East Naples firefighter misses final cut on Live! With Regis and Kelly

NAPLES — East Naples firefighter Craig Weinbaum won’t be cooking in Regis and Kelly’s kitchen any more.

But he plans to keep cooking here in Naples and maybe even write a cookbook.

The driver engineer cooked on Live! with Regis and Kelly on Friday, August 13 and his dish — grilled ahi tuna kabobs with mango salsa — earned him a place in the top five firefighter chefs in the summer Coast-to-Coast Fire House Cook-off. But he didn’t make the cut into the top two.

“I’m feeling great, it was an awesome experience to get as far as I got,” Weinbaum said. “It’s just a blessing to know that there were so many people out there supporting me.”

Weinbaum, 38, submitted his recipe and was excited when he was selected as one of 11 firefighter chefs from around the country to travel to New York and be on the show.

The final two firefighters are Tara Daniels, whose Smokin’ Pear Salad earned her a top two spot, and Ross Signorino who made Rossome Ribs. They will face off in the show’s final cook-off on Friday, August 20 at 9 a.m. on ABC.

Being on the show made life a little crazy for a couple of weeks, Weinbaum said, so he’s happy to be back in his everyday routine. He and his wife have a 2-year-old daughter and a son on the way.

As for his cookbook, the hardest part won’t be coming up with the dishes — it’ll be figuring out the exact proportions.

“I have a lot of recipes, I’ve been cooking for years,” he said. “The problem is that I don’t use any actual recipes, so I’ll have to think about all of them and write them down.”

Some of his favorites are chicken picotta and a one-pound meatloaf where each person gets their own individual meat loaf. That one is always a hit at the firehouse, he said.

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