Following a nationwide recipe contest to determine the best of class in categoies ranging from chicken to burgers, T.G.I. Friday's® restaurants will begin unleashing this Monday (February 18) the best of the best from America's greatest home cooks, unveiling the first of new menu offerings inspired by category winners from Food Network's Ultimate Recipe Showdown.

"We are very excited to bring America's greatest recipes to our guests," said Mike Archer, president and chief operating officer of T.G.I. Friday's USA. "These are real recipes from real people and their creations have inspired menu items that will be featured at over 600 US T.G.I. Friday's restaurants."

Food Network's Ultimate Recipe Showdown premieres Sunday, February 17 at 9 pm ET/PT and is hosted by Marc Summers (Unwrapped) and Guy Fieri (Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives, Guy's Big Bite). The series features 54 original recipes, whittled down from thousands of submissions, divided into six categories — Burgers, Chicken, Comfort Foods, Pasta, Cakes, and Cookies. Every Sunday at 9 pm ET/PT, nine finalists compete under the lights and in front of an enthusiastic crowd to make the most delicious version of their recipe. A panel of judges including Katherine Alford (Director, Food Network Test Kitchen), Kerry Simon (chef and partner at SIMON LA, Simon at Palms Place and CatHouse at the Luxor) and Russ Parsons (Food Columnist, The Los Angeles Times) then score each dish on creativity, appearance, ease of execution and taste.

The category winners, in addition to having their recipe crowned as the "ultimate," wins $25,000 and the chance to have his-or-her recipe featured nationwide at T.G.I. Friday's restaurants.