Astoria resident and cook, Diane DiMeo, is a contestant on ABC's The Taste

Image source: Diane DiMeo – Diane is on the left

Over the weekend we watched a rerun of The Taste, a new prime-time cooking competition show on ABC. So imagine our pleasant surprise to see via the NY Daily News that contestant Diane DiMeo is from Astoria! She’s on Anthony Bourdain’s team, no less – who has also visited Astoria in the past. She’s also a self-taught cook that has had experience cooking for big groups and working in restaurant kitchens.

Her food has been dubbed “big and bold” by another one of the show’s judges, Chef Brian Malarkey. She appeared on the show “Chopped” two times, and won one of the times.

She also plans to open a seafood restaurant in Astoria soon.

She’s definitely confident and expresses herself in a pungent way at times. On the episode on comfort food, she thought her meatballs (pork and beef with a red pepper sauce) were pretty “amazing.”

Astoria chef trash talks it up on ABC’s “The Taste” [NYDN]