S.B. Tech Execs Featured on Food Network Show
Filming Was Peppered with Bit of Drama But Finished with Dash of Success
Some of Santa Barbara’s most well-known digital entrepreneurs found themselves on the new Food Network reality show, Private Chefs of Beverly Hills, while elegantly camping at Lake Cachuma. The series is a “docu-soap,” and involves six chefs cooking for wealthy, upper-class people all over the country.
On the weekend of January 23-24, Santa Barbara techies Daryl Bernstein, Eric Greenspan, Mike Lewis, Mark Sylvester, Palmer Jackson Jr., and John Greathouse participated in “glamping,” short for “glamorous camping.” They stayed in yurts, which are tent-like, cylinder-shaped structures covered in skins and wool. These fancy yurts, found on the bluffs overlooking Lake Cachuma, include lighting, heating, and platform beds.
Accompanying these lavish accommodations was a camera crew and gourmet food prepared by private chefs Jesse Brune (from Bravo TV’s Work Out), Manouschka Guerrier, Brian Hill (former contestant on Top Chef), Stuart O’Keeffe, Sasha Perl-Raver, and Brooke Peterson. The dishes served included whole barbecued trout, salmon, and a couscous vegetable dish. These chefs, all from the private chef placement agency Big City Chefs, will continue to be documented catering to wealthy clientele on Private Chefs of Beverly Hills.
According to Eric Greenspan, president of area electronic company Make It Work, there was some drama between the chefs and the clientele: There were a couple of moments, he said, when clientele got impatient with the chefs because they reportedly weren’t really on top of things. “For example,” he said, “we were kept waiting, they had temperature issues, etc. But eventually the chefs came full circle and closed the last night off well. We invited them to our next meet-up, should it happen, in Cabo San Lucas.”
The Food Network found this group of digital executives under the title “superfriends” on the website meetup.com, which serves as a networking and communication utility for different happenings across the nation.
According to Greenspan, a member of “superfriends,” camping served as the perfect outlet for these businessmen to discuss life and success without the distraction of cell phones and computers.
The show will debut on the Food Network on Friday at 10:00 p.m.