'Underdog' Chef Dominique Leach Never Doubted Master Of 'Cue Title

CHICAGO — Dominique Leach has always been at her best when she is forced to fight for everything she has and, in competitive settings, when no one considers her the favorite to win.

Leach, the owner of Lexington Betty Smokehouse — located at 756 E. 111st St. in Chicago's Pullman neighborhood – says that she leaned heavily into her role as an underdog while walking away with the title of "Master of 'Cue" in the fourth season of the Food Network competition “BBQ Brawl.”

Leach won the final four challenges in the televised competition, the final episode of which aired on Monday night. Although the competition was filmed earlier this year and required Leach to keep the results a secret until after the finale aired this week, the drama of how the series pitted BBQ masters against one another in a gauntlet of grilling and cooking challenges brought Leach right back into the thick of everything she had endured months before.

Leach, who was paired with chef and Food Network personality Bobby Flay throughout the competition, says she went back and watched episodes of the show as a fan, while knowing what was coming. While moments of the show brought tears and other emotions as she re-lived sometimes tense encounters, ultimately, the experience proved to be an exercise in celebrating who the Chicago-bred, 30-something chef is deep inside.

“I was cheering for myself,” Leach told Patch on Wednesday. “It was an out-of-body experience, and I was cheering for the underdog. Maybe I didn’t look like an underdog to other people, but I knew what I was feeling while I was there.”

Leach says that during the competition, she heard other contenders for the "BBQ Brawl" crown talk in private conversations about who they needed to fear most. She says that in her heart of hearts, she didn’t think anyone involved in the series thought she was going to win. And, after struggling in the early stages of the show when Leach was often forced to cook out of her comfort zone and prepare California barbecue and bulgogi beef, which sometimes put her behind the eight ball and forced her to fight for herself.

But for a chef who served as the kitchen supervisor at the Art Institute of Chicago before moving to places like The Four Seasons Hotel and a $ 12-an-hour job at Spiaggia before opening Lexington Betty as a food truck in 2017 and eventually, a brick-and-mortar location in 2019 after her food truck was set on fire by arsonists, the ability to believe in herself took over.

The confidence in herself, even after underperforming in the series’ first episode, paid off in a major way. The message, Leach said, was simple: If you’re not paying attention, you should, because it looks like I can win this show.

With her confidence as an outstanding chef well-versed in preparing a variety of food outside of smoked meats and barbecue, Leach said that she focused her energy on consistently preparing quality dishes for the show’s judges. Much of that versatility, Leach says, came from her time at Spiaggia — an experience that forced her to elevate her food and her game all at the same time.

Years later, she continues to constantly push herself.

“It’s always my intention to be the best at whatever it is that I do,” Leach said on Wednesday when she did a morning TV news appearance before catering an event at a Chicago law firm before picking up more supplies for a Thursday catering job — all on 3 ½ hours of sleep. “That is what really drives me.”

She added: “I was never worried about not winning the competition …. I just kept encouraging myself every moment and told myself, ‘This is your moment — show the world who you are.’”

During the competition, Leach said she chose to keep her head down and focus on her work rather than trying to portray herself as a reality TV character. She says that she didn’t get wrapped up in what people thought about her. In her mind, she says she told herself that it is OK to be the “villain” who sits and eats by herself. Instead, she looked at her job as going out and beating the competition – all while relying on the underdog spirit that has always guided her.

Along the way, she relied on the counsel of Flay, who was the captain of Leach’s team of competitors. She says that she was inspired by private conversations the two chefs had throughout the series, in which Flay encouraged the Chicago-born chef who grew up in Humboldt Park and who now lives in far South Suburban Lynwood to believe in herself and the abilities that brought her to this point.

In the final episode, Flay and Leach have a private moment in which he encourages her not to sell herself short and to realize her value as a chef. The messages contained nothing new for Leach, who says she has always relied on herself and the spirit of her grandmother — the namesake of Lexington Betty as well as the love and support of friends and loved ones to see her through.

Now, with the "BBQ Brawl" title behind her, Leach will focus on remaining true to herself and her work. She says more TV work with Food Network is cooking, along with other opportunities made possible by the notoriety her previous work as a Food Network judge and personality has provided. In addition to Lexington Betty’s two locations and catering business, Leach also has an expanding product line that can be found in Chicago-area Mariano’s stores.

But her success won’t allow her to stop working hard, Leach said, and certainly won’t keep her from continuing to look at herself as always having something to prove.

“My intention is to get up and win every single day, to serve the best food we possibly can and give some of the best service we possibly can,” Leach told Patch.

She added: “(Past experience) ultimately gave me what I wanted, and that was to hold myself to a standard and confidently say that I'm one of the best at this. I can say that loud and clear and with confidence — that I am one of the best."