Cinnaminson Celebrity Chef Lands Dream Gig

Cinnaminson's own celebrity chef George Kyrtatas, co-owner/executive chef of SweetWater and Hathaway's, is used to being a guest on other people's cooking shows. 

Starting this fall, he'll be the star of his own show on PBS.

Well, it's technically not his show, but as full-time host of PBS' Cooking Odyssey, it'll feel like his show. 

Kyrtatas will begin filming episodes of Cooking Odyssey this fall. The program, which just wrapped its second season, is a travel cooking show focused on Mediterranean/Greek fare, and is filmed on location in Greece, taking viewers on a journey through many of the country's regions and exploring the cultures and cuisines of each.

"Every part of Greece has a different story to tell," said Kyrtatas, who is second-generation Greek. 

He appeared as a guest chef during the show's second season, which aired earlier this year on WHYY. He visited the island of Chios (or Xios), the fifth largest of the Greek islands, with then-host Yannis Mameletzis.

"(The producers) just love how I did things and my energy, and everything I brought to the table," Kyrtatas said, explaining why he was chosen as the new host for the next two seasons. 

For the Cinnaminson High School graduate, it's a literal dream come true.

"This is the pinnacle of the on-camera cooking career," he said Thursday. "It's always been a dream of mine to have my own cooking show."

Kyrtatas—who has also appeared on Fox & Friends and will be a contestant on the Food Network's Cutthroat Kitchen this fall—said he had no trepidation about accepting the hosting gig, but admitted he was nervous about leaving his business and his wife and children to go film the show. The producers initially wanted him to stay in Greece for four to five weeks to film the 13-episode season.

"Being that SweetWater is my baby, I couldn't do that," he said. "And also, I couldn't ask that of my partners, and my family."

Fortunately, Kyrtatas made arrangements with the producers to film it over the course of two two-week stints, with several weeks back home in South Jersey in between. His family will take the reins of the restaurant while he's away.

Filming on the show begins in September or October and, if all goes well, the third season will premiere at the beginning of next year. If not, it could be pushed back to next summer, he said. 

Stay tuned to Cinnaminson Patch to find out exactly when the show will air.

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