Selena Gomez is upgrading her kitchen for her next cooking series.
The 31-year-old Mexican American actress, singer and television host is launching Selena + Restaurant on the Food Network.
The Emmy-nominated Only Murders in the Buildingstar had previously hosted four seasons of Selena + Cheffor Max, as well as four-part series Selena + Chef: Home for the Holidays for Food Network.
The new series will premiere on May2 on Food Network. It’ll see her head out of her home kitchen and into the kitchens of some of L.A.’s hottest restaurants.
Gomez will be joined by best friend, Raquelle Stevens, with chefs Shirley Chung, Keith Corbin, Stephanie Izard, Andrew & Michelle Muñoz, Wolfgang Puck and Marcel Vigneron teaching and testing Gomez to see how quickly she can learn the ropes with the ultimate goal of creating a dish good enough to make each restaurant’s menu.
Restaurants include Puck’s Cut Steakhouse in Beverly Hills, Chung’s Ms Chi, Vigneron’s Lemon Grove, the Muñozes Moo’s Craft Barbecue, Izard’s Girl & the Goat and Corbin’s Alta.
“After cooking mostly virtually from my kitchen with some of the best chefs for the last four years, I was thrilled to step into their world,” said Gomez. “You’ll have to see if being in person helped my skills at all.”
Selena + Restaurant is produced by Gomez’s July Moon Productions, along with executive producers Eli Holzman and Aaron Saidman on behalf of Sony Pictures Television’s The Intellectual Property Corporation (IPC), showrunner Shauna Minoprio and Melissa Stokes.
The Mexican screenwriterandVidacreator has signed a development deal with UCP, a division of Universal Studio Group.
As part of the deal, Saracho will develop and create original content for television, as well as podcasts via the studio’s UCP Audio extension. She’ll also establish a lab and incubator program for Latinx voices.
“To say that I’m immensely enthusiastic about this union is not enough. This partnership with UCP is a vital opportunity to keep amplifying the voices and stories that matter to me – those brown, queer narratives which have been missing from the landscape, and which are so important to tell,” said Saracho.
“I’m also elated and looking forward to establishing a lab and incubator program aimed to nurture, amplify and empower intersectional Latinx voices,” Saracho added. “And on a personal level, it is greatly gratifying to find a home where I already feel so seen and supported.”
Saracho most recently served as creator, showrunner, and executive producer of Starz’s critically-acclaimed Vida, which aired its third and final season this spring. The series featured all Latinx directors in season one, and all Latina directors in seasons two and three, including Saracho, who made her television directorial debut last year. The series had an all-Latinx writers room for seasons one and two, and in season three, the room was composed of all Latina writers.
Vida won the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Comedy Series and was also honored by the National Hispanic Media Coalition with the 2019 Impact Award. The series won the Audience Award at the 2018 SXSW Film Festival and made its season two premiere as an Official Selection of the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival.
“Tanya came on the scene like a comet with such a strong point of view and a drive to tell culturally diverse stories that push boundaries and open our imaginations. Oh, the places we will go with Tanya’s deep curiosity, experience, commitment, enthusiasm, joy and fervor to tell the diverse stories we haven’t explored on television yet. We are such fans of her work on Vida and are thrilled to partner with her,” said Dawn Olmstead, president, UCP.
“One of our goals at Universal Studio Group is to provide access through on the job training and opportunities to empower the next generation of culturally diverse storytellers. Tanya’s program fully embodies that intention and we look forward to supporting her as she mentors aspiring Latinx writers,” said Bonnie Hammer, chairman, Universal Studio Group. “This is the first of many programs we will be backing across our three studios.”
Saracho was recently honored by the LGBTQ California Legislative Caucus as their 2020 Pride Month Honoree. She received the Rising Star Award at the Outfest Legacy Awards, and was awarded the New Voice Award by Final Draft.
She’s the founder of Teatro Luna, the first all-Latina theatre company in the country, as well as the founder of ALTA (Alliance of Latino Theatre Artists).
Saracho’s other television writing/producing credits include Devious Maids, Looking and How to Get Away with Murder.
The Emmy-nominated Only Murders in the Building star had previously hosted four seasons of Selena + Chef for Max, as well as four-part series Selena + Chef: Home for the Holidays for Food Network.