Aaron McCargo Jr. walks, talks and exudes Camden, N.J.As such, he’s keenly aware of his hometown’s reputation as one of the nation’smost dangerous cities. Fresh from winning the third season of Food Network’s popular the Next Food Network Star reality series,the Camdennative says he hopes to change perceptions of his stomping/cooking grounds.

“Camdenis no different than any other town,” McCargo says. “If you’re looking fortrouble, you will find it. But if you’re looking to enjoy life, you can. Thereare lots of plusses to living here; the plusses don’t get a lot of light. Iwant to let folks know there are a lot of good people here.”

Fair enough. But McCargo’s bigger test may be convincing aparticularly vocal group of NFNS fansthat he even belongs on the same network that turned culinary talents MarioBatali, Emeril Lagasse and Bobby Flay, among others, into household names.

The network’s comment board immediately lit up after someoneleaked the series’ results on a Thursday, three days before the season finale. Mixedin with the generous amount of praise for McCargo was a heaping helping ofnegativity. Some folks said he lacked culinary skill, television chops and starquality, and a few even insinuated that he was coached to win to furtherdiversify Food Network’s line-up of cookingpersonalities.

For his part, McCargo brushes off the criticism about hislimited culinary know-how, citing a resume that includes cooking in nine New Jerseyrestaurants, including his own, working as a hospital executive chef—he callsthe good food “gourment”—and attending Atlantic Community College’s CulinaryArts Academy. “This is my season.”

The married father of three took a break from filming his newshow, Big Daddy’s House, to chat with Cuisine Noir about his background, thecontroversy over his victory, how tough reality television cooking really isand what the future holds.

Why did you enter the Next Food Network Star competition?
My wife saw the commercial and she wanted me to give it try.She filled out the application and it was a go from there.

Did you have anytrepidation?
This was my first time for something like this. I’d befoolish to say that I wasn’t nervous.

Describe theselection process.
I did a cooking demo. They asked questions about yourcooking background and your culinary point of view. They wanted to know aboutyour personality, how it relates to television. I told them I was all aboutsimple, flavorful food.

Talk about your historywith food.
I think it’s a gift from God. I love cooking; it’s apassion. I come from a big family of eight—four boys and two girls and myparents. I’m the second oldest. Lots of people have history with working infamily restaurants. I didn’t. My mom and dad cooked. They inspired me. Peoplealways said I was going to be a chef. I wanted to be a great chef.

And the first mealyou made?
I was seven-years old. It was frozen cod garnished withlemon parsley flakes, white rice and, for an appetizer, cheddar cheese andpepperoni on a cracker. Since I was only seven, I prepared everything in themicrowave. I was not allowed to touch the stove. It was a surprise for myparents. My sister said I was going to get in trouble, but my parents loved it.The rice was a little burnt, but I didn’t know that until 20 years later when Icooked perfect rice and found out how it was supposed to taste.

Did you hone yourskills doing holiday cooking duty?
I stayed out of the way. There’s just something about theway my parents cooked; something about the way my mom fried fish. [When Istarted my family] I started doing things a bit different. We celebrateThanksgiving, but we’ll be saying grace over buffalo wings and rip tips. Idon’t look at cookbooks or other people’s recipes. I like being different.

You wound up openingyour own restaurant.
It was called McCargo’s Restaurant and it was a bistro caféwith a cool ambience, jazz and R&B playing and big portions of food. We hadhealthy soul food—salads, wraps, veggie dishes. It was open from 2003 to 2006.It was my dream to have a restaurant, to be able to show off the gift God gaveme. We ended up closing it over some disagreements with my partners. But I knewI would get another opportunity to do something big. God had a plan. That’swhen I went to Thomas Jefferson UniversityHospital in Philadelphia to be the executive chef ofcatering.

Was that a blow toyour ego, going from restaurateur to hospital chef?
No, not at all. I enjoy cooking and the hospital food at Jefferson was amazing, like being in a restaurant. I wasable to use garnish, wine, bases, salt and pepper—to be an artist. Lots ofhospitals don’t have catering departments. We did $1.7 million in cateringbusiness. So I still had to pump out good food. I didn’t have time to worryabout my ego.

How difficult was the NFNS process?
It brought me out of my comfort zone. I cooked inrestaurants and did catering. For this, I was away from home. I had to submitto a situation I had no control over. FN took care of us and protected us. Weall understood we were good people and that we weren’t there to rip each otherapart.

Some of the foodchallenges had little to do with what you’d do on your own show. Were they thattough?
I never cooked on a moving train or been told to put sixingredients in a basket and to create a meal. So it was tough.

During the contest inVegas, Bobby Flay asked you about chipotle peppers and you didn’t know whatthey were. Some point to that as a lack of culinary chops.
They [the NFNS judges] know I know what chipotle peppers are. The priority was the challenge.I made the best judgment call. I didn’t answer the questions. But what they didn’tshow was all the questions I answered correctly throughout the entire process. Ifeel good about myself. I don’t owe anyone an explanation.

A few comments on Food Network’s web site criticize showslike yours, the Neelys’ and Sunny Anderson’s,insinuating that the network is trying to appease Blacks.
I feel if I’m not the best for the job, then don’t hire me.The Food Network doesn’t get downlike that. The network didn’t select me so I could be a hero to people in Camden or because I wouldbenefit the most financially. This was not staged by any one. I wouldn’t havedone it if it was. Each week, we faced uncertainty. There was never a momentwhen they talked about selecting me so they could reach black people.

What can we expectfrom the show? And what would you say to those folks who’ve said they won’ttune in.
Flavorful food full of spices and attitude. The recipes willbe simple. You won’t have to go to a specialty store or have to fly to China to getthese ingredients. You will get a glimpse into how big daddy lives. You willsee the real me. I’m able to be myself. If people don’t watch, they’re going tomiss out on a great show.