisons between the two shows - it is reality TV, and it's (about) chefs - this show is very different and, I've got to say, way better."

Kaysen said other differences are that the cameras do not follow the contestants every waking moment, and the six episode series took only a couple of weeks in July to shoot.

"For me personally, it was such a humbling experience. We had a little time to sit in the green room and pick their brains," said Kaysen of his competitors.

"One day, I said something like, 'I read all the books about you when I was in high school' to Mike (Symon) … and he told me he had jeans older than me."

Kaysen was invited by the Food Network to compete on "Next Iron Chef" when the network's executives saw him on the "Today" show being interviewed about the Bocuse d'Or. The show is hosted by Food Network star Alton Brown, who will be joined by judges Michael Ruhlman (cookbook author), Andrew Knowlton (editor of Bon Appetit magazine) and Donatella Arpaia (New York restaurateur).

The season finale is set for Nov. 11.

- Contact staff writer Ruth Marvin Webster at (760) 740-3527 or rwebster@nctimes.com.