Help Connor Rynning on his culinary quest to win Favorite Chef contest

For Connor Rynning, his journey began with a rumbling stomach.

“I was just hungry one day, so I picked up a cookbook,” said Rynning, a Grafton High School graduate. “It turned out to be the best thing I ever did. When you start cooking, it really opens you up to different flavors.”

For the former construction worker, 26, simple meals expanded into experimentation and he found his calling. He joined his father at Chef Louie’s, a corporate caterer at Staples, and expanded his culinary horizons even further.

“I finally found my niche in barbecue,” he said. “Up at Wachusett, the have a huge food festival every year. I was hanging around the barbecue trucks and thought ‘I could do this better.’”

Rynning’s thoughts turned to a food truck — and he stumbled upon a contest called Favorite Chef, which gives a $50,000 prize to an up and coming chef to fund their dreams, along with a two-page spread in Bon Appetit magazine. With just a few more days before the next round, Rynning is now in second place in his group.

How can his hometown help? Go and vote on his page.

“It’s absolutely humbling to have so many people supporting me,” he said.

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