'Knife Fight' With Ilan Hall Set To Debut In September And We're Excited

When we spoke with Los Angeles chef and recovering Top Cheftestant Ilan Hall in April, he was readying the debut of his Esquire Network cooking competition show, Knife Fight. Having been given an advanced screener of the first episode, we were fans of the show then, as we are now. Filmed on location at his downtown restaurant The Gorbals, the show matches up two chefs (mostly Los Angeles-based, well-scrubbed and friends of Hall) in a cooking competition judged by celebrities like Drew Barrymore and Elijah Wood, as well as chefs including Michael Voltaggio. It all feels very organic and raw, but with the high production standards of broadcast television.

"There are a lot of great shows that are entertaining and informative, but I think people are scared to put some things on broadcast TV and Esquire Network wasn't," said Hall. Delays in the Esquire Network rollout bumped the show's debut from April 23 to September 24. Here's a newly released preview.