Matzah ball soup, illustrative. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

A Jewish chef recently won a cook-off against celebrity chef and restaurateur Bobby Flay with matzah ball soup that reminds him of his grandmother, he told The Algemeiner on Wednesday.

On an episode of Food Network‘s “Beat Bobby Flay,” which aired on April 20, restaurant owner and chef Alex Reznik competed against a chef from Nevada before going head-to-head with Flay himself.

Reznik said he decided to make matzah ball soup as his final dish in the competition because he “wanted to do something that incorporated my childhood and where I grew up.”

“My bubbe (Yiddish for grandmother) used to make matzah ball soup all the time…it’s Jewish penicillin,” he continued. “It brought back memories of my grandmother, mother [and] I make it for my daughter.”

Reznik — who is originally from New Jersey — joked, “I live on Delta Airlines” — since he travels frequently to manage the restaurants he is the chef and owner of, which are Bedford Kitchen & Wine Bar NYC, and Ditmas Kitchen & Cocktails in Los Angeles and Boca Raton.

The chef told The Algemeiner of his appearance on Flay’s show, “I’m always proud to represent the Jewish community. One is [for] Hashem…that’s my number one. My number two is obviously my daughter [and] my mother, not to be a little overly dramatic, and obviously my dad is important to my life, and my brother, and the rest of my family.”

He added that keeping to the strict dietary rules of kosher cooking during the competition was difficult for him. “Trust me,” he said, “my hat was really hot. Keeping a hat on during the whole process was very hot.”