Niagara College grad devours the ‘Top Chef’ competition

Victory was on the menu for Niagara College grad Erica Karbelnik, who was recently crowned the winner of “Top Chef Canada.”

Competing alongside her at the finale was her husband and fellow grad Josh Karbelnik, who cooked his way into the final four chefs on the Food Network Canada show before being eliminated.

The high school sweethearts from Toronto were the first married couple to compete on the reality TV show.

“Winning is surreal,” Karbelnik said.

“You go there with this dream of wanting to win and prove that you’re good at what you do.

“This industry is so hard, you give up so much,” she said.

“But it is a matter of not giving up and fighting for what you want, with cameras in your face, bright lights, and strangers all around you — you need to perform.”

Karbelnik graduated from the culinary management co-op program at the Niagara-on-theLake campus in 2011.

Craig Youdale, dean of the Canadian Food and Wine Institute at Niagara College, said seeing grads build careers and excel in culinary challenges inspires other students to “dream big.”

After graduating, the couple worked in Vancouver for five years before returning to Toronto.

Erica is currently the executive chef of Terrace Restaurant and Josh is the chef de cuisine at the Broadview Hotel.

Full episodes of season 9 of Top Chef Canada are available at www.foodnetwork.ca and can be streamed through STACKTV with Amazon Prime and on the Global TV app.