Food Net dishing out two new culinary reality shows

A new Iron Chef spin-off and yet another outing by Jamie Oliver bow in later this month.

Eight top American chefs will compete in a series of cooking challenges in The Next Iron Chef, a six-part series that goes to air Sunday at 9 pm ET/PT, beginning Oct. 21. Judges are restaurateur Donatella Arpaia, Bon Appetit magazine’s restaurant editor, Andrew Knowlton, and culinary journalist and blogger Michael Ruhlman.

Meanwhile, Jamie Oliver’s new series, Jamie’s Chef, will premiere Oct. 21 in the Sunday 10 pm ET/PT time slot, immediately following The Next Iron Chef. The show is a follow-up to Jamie’s Kitchen, the series about disadvantaged youths being transformed into chefs while apprenticing at Oliver’s London restaurant. In Jamie’s Chef, Oliver and the Fifteen Foundation hand-pick four promising youngsters from among the original graduates to compete for the opportunity to open and run their own restaurant in Essex.