One of Eli Dunn’s favorite things in life is working the line in a busy kitchen. The owner of Eli’s Kitchen on Market Street loves coming up with creative dishes, and to him some of the greatest rewards for a job well-done include nods of approval, smiles and satisfied expressions from the diners out at their tables.

Customers are the truest critics, but Mr. Dunn recently took his skills to a different audience: A panel of celebrity judges on the Food Network’s hit TV show “Chopped.” It’s the nation’s number one cooking show, and Mr. Dunn’s entry into big-time cooking under pressure will be aired at 9 p.m. this coming Tuesday, Nov. 27.

How he fared? That’s a surprise — he’s not telling.

“It was an amazing experience,” Mr. Dunn said of the taping, which occurred over the summer in Harlem. “I didn’t know what to expect but it was pretty overwhelming.”

Chopped works like this: Four guest chefs from across the country are brought to a kitchen, given mystery ingredients and are instructed to make an appetizer course in 20 minutes. After that first round is done one chef is eliminated by the judges, and then the elimination process continues with a 30-minute entree round. A final 30-minute desert round follows. Mr. Dunn didn’t want to spoil the surprise so won’t say how many rounds he competed in, or how he performed.

Appearing on the show will undoubtedly up Mr. Dunn’s standing in Rhode Island’s food scene. But when he was first called to appear on a cooking show — Guy’s Grocery — following a casting call a few years ago, he balked.

“I don’t love having cameras in my face,” said Mr. Dunn, who at the time was growing his business, starting a family and had too many things on his plate to seriously consider the casting call. “Honestly, I was scared about what would happen. Last year around this time, I got another casting call (from Chopped).”

Though he initially turned that call down too, he rethought his position and applied about a month later. By that second time around, he said, he had come to think about the opportunity differently — as a chance not just to get his restaurant’s name out there, but to “exorcise personal demons or conquer fears.”

“The thing about Chopped that appealed to me is that I love the idea that it scared me, and that I could (face that fear). Part of wanting to do this was wanting to be more comfortable in the spotlight. Eli’s is growing and I want it to grow more, so I wanted to be more comfortable in (pressurized) situations like that.”

Still, to him the art of cooking all comes down to service.

“As much as I love being in the local spotlight, I’m not motivated by awards or ratings or anything like that. It’s really just about making people happy.”

It’s a philosophy his mother Phoebe, also a chef, instilled in him — that the reward of a happy, satisfied diner is the greatest thing a chef can achieve.

S was he comfortable performing under pressure for celebrity judges, before TV cameras?

“I was for more comfortable than I thought I would be,” he said. “The way I am, I probably was critical of myself, looking back on it. During the experience it was really intense and stressful. It was disorienting but exhilarating at the same time. But throughout the process I became more comfortable. Immediately afterwards, I said I never want to do that again. But about a week later I thought, ‘Well, maybe!’

Note: Mr. Dunn’s appearance on Chopped airs at 9 p.m. this coming Tuesday, Nov. 27.