To Hell and back to Lynn

LYNN – One night after television viewers watched her hold her own in “Hell?s Kitchen,” Lynn native Monique Booker got a star?s welcome Wednesday when she visited the Lynn Vocational Technical Institute?s culinary arts department,?This is where it all started,” Booker said as she hugged former teachers and received dumbfounded stares from Tech students.Booker is a season 14 contestant on the cooking show where participants learn from and endure master chef Gordon Ramsay?s tough love-style of teaching in hopes of becoming the show?s winner.The latest episode aired on FOX Tuesday with the “Hell?s Kitchen” website promoting Booker as a feisty competitor “who hopes to learn how to control her attitude.” Tech culinary teacher Steve Lopez said the tough contestant he watched on “Hell?s Kitchen” offers a glimpse of the determined but calm Booker he remembered attending his class.With “Hell?s Kitchen” production work completed, Booker returned from Los Angeles to Lynn in February after yearning for home and having her fill – for now – of West Coast life.After moving to Los Angeles in 2013 to expand her cooking skills, she answered a “Hell?s Kitchen” casting call last year and received a shock when show producers picked her to be a contestant.?I said, ?I did it?? and they said, ?Yeah,?” she said.Filming began last fall and Booker said working with Ramsay is “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” that ramped up her culinary abilities.?He just wants you to do your best. If he yells at you, you know you messed up,” she said.Booker grew up on Summer Street with little interest in cooking but surrounded by women, including her mother, Lisa, and sister, Sharnetta, who liked to cook. She wanted to study carpentry or become an electrician at Tech, but ended up with her last pick for a course of study – culinary arts.Lopez said Booker went into the cooking shop “with the right attitude” and learned her way around a kitchen. Booker graduated Tech in 2007 and enrolled in Le Cordon Bleu?s Cambridge cooking school. She found herself in a tough program that saw most of her 27 fellow classmates drop out.?That?s where I found I had the passion: I like making people happy with food,” she said.Booker said competing in “Hell?s Kitchen” gave her a chance to enjoy opportunities she never dreamed she would pursue, including surfing and a trip to Arizona. Tech culinary head teacher Anthony Canadas and Lopez have watched this season?s episodes, and Canadas praised Booker on Wednesday for salvaging a risky beef Wellington dish in the face of Ramsay?s critical eye.?She got it under control,” Canadas said.Booker?s fame preceded her visit to Tech, with her picture tacked up on one of the culinary department counters. Tech mathematics teacher Omayra McDonald said Booker has made Tech and Lynn proud.?I am really rooting for her,” she said.Booker said she appreciates the skill and food quality knowledge she learned in Los Angeles but said her next cooking destination is Austin, Texas.?No matter where I move, I will always come back home,” she said.