I am Chris Santos, I've created 3 top-rated restaurants in NYC, I am a judge on Food Network's Chopped and I only have 3 days until I open my first restaurant in Vegas. Ask Me Anything!

Who is your favorite Chopped co-star? And tell us why it's Alex.

I love this! Actually, Alex is my official work wife on set! We spend 12-14 long hours with each other everyday.....cracking each other up, bickering, making up and then starting all over again. I love her!

Hey Chef. It's a bit of an open secret that on Iron Chef, challengers are given a heads-up regarding the mystery ingredient. Is the same true on Chopped, do they get a few minutes to think before they have to go darting into the pantry?

100% no. In fact, the judges don't even find out the ingredients until right before. Typically the judges get about 30 minutes to look at the basket and figure out if it is too complicated for the allotted time. Recently there was eel and artichoke in an early basket (20 min). You can't properly clean and prep eel and artichoke and still have time to make something in 20 min, so we swapped one of the ingredients out.

But the contestants get their baskets and we start filming, there isn't much time to think!

Is Amanda Freitag being held hostage by Food Network producers? Does she need me to call someone?

I don't know but now I'm concerned, I'll text her and find out

If you were a spice, what would you be and why?

Wow. Um. If I was spice I would be ground ghost pepper because I'm obsessed with all things hot sauce related, and I have the palate to absorb that kind of shit. I put some kind of hot spice on everything...I basically view food in my personal life as a hot sauce delivery system.

Hi Chef Santos! You are so fun to watch on chopped! Love the badass persona you bring.

What is your favorite tattoo that you have?

(And if you are actually dating our beloved Alex give us a sign!!)

https://imgur.com/a/Pp1QS

This is my favorite tat, lady luck. A carefree gypsy of a woman drinking a glass of red wine while sitting on top of a horseshoe that I got on a Friday the 13th, though ironically I can't really see it since it's on the back of my arm. She's brought me nothing but luck and success ever since.

What's the most disgusting thing you've eaten on chopped?

Sea Urchin. Can't stand it.

When I used to watch Chopped it seemed like you all used the word "egregious" constantly. So much so I turned it into a drinking game. If I started watching the show again could I go back to getting drunk or has everyone wised up to the overuse of that word?

Wow, that must be some drinking game, as the editors love to edit in the word egregious egregiously. Thinking how many shots you have had to take playing that game is getting me drunk right now.

Hey Chris!

Myself and my wife are just about to move to NY, and Beauty and Essex is top of our list to check out.

What's the one menu item we have to try?

Full disclosure: we will be trying more than one... (!)

All the best in Vegas.

Hard to pick one...try as many as you can.

My favorite though is the roasted bone marrow with the shallot marmalade...maybe my favorite thing to eat period.

Grilled Cheese, Smoked Bacon & Tomato Soup Dumplings !!!!

Oh hey JLev!

What was the best meal you ever ate?

I don't know that I can really single out one meal, as I've spent the last 30 years of my life eating every day, but I recently had the opportunity to go to SE Asia for the first time, going down dark alleys looking for the very best street food I could find. I can't pin a specific meal, but those 3 weeks were the best 3 weeks of eating in my entire life.

Favorite dish to make?

Chilaquiles, a traditional Mexican Hangover cure, which is made with crispy fried corn tortillas, tossed in a sauce like salsa verde (or any kind of salsa).

Then you can add anything, all kinds of hot sauces, cheese, egg sunny side up, chicken, or really anything you can imagine. I even eat it when I'm not hungover.

What keeps your love for cooking alive? I absolutely love cooking for myself and others and have been told I should take some classes to try to turn it into a career, but feel I would end up resenting it when placed into a job environment where I have to do it all the time.

YES! THIS!

Cooking at home and cooking in a restaurant is very different. At this point in my life I spend as much time fixing leaks, analyzing payroll, making sure that the music is not too loud, the lighting is just right, etc. Things they won't teach you in cooking school.

The thing that keeps me going is the team around me and the collaborative effort that goes into making our menu every day. The satisfaction one gets cooking a meal for someone and seeing them truly enjoy it is an internal feeling that you can't learn in any school, and if you really love doing it then you should do it for as many people as you can, either in your personal life or professionally.

Congrats on the new restaurants. I'm a huge fan. Do you have a hard time presenting your opinion of the food on Chopped in a constructive way? Has anything been SO bad, you don't want to say anything?

It certainly can be challenging at times. Usually speaking the food is quite good, even if presentation suffers due to the clock running out. But yes occasionally there is something that just isnt successful and you always need to have a compassion when you are essentially breaking someone's heart in a way. Still I feel being direct, and truthful about what happened is the best route and remind the chef that they need to not let one dish , prepared in a really crazy environment, define who they are as a chef!

If you had to eat fast food where would you go and what would you pick off the menu?

In-N-Out, 2x4. No lettuce, I don't do greens on my burgers, just tomatoes.

Chef Santos, what was the strangest ingredient you've seen on chopped?

Doesn't get much stranger than rocky mountain oysters, which are, of course, bull testicals. My biggest fear however is my hardcore extreme spider phobia, and I have nightmares of cooking in the chopped kitchen and finding tarantulas in there. After seeing spiders served in Cambodia recently, I'm acutely aware that this is a possibility.

What is the last band you moshed for?

Great question. Hatebreed at Mayhem Rockstar Energy Festival last summer. Lead singer Jamey Jasta basically threw me into the pit so I had no choice

best pizza in NYC?

People think I'm crazy when I say this, but there's a little hole in the wall in Penn Station called Don Pepi. Sometimes I'll book a train ticket just as an excuse to get a slice.

Hey chef Santos! What are your top 3 places to eat when in LV? They don't even have to be on the Strip. Also, favorite gentlemen's club?

1. Jaleo at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas is great (and our new neighbors)
2. A little off the beaten path, my favorite steak is Chef Barry's Signature Steak at N9ne at the Palms.
3. And maybe a little cliche, In and Out, since we don't have them on the east coast.

And as far as gentlemen's clubs, I haven't been to all of them yet so I can't pick a favorite!

What's your favorite food related tv show to watch other than your own?

Believe it or not I don't watch any food TV. After spending 12-14 hours a day surrounded by food, it's kind of the last thing I want to do. I will watch Family Guy or any UFC fights that might be on.

Even though the NY restaurants have been successful, are you nervous for your first Vegas location?

Nope. Every new restaurant opening brings a unique set of anxiety, but I feel really confident that Beauty & Essex is the perfect brand for the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, the look and feel of the hotel and the restaurant are almost scarily well aligned.

The challenge now is that I can't be in every single one of my restaurants every day, which has been my life for the last 20 years. I expect to pick up a ton of frequent flyers miles though, so that's cool.

Hey Chris, who are some of your favorite metal bands, past and current?

Slayer, Deftones, and of course Black Sabbath.

Okay first off, now I have to go to Vegas. Beauty & Essex in New York City is my favourite food experience so far in my life.

Now for the question - What gave you the idea to do the Pawn shop as the front for Beauty & Essex?

The original B&E is located on the Lower East Side of NYC, a traditionally gritty part of NYC. The first idea was to do a vintage bodega that would be a portal into our restaurant. But a grocery store isn't really that sexy...then we started thinking about a pawn shop, and from there we thought we could focus on jewelry and really align it with the neighborhood and feel of the restaurant.

What are some (perhaps easy-ish) tips to elevate my cooking at home?

Hot sauce. Hot sauce everywhere.

What is your favorite "easy to make" dish?

Tacos, though there's nothing easy about making them properly

Hey Chef! I'm a HUGE fan! My girlfriend and I watch you on Chopped ALL the time! We were in NY for spring break and were lucky enough to go to Vandal! So delicious, oh my god. Unfortunately it was a night you weren't there but we got to meet and talk to Jonathan, which was rad. My question for you is what is region of the world influences your cooking the most?? (Bonus question, what's your favorite dish from the region?)

Jonathan is the man.

Mexico, I travel there often and there's nothing more noble in cooking than a perfectly executed taco. It seems simple, but there's incredible complexity to the art form and I've learned so much from eating tacos on the beach in mexico.

First off, I love the Stanton Social. Awesome place!

If you could make one change on Chopped, what would it be?

I love Stanton Social too, it was my first baby and I can't believe it just turned 11.

If I could change anything on Chopped, I'd go back to all the episodes I competed in and win.