As Sara Mair prepared to go on the hit reality show Top Chef 3 Miami, her good friend Tina Matalon gave her one piece of advice. “Don’t get kicked off on the first episode!” And Mair kept her word. With the first episode safely behind her, Mair can breathe a small sigh of relief. “I feel amazing,” she tells Thursday Food via telephone from New York, following the premiere of the show on Bravo, Friday last.

Kingston-born, Mair’s culinary journey made stops at some of Miami’s trendiest and finest dining establishments, including stints at Mark’s Place with Chef Mark Militello – one of the forefathers of New Florida Cuisine – Sous Chef appearances at Tantra and the Strand with Michelle Bernstein – the darling of Miami’s gastronomical New American scene – and finally at Ortanique on the Mile, where she worked with Cindy Hutson as Chef de Cuisine. Following this she segued into her real passion – cheese – which brought her back to Jamaica where she plans to start a cheese farm. It was here that she received the phone call, which arrived thanks to her close working relationship with Bernstein.

Although about 8,000 applicants auditioned for the show, the producers of Top Chef actually approached her. According to judge Tom Colicchio’s blog, on the Bravo website, the application process this year pulled in a score of deeper talent, as fellow chefs were asked to nominate other chefs. Mair was one of those nominated, and following a phone interview, she was invited to Los Angeles. “That was it, really,” she says.

While a reality television show was never something that Mair saw in her cards, she is happy that she did it. “I met a lot of really nice people, who have great talent,” she says. In fact, she adds that working in such an environment of such talented chefs forced everyone to raise their game. “We were all there to win the competition,” she says, “but at the same time a lot of us grew because we challenged ourselves, amongst ourselves as well as to win the competition. We tried to out-challenge each other.” Alongside this challenging environment, Mair, who was not familiar with the show, had no idea what to expect. “I was really green,” she says, “I was fresh, and had no preconceived notions.”

With the competition taking place in her hometown of Miami, was Mair really at an advantage? “While I was familiar with some of the local ingredients of the region that had a Caribbean flavour, the cooking techniques are universal,” she says. Even in the premiere show, where contestants had to create dishes using exotic proteins such as kangaroo, sea urchin, black chicken and frogs’ legs, Mair’s choice of geoduck (also known as the king clam or elephant trunk clam) and black chicken were not totally foreign to her. She had worked with geoduck before, but not for many years, and was also familiar with the characteristics of black chicken.

So, what can we expect from her in this season? “Just gotta watch it,” she says. “The level of talent is amazing. Creating dishes under such tight time constraints makes for good, good TV and good food!”

– LCY