What does home mean for me? It's the most important place of our lives. It's where I can properly relax. Chefs don't spend th...
What does home mean for me? It's the most important place of our lives. It's where I can properly relax. Chefs don't spend that much time at home. So when we are at home, we want to relax, enjoy and unwind.
Christina Wilson is one of the most endearing, humble chefs I've ever met, and she puts herself last. It's all about other people. She grew up outside Philadelphia in a close-knit family with three older brothers, and it's an amazing story because before she came to "Hell's Kitchen", she was working in a restaurant and renting this small, intimate 1920s Philadelphia row house.
She was working hard, slogging away 65, 70 hours a week, struggling to pay the rent. She entered the Fox's "Hell's Kitchen" competition back in 2010, and she won it. And the quarter of a million dollars she won in prize money then went on to buy the house that she was renting.
It was the first time ever across this competition that I wanted to employ the winner. Christina Wilson, over the last seven years, has been promoted to my group executive chef, so she runs several businesses. She handles all the businesses in Vegas, she's overseeing our latest opening, it's the first ever Hell's Kitchen restaurant at Caesars Palace.
So she moved from Philly into Vegas, works two weeks on hard in Vegas, runs home for five days, two weeks on, five days home. This home is something that she's never had a chance to reinvest in.
I'm gifting this incredible transformation of a house to Christina Wilson because this lady's so humble, and the amount of time she's in the limelight, she's asked for nothing, and this is the least I can do. I don't live anywhere near Philadelphia, so I turned to Houzz to redesign Christina Wilson's living room, dining room and kitchen.
The big advantage of Houzz is that you can go online and find a pro that understands what's happening in Philadelphia. And can really tailor-make the space that we've got. We found Philly designer Matthew Ferrarini. And now, I'm getting ready to meet him to discuss the renovation and finalize a design plan.
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