Robyn Holbrook’s coworkers react like Pavlov’s dog at the food bowl when she arrives at office birthday celebrations, company potluck lunches and Christmas parties. That is when they’re not searching the breakroom for leftovers. The girl can cook, and those who were not familiar with her kitchen wizardry, learned of her popularity this summer when she was voted to the semi-finals of the 2023 Carla Hall’s America’s Favorite Chef competition.

The online contest, presented by renowned chef and Food Network celebrity Carla Hall, is a fundraising campaign open to professional chefs and home cooks of all levels with the goal of earning money for a good cause. Competition is based solely on community voting of images of prepared dishes. Voters are allowed one free vote a day for whichever chef they think is the best or can donate money to get additional votes. Winners are based on numbers of votes cast by the public. Finalists compete for a feature in Taste of Home Magazine and a $25,000 grand prize, plus a one-of-a-kind cooking experience with renowned Chef Carla Hall of TV show “The Chew” fame. Donations go towards the James Beard Foundation to help strengthen America’s food culture and support new industry standards to help all those who cook.

Though Holbrook had previously met Hall at a “Cooking with a Twist” fundraiser in Houston, she learned about the Favorite Chef competition through a friend who thought she would be a good candidate and suggested she enter. With a recipe collection that spans decades, she submitted photos of dishes that were both visually appealing and demonstrated the range of her abilities like her blackened catfish with crawfish etouffee, Portuguese-style eggs with sourdough, Cajun red beans with smoked sausage and strawberry cheesecake with orange zest.

The panel of culinary judges were impressed by her creativity, recipes, presentation and plating skills. Many may remember her plating tips from her popular holiday cooking segments on News 15. “Those cooking shows were my free culinary school before I got to a place where I believed in what I had crafted,” shares Holbrook. She would go on to stylize dishes for commercials promoting the foods of award-winning restaurants and national brands.

Out of 80,000 competitors, Holbrook advanced through eight of the nine tiers – mostly in first place – and in the end, was voted one of 128 who made it to the semi-finals, placing third.

Like most Cajuns, her life has been intertwined with food. At 4 years old she was baking in her Easy-Bake Oven while watching her mom cook 10-course meals. (Her mom, Kim, is known for her lavish meals and four-finger-thick cheesecakes.) Holbrook’s kitchen genetics can be traced further to her Cajun paternal grandmother, Sicilian maternal grandfather, aunts, uncles – all masters in the kitchen. The DNA was cast long before she was weaned from the bottle. The first dishes she mastered were gumbo and spaghetti and meatballs, though it was baking that first sparked Holbrook’s passion in the kitchen. She describes her years at college in Houston as her biggest cooking lesson.

Now grounded with confidence, the senior graphic designer believes cooking has provided valuable life skills and a confidence that extends outside of her kitchen. She shares her joy of preparing food with others through her cooking classes, held in clients’ homes. “The first step of cooking is being comfortable, and I think that starts by learning in your own environment,” she says, adding that she works with all skill levels, from those who know how to cook to novices asking how to cook rice, chop an onion and the proper way to hold a knife.

A believer in that when it comes to food, you can have it all, indulgent and healthy, Holbrook started her catering company, Horn & Halo, in 2013. Her dishes are fun, saucy, creative and sweet – much like her. Accommodating events up to 100 people, she turns out party favorites from her chicken and sausage gumbo, eggplant parmesan and chicken pot pie to jalapenos peppers stuffed with boudin and pepper jack wrapped in a pepper jelly glazed bacon. For customers with diet restrictions, she offers healthy, but equally phenomenal, versions like sugar-free cheesecake, oil-free gumbo with smoked turkey sausage, spaghetti and meatballs with spaghetti squash and turkey meatball and her vegan chili with mushrooms and walnuts. Always experimenting with new recipes, she says, “I also like to try things from different countries; I have a friend from India who inspired me to cook a couple of Indian dishes.”

Her best seller is, hands down, her cheesecake, an Italian-style cream cheese wonder baked low and slow for two hours and topped with a sour cream and sugar mixture. Christmas orders start coming in before Thanksgiving for favorites like her stuffed dulce de leche and ginger snap and the cinnamon praline pecan. During Mardi Gras season her king cake cheesecake reigns, and on Valentine’s Day n-o-t-h-i-n-g says “I love you” like her strawberry cheesecake covered with chocolate ganache.

While she has participated in company-sponsored cookoffs since 2018, Holbrook says the America’s Best Chef competition “was my first time doing something of this caliber.” Although the annual cookoff held by members of her mom’s family is pretty intense. “You don’t know the theme until you get there, which is held in Houston,” her voice begins to get excited. “So I normally bring all my spices and plastic bins with pots and utensils. We have 30 to 40 minutes to shop for ingredients and have about three hours to cook a dish that’s judged by local chefs. It’s a rush that challenges my creative spontaneity.”

Holbrook says she enjoys the connection between the culinary arts and her graphic design work. “Like the ads I create, cooking and baking bring my creative juices to the surface. The creative passions for everything I do is a part of me, whether in my career or cooking; it’s always in the plan. I hope to participate in another cooking competition of this status one day, but the community came together with their support for me and that’s always a win in my book.”