NEW FOOD NETWORK CULINARY COMPETITION SERIES COOKS VS. CONS

The Total Tutor Neil Haley will interview Geoffrey Zakarian. Thursday, March 17th at 9pm ET/PT

The recipe for Food Network's newest series calls for elite cooking skills, agility and adaptability, all simmered with a dash of mystery as a combination of home cooks and trained professionals, whose true identities are concealed, battle it out on new culinary competition Cooks vs. Cons, premiering on Thursday, March 17th at 9pm ET/PT on Food Network. Geoffrey Zakarian hosts the action as the competitors are tested in two rounds of challenges to create enticing entrees that must impress a rotating panel of judges, including Kardea Brown, Josh Elkin, Graham Elliot and Daphne Oz. With a level playing field, the judges will determine the winner based on taste and presentation, and only after the decision has been made will the contestants reveal their true identities.

Geoffrey Zakarian is an Iron Chef and a master of modern American cuisine. He has presided over some of the country's top kitchens in the past 25 years. Currently, Geoffrey is chef and partner at The Lambs Club and The National in New York City and Greenwich, Connecticut as well as the culinary lifestyle consultant at The Water Club at Borgata in Atlantic City. In August 2013, he was named culinary director at The Plaza, New York City's most-iconic hotel, and as part of that role oversees The Palm Court, The Oak Room & The Oak Bar, The Rose Club, The Champagne Bar and In-Room Dining. Outside of the kitchen, he is an accomplished cookbook author of the bestsellers Geoffrey Zakarian's Town / Country andMy Perfect Pantry: 150 Easy Recipes from 50 Essential Ingredients. In addition, he is also a co-host of The Kitchen and Top 5 Restaurants, a judge on Chopped, and has appeared on Guilty Pleasures on Food Network. He presently resides in New York City, and serves as Chairman of the City Harvest Food Counci