Sponsored by: Food Network The stakes are high and the payoffs are sweet in the popular Food Network competition series Wildcard Kitchen. The show features the country’s most elite chefs and serves up a star-studded, after-hours poker game and a series of cooking challenges where the bets, bluffs and trash talking are unmatched. The show is returning for a sizzling second season to the Food Network. Chef Eric Adjepong joins our Laura Cavanaugh to dish on what fans can expect from season two and some of his favorite moments from filming. In Wildcard Kitchen, each chef brings $5,000 to the game where the luck of the draw determines dishes and cooking time. And Adjepong throws his own unexpected challenges into the mix. The star-studded culinary cast in the kitchen and at the poker table include James Beard Award winners, Top Chef All-Stars and culinary titans who all compete in this culinary showdown. Chefs playing against each other include food legends Alex Guarnaschelli, Rocco DiSpirito and Andrew Zimmern; culinary titans Michael Symon, Esther Choi and Marcel Vigneron; James Beard-award winners Karen Akunowicz, Stephanie Izard and Jonathan Sawyer; Chopped judges Tiffani Faison, Amanda Freitag and Geoffrey Zakarian; competition sharks Tiffany Derry, Mei Lin and Brian Malarkey; comfort food connoisseurs Eddie Jackson, Damaris Phillips and Molly Yeh; frenemies Carlos Anthony, Kelsey Bernard Clark and Crista Luedtke; restaurant queens Antonia Lofaso, Ayesha Nurdjajaand Claudette Zepeda and a top-secret trio of returning Wildcard winners. Catch Wildcard Kitchen each week on the Food Network and stream the series on Discovery Plus and Max. This new year is also bringing new opportunities. Chef Eric Adjepong is set to open a new restaurant that celebrates his West African heritage and the food he loves. Elmina, his new upscale restaurant serving contemporary Ghanaian cuisine, is set to open on January 23 in Washington D.C. Adjepong says this passion project is fulfilling a childhood dream. “I’m so excited to be serving West African, Ghanaian food. It’s really a point of pride for me. I can’t wait to share,” said Adjepong. “We have a tasting menu, a bar menu and a brunch menu, a little bit of something for everybody. Bold flavors, amazing hospitality and really pulling from my experiences as chef working in different places, Michelin star restaurants. It’s my baby.”