Top Chef Season 18's Roscoe Hall Reveals New Job After Leaving Rodney Scott's BBQ

As the culinary director of Rodney Scott's BBQ, Bravo's Top Chef Season 18 contestant Roscoe Hall certainly impressed the judges with his resume. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to wow them with his dish in the first Elimination Challenge of the season, duck adobo with sweet potato dumplings, becoming the first cheftestant of Season 18 that Padma Lakshmi told to "pack your knives and go."

Roscoe shared during the Top Chef After Show that he regretted not leaning more into his expertise during the Elimination Challenge. "I wasn't following my gut. Like, I wasn't following my instinct. I was trying to do something that was too much," he shared in the above video. "I make adobo all the time, but never duck. I should have just been straightforward, especially coming off of where I was working at the time. I cook so many birds a day. I should have just went with what I was doing to introduce myself to the competition."

Now looking back, Roscoe would have made something completely different in the Elimination Challenge, which tasked the chefs with creating a dish featuring one of five game birds found in Oregon. "I would have done barbecue duck with rice and a nice duck sauce just to finish it. I wouldn't have done anything hard," Roscoe said. "Like, I don't know what I was thinking. I'm 43 years old. Like, what is that about? Just be yourself."

Roscoe also shared an update on his life since Top Chef Season 18, revealing that he has since left his position at Rodney Scott's BBQ. "Now I'm working with one of my best friends. I'm making pizza, and it's just a different vibe," he said. "I'm still having time to be a really creative person."

In addition to cooking, art has also long been a creative outlet for Roscoe, who attended the Savannah College of Art and Design before beginning his culinary career. "I've balanced cooking and art all of my life. Cooking paid for art school, and art has calmed me down. It's like therapy," Roscoe said in the Top Chef After Show. "I just had an exhibition open two weeks ago. It was about Angola State Penitentiary in Louisiana."

Even though Roscoe's time in the culinary competition was brief, it still proved to be a valuable experience. "I needed it. It was a time to reflect. As with most things in the pandemic, everyone kind of had a reboot. I'm a much better cook, a much better father, a much better husband, a much better friend," Roscoe shared. "It was a good bonding [experience]. I loved the challenges. It was just a lot of fun. It made me sweat a lot [laughs]."

To hear more about Roscoe's time on Top Chef, including his dream dish to make in the competition and his best kitchen hack, check out the video, above.

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