Food Network Reality Television Show and Celebrities

Food Network or Television Food Network, is an American basic cable and satellite television channel owned by Television Food Network, G.P., and a joint venture of Scripps Networks Interactive (owned 70% of the network) and the Tribune (FN) Cable Ventures Inc. (owned the remaining 30%).  The Food Network channel airs both specials and regular episodic programs about food and cooking. Food Network headquarter is based in New York City and also has offices in Atlanta, Georgia, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Detroit, Jersey City, Cincinnati and Knoxville, Tennessee. Other countries who have their own Food Network Channel such as Food Network Canada, Food Network Asia and Food Network UK. While the Food Network Brasil  began broadcasts programming in 2014, with fully dubbed in Portuguese and optional subtitles.

1)  Chopped

Chopped is an American reality based cooking television series produced by Dave Noll and Michael Krupat, with executive producer Linda Lea, and hosted by Ted Allen that set for competition of four chefs against each other competing for a chance to win $10,000, in each episode. The challenge for the competing chefs is to take a mystery basket of ingredients and prepare the dish and will be judged based on their creativity, presentation, and taste with limited time to plan and execute the dish. The show is divided into three rounds, first round is the appetizers or  hors d’oeuvre or horderve, a food item served before the main courses of a meal, commonly smaller than main dishes, and often meant to be eaten by hand, then second round is the entrée, a dish served before the main course, or between two principal courses of a meal, and third round is the dessert.The chefs are given a basket containing between three to five ingredients, and in each round, the ingredients in the basket must be prepared by each chef competitor and prepares to cook their dishes out of those ingredients. Missing an ingredient does not cause immediate disqualification, although, the ingredients are often not commonly prepared together.  The competitors are given access to a pantry and refrigerator stocked with variety of other ingredients. Each round for preparing dishes has a time limit, as for Appetizer round, they are given twenty minutes, though in some season episode they were given 30 minutes, and for the Entrée 30 minutes, though in some episodes, the chefs were given 40 or 45 minutes in the entrée round to allow the chefs to handle the the whole poultry such as turkeys, geese or ducks, and Dessert rounds, another gave the chefs fifty minutes in the dessert round. The chefs must cook their dishes and complete four platings (one for each judge plus one beauty plate) before the given time runs out. The judges critique the dishes based on presentation, taste, and creativity after each round, then the judges decide which chef is chopped,and eliminated from the competition. And on dessert round, only two chefs remain.The judges consider not only the dessert course, but the entire meal presented from Appetizers, entrée and dessert rounds, by each chef as a whole, after deciding who would be declared the winner and receives $10,000.

Ted Allen

Ted Allen  is an American writer, cookbook author and TV personality and was the food and wine connoisseur on Queer Eye television program of the American Bravo network and has been the host of the TV cooking competition series Chopped since its launch in 2009. Allen is also the host of another Food Network show, America’s Best Cook as of April 13, 2014. Ted Allen is the author of two cookbooks, and also a contributing writer to Esquire magazine, for a long time,and regularly appears on the Food Network show, The Best Thing I Ever Ate, and other television cooking shows. Allen is openly gay and residing in New York City with Barry Rice, his partner of 20 years. Allen announced that he was engaged to Rice on June 26, 2013, and were married on July 30, 2013, in New York City.

Alexandra “Alex” Guarnaschelli

Alexandra “Alex” Guarnaschelli is a celebrity chef and executive chef at New York City’s Butter restaurant and was executive chef at the award-winning The Darby restaurant before its closing. Guarnaschelli appears as a television personality on the shows Chopped, Iron Chef America, All Star Family Cook-off and The Best Thing I Ever Ate at the Food Network and Cooking Channel. Alex Guarnaschelli, began working under American chef, Larry Forgione, and after becoming a cook, Guarnaschelli worked at several restaurants in France, New York and Los Angeles, and La Butte Chaillot restaurant owned by French chef Guy Savoy. Alex also worked at the Patina dining, eponymous restaurant with French chef Daniel Boulud owned by American celebrity chef Joachim Splichal, before Alex became the executive chef at Butter. In 2007, she married Brandon Clark,  they have one child, Ava.

Geoffrey Zakarian

Geoffrey Zakarian  is an Armenian-American television personality, restaurateur and  author, and a celebrity Iron Chef. Zakarian is the executive chef of several restaurants in New York City, Atlantic City and Miami. He is featured on the Food Network’s television program including Chopped and The Next Iron Chef in 2011, where he won the right to join Iron Chef America. Zakarian became the executive chef at age 44 in 1990, a restaurant described as trendy and chic by The New York Times, located at the Royalton Hotel in midtown Manhattan. His French cuisine style is described as modern or as he describes, dynamic American. Zakarian also owned two restaurants, Town and Country, both of which are in Manhattan, and been rated with 3 stars by The New York Times. Zakarian filed for personal bankruptcy in spring 2011, in response to a class action lawsuit against him by his former employees, that he alleged engaged in repeated and gross violation of labor laws and are suing for back pay. The worker’s claims was supported by Zakarian’s two partners in the related restaurant violations, but these claims was denied by Zakarian’s publicist. Zakarian was previously married to Heather Karaman for about ten years. In 2005, Zakarian married Margaret Anne Williams, a marketing executive. Zakarian has appeared several times on Chopped, a Food Network television show series as a judge with fellow restaurateurs Scott Conant, Chris Santos, Aarón Sánchez, Amanda Freitag, Marc Murphy and Alexandra Guarnaschelli since the launching of the show and has also appeared as a judge in the Food Network’s series 24 Hour Restaurant Battle. He has also been a judge on Top Chef and has appeared in Hell’s Kitchen. Zakarian has also appeared as a judge on Cuttthroat Kitchen  (Well, Hot Clam!) and as a contestant (“Judging Judges”).

Marc Murphy

Marc Murphy  is an executive chef, restaurateur and television food personality, son of a “globetrotting” diplomat who travel in many foreign countries, has lived all over the world before the age of 12, in cities such as Milan, Paris, Rome, Genoa and Washington DC, which Murphy says, served as an excellent education in French and Italian cooking. Marc Murphy opened his restaurant with his wife, Pamela Schein, whom he married in 2002, and currently resides in New York. Murphy has also attributed his cooking influences to his mother and grandparents, during an interview with The New York Times, as he has recounted his experiences of enjoying lamb’s leg and Ratatouille, a traditional French Provencal stewed vegetable dish, originating in Nice, in the south of France, the full name of the dish is ratatouille niçoise . Murphy has also revealed and admitted a dislike for okra and coffee.

Amanda Freitag

Amanda Freitag is a New York chef and frequent guest on Food Network television programs, and also a judge on cooking show Chopped (TV series). Amanda Freitag took a position at Vong New York working under French chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten. Freitag left Vong to cook at Verbena, under chef Diane Forley in 1994. Freitag traveled to France and Italy, after working at Verbena, and worked for a short while at a French restaurant in Paris named L’Arpège under French chef Alain Passard in 1999. Amanda Freitag is a frequent judge on the culinary game show Chopped, she competed against celebrity chef Bobby Flay on Iron Chef America in Battle: King Crab, and Freitag narrowly lost, with a score of 49 against Flay’s 50 points. She also competed in The Next Iron Chef Season 2, finishing in fourth place. Freitag said, that she would continue as a judge on Chopped for the 2010 season and she returned for the season four episode Against the Tide. On the Iron Chef America episode of April 15, 2012, Freitag appeared alongside British American chef, Madison Cowan, Grand Champion of Chopped, in Battle Kale, acting as sous chef for Chef Cowan. It was announced on August 7, 2012, that Freitag would make another appearance as a contestant on The Next Iron Chef season five. On December 23, Freitag lost to Alexandra Guarnaschelli in the finale. 

Aarón Sánchez

Aarón Sánchez  is an American chef, the executive chef and part-owner of the restaurant Centrico and owner of the Mexican restaurant Mestizo in Leawood, Kansas City which was closed in 2014. Chef Aarón Sánchez, has appeared on Iron Chef America, and he is one of the few chefs whose battles in cooking show have ended in a draw, tying with Japanese chef Masaharu Morimoto in Battle: Black Bass in Season 2. Sanchez was a contestant on The Next Iron Chef, eliminated in episode Creativity Under Pressur and the sixth test. Sanchez was co-host with Canadian Chef Roger Mooking on the show Heat Seekers, and is a recurring guest judge on the Food Network cooking game show Chopped. He has also been featured at the Food Network show Chefs vs. City with American celebrity chef and winner of Top Chef Masters, Chris Cosentino. In 1976, Aarón and his twin brother Rodrigo, an attorney in New York City, were born in El Paso, Texas, three sons of  a New York City-based restaurateur and cookbook author Zarela Martinez, married to the late Adolfo Sanchez. Sanchez began cooking at an early age, helping his mother prepare traditional Mexican foods for her catering business. Their family later moved to New York in 1984, and his mother launched the acclaimed Café Marimba, and Sánchez began to cook in a professional kitchen.  Aarón was married to Ife Sanchez Mora from 2009 until they separated in 2012, and has a son named Yuma and a step daughter Sofia Piana. After working under Prudhomme, in 1996  Sánchez met his future business partner, Cuban-American chef Alex Garcia while working there. Alex Garcia left Patria in 1996 to open Erizo Latino, taking Sanchez to help open the restaurant, where the restaurant gained positive reviews, referring to the restaurant as casual, earthy, and the fare is enticingly wholesome, and the best dishes served make a fine introduction to the cooking of Central and South America.

Chris Santos

Chris Santos is a New York City chef and the Executive Chef and owner of The Stanton Social in Lower East Side, New York. Santos opened a 250-seat, 10,000-square-foot, Beauty & Essex restaurant in the heart of the lower east side in the late 2010. Chef Chris Santos, is one of the recurring guest judge on the Chopped at Food Network channel, and is developing a show of his own. Chris was born in Fall River, Massachusetts in 1971, to a family of mixed heritage, his mother was of Irish descent and his Portuguese father. Santos opened in January 2005, his most successful restaurant at the time, The Stanton Social, with partners Rich Wolf and Peter Kane, located in Lower East Side in New York City, which was very well received and has been praised in many magazines and newspapers such as Time Out New York,  New York Magazine, and The New York Times. In April 2009, he married Taryn Longo Santos. 

Marcus ‘Joar’ Samuelsson

Marcus ‘Joar’ Samuelsson born Kassahun ‘Joar’ Tsegie, is an Ethiopian-born, grew up in Sweden, a chef and restaurateur. Samuelsson was born to an Ethiopian Orthodox Church priest father, Tsegie, while his mother died in a tuberculosis epidemic when he was three years old. Kassahun and his elder sister, Fantaye, were subsequently adopted by Ann Marie and Lennart Samuelsson, a homemaker and a geologist, respectively, who lived in Göteborg (Gothenburg), Sweden. Kassahun and his sister Fantaye‘s names were changed to Marcus and Linda Samuelsson, the siblings also have an adopted sister, Anna Samuelsson. Tsegie, his biological father, is the father of eight other children (the chef’s half-siblings) and still resides in the village of Ethiopia, where Samuelsson’s birthplace. Samuelsson’s interests in cooking was influenced from his maternal grandmother in Sweden, and studied at the Culinary Institute in Göteborg (Gothenburg) where he was raised. Samuelsson work as an apprentice in Switzerland and Austria, then in 1991, he came to the United States as an apprentice at Restaurant Aquavit an Scandinavian restaurant based in Manhattan, New York. Marcus became executive chef of Aquavit at the age of 24, and later became the youngest chef ever to receive a three-star restaurant review from The New York Times. Marcus Samuelsson served as guest chef  on November 24, 2009, for the first state dinner of the Barack Obama presidency, in honor of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, a largely vegetarian dinner and was served on the South Lawn. Samuelsson is married to the model Gate Maya Haile held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The couple resides in Harlem, New York, New York, near Red Rooster restaurant owned by Samuelsson.

Scott Conant

Scott Conant ,43,  is an American celebrity chef, restaurateur, and cookbook author, born in Waterbury, Connecticut. Scott Conant is of Italian descent on his mother’s side. In 2007, Conant married his wife, Meltem, in Bodrum, Turkey, and they have two daughters. Conant spent a year in Munich, Germany, to master the art of pastry at the Hotel Baverischer Hof. Upon returning to the United States and San Domenico, he worked as a sous chef and helping the restaurant garner three stars from The New York Times. Cesare Casella chose Conant to be chef de cuisine in 1995, at Il Toscanaccio, an Upper East Side Tuscan-style restaurant. The reality food-competition television show 24 Hour Restaurant Battle premiered on the Food Network, in July 2010, starring Conant as the Host and Head Judge along with Geoffrey Zakarian, a fellow restaurateur and Chopped judge. The television show featured two teams of two people competing against each other as they open up a restaurant from scratch in 24 hours. However, after two seasons, the reality television cooking show was cancelled.

Jody Williams

Jody Williams is an American celebrity chef and television, born and raised in California. Jody Williams became interested in cooking, and began to appreciate food service by assisting and serving customers at her father’s hot dog stand in Fisherman’s Wharf, San Francisco. At age 24, Williams relocated to New York City, and at age 25, she began cooking and prepares American cuisine, across Italy with chef Kathy Casey, and she also learned how to prepare Italian cuisine. After she returned to the U.S., She became the chef of Italian restaurant Tappo (which means literally in Italian as cork) in New York City, after Williams returned to the United States, now closed. Jody Williams has appeared several times as a judge on the Food Network’s cooking game competition series show Chopped since September 2009. 

Maneet Chauhan

Maneet Chauhan born in Ludhjana, Punjab, India,  is a US-based television personality. Chauhan was previously the Executive Chef of several popular restaurants in Chicago and New York, and also featured as a judge on the Food Network series Chopped, and also has appeared on The Next Iron Chef, in the ABC’s American talk show The View, Iron Chef America and in NBC’s American news and talk show Today, and as a judge on the finale of the Food Network television show, Worst Cooks in America. Maneet Chauhan began her career in culinary at the WelcomGroup Graduate School of Hotel Administration, Manipal, India. Chauhan then attended the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York. She worked in India as an apprentice chef, with the Oberoi Group, a global hotel company with its head office in Delhi, Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL) named as Taj Group, Welcome Group and Sheraton Group.Chef Chauhan became the opening executive chef of Vermilion in Chicago, IL, at age 23 in 2007, earning her 3-Stars from The Chicago Tribune. Chauhan is opening her first restaurant in Nashville, Tennessee, the Chauhan Ale and Masala House and the location is 123, 12th Ave North in The Gulch Area. Chauhan Ale and Masala House restaurant can accommodate 150 diners, and is set to open by August 2014 and construction is nearly completed. In 2007, Chauhan married restaurateur Vivek Deora. The couple currently resides in New York City with their daughter.

Susan Feniger

Susan Feniger is an American chef, restaurateur, cookbook author, and radio and television personality, also known for starring in the Food Network’s Too Hot Tamales cooking show and opening several influential restaurants in Los Angeles.  In April 2009, Feniger opened her first solo project, in April 2009, a multi-ethnic eatery of street food in Hollywood she called Street. Dishes served include millet puffs, paani puri, Massamum chicken curry, dumplings, Egyptian-style baked fish and peanut butter cookies for dessert. In 2010, Feniger appeared on the secodn season of Top Chef Masters, and was the last female chef in the competition, following a challenge to create a dish fit for the gods where she was eliminated. Chef Susan Feniger’s creation for Aphrodite was Kaya toast served with a soy-glazed egg and coconut jam. Feniger appeared as a contestant in the Superstar Sabotage tournament of Cutthroat Kitchen in October 2014.Feniger also serves on the board of the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center, and she identifies as lesbian and her partner is Liz Lachman. American actor Ben Feldman is Feniger’s nephew.

Missy Robbins

Missy Robbins, 43, is an American chef best known for holding a Michelin star at each of her two restaurants, and for being a contestant in series four of Top Chef Masters. Robbins was named Best New Chef by Food & Wine magazine in 2010. She withdrew from the Top Chef Masters competition during the first episode, having cut her left pinkie finger so badly, while cutting zucchini, that she was required a skin graft on it.

Anne W. Burrell

Anne W. Burrell is an American chef, television personality, and was an instructor at the Institute of Culinary Education in New York City until 2007. Burrell is the host of the Secrets Of a Restaurant Chef show at Food Network and also the co-host of Worst Cooks in America. She is also one of the sous chefs of Iron Chef Mario Batali in the Iron Chef America series and appears in The Best Thing I Ever Ate on other programs on the network. Burrell was a contestant on the Food Network competition cooking show, The Next Iron Chef fourth season, where Super Chefs being eliminated in episode 6. She was also a contestant on the Chopped All-stars Tournament first season where she won the Food Network Personalities preliminary round to advance to the final round, where Anne Burrell, placed second runner up to Nate Appleman (winner) and chef Aaron Sanchez. In 2012 to 2013, Burrell also hosted the series Chef Wanted with Anne Burrell. Burrell revealed and confirmed that she is a lesbian, to the New York Post and has been in a relationship with her girlfriend for two years, after she was disclosed as gay by cookbook author Ted Allen her on a radio show. Burrell publicly tweeted on December 31, 2012, that she is engaged to fellow chef Koren Grieveson, her partner of two years.

2)  Cutthroat Kitchen

Cutthroat Kitchen  is a reality cooking television show hosted by Alton Brown which premiered on Food Network on August 11, 2013. The show is similar to short-form cooking reality shows, featuring four chefs challenged to cook gourmet dishes to be judged by a guest chef celebrity. At the start of the show, each chef is given $25,000, to use the money for “auctions” in which the item they purchase will be use to sabotage their fellow chef contestant to benefit for themselves and have the chance to win the cooking competition, the chef winner keeps whatever money has not spent in the auctions. As of November 2014, the Cutthroat show is in its sixth season.The Cutthroat‘s regular judges on the show are Jet Tila, Simon Majumdar, Antonia Lofaso, and in some episode, such as The Yolk’s on You,  the guest judge are Giada DeLaurentiis and in the episode Well, Hot Clam! the guest judge is Geoffrey Zakarian.  In the episode Judging Judges, the guests judge are restaurateurs Jaime Martin Del Campo, Ramiro Arvizu, Daniel Holzman and Sherry Yard. 

Alton Brown

Alton Crawford Brown is an American television personality, celebrity chef, author, actor, and cinematographer, the creator and host of the Food Network television show Good Eats, the mini-series Feasting on Asphalt and Feasting on Waves,  and host and main commentator on Iron Chef America and Cutthroat Kitchen. Alton Brown is also the author of several cook books. His father, Alton Brown, Sr., was a media executive in Cleveland, Georgia, owner of radio station WRWH and publisher of the newspaper White County News. Alton Brown set out to produce his own show, as he noted that he was dissatisfied with the quality of cooking shows airing on American television. The show Good Eats first aired in July 1998 on the PBS member TV station WTTW in Chicago, Illinois, and the show was picked up by Food Network in July 1999. Alton Brown announced in May 2011, an end to Good Eats after 14 seasons. In 2004 Brown appeared on Iron Chef America: Battle of the Masters, in 2004, the second attempt to adapt the Iron Chef, a Japanese cooking show to American television, after Iron Chef USA on UPN, featuring actor William Shatner and was not well received. Brown appeared on the show as the play-by-play announcer, with celebrity bartender Kevin Brauch as kitchen reporter. Brown also served as the host for all four seasons of the spin-off The Next Iron Chef. Brown hosted Cutthroat Kitchen, a new competition series with four chef contestants which premiered on August 11, 2013. As the host of Cutthroat Kitchen, at the start of the show, he gives each chef contestants $25,000, with each contestant have to bid on certain ingredients and swap it to the main ingredients to sabotage their dish. The winner of the show can keeps whatever is left of their funds as their prize. Brown and his wife DeAnna, resides in Marietta, Georgia with their daughter, Zoey, born in 1999. Brown is an ardent fan for motorcycle but in 2012 he gave up motorcycling, citing slowing reflexes and safety. Alton Brown is a pilot, and was featured in the aviation AOPA Flight Training magazine, and on June 25, 2007, Brown,completed his first solo flight, and earned his private pilot certificate on June 5, 2008. Alton Brown owns two planes, a Cessna 206 and a Cessna 414. In 2009, Brown changed his eating habits to become more healthy, and also to lose weight losing 50 pounds (23 kg) over the course of nine months.

Jet Tila

Jet Tila, age 40, is an American celebrity chef, restaurateur, and a regular judge of reality cooking show Cutthroat Kitchen at Food Network. Jet Tila is currently the chef of The Charleston and Pakpao Thai. He has appeared on other cooking shows such as Chopped, Cutthroat Kitchen, Iron Chef America and The Best Thing I Ever Ate. Jet Tila is also a producer, and known as judge for Cutthroat Kitchen since 2013, chef and owner, of  Wazulu in Las Vegas. and the executive chef/owner, of The Charleston restaurant in Santa Monica. Tila is the third generation chef, taught by grandmother how to cook, and he specializes in classic Thai and Chinese cooking. Jet Tila graduated at Le Cordon Bleu and the California Sushi Academy, and also hosting a radio show in Los Angeles. Jet Tila will soon open a shaved-ice eatery he called Kuma Snow Cream. Tila grew up in his family owned grocery store Bangkok Market and his family’s restaurants in Hollywood. Jet Tila is married to his wife Alison, and together they have a daughter, Amaya.

Simon Majumdar

Simon Majumdar is a British-American chef, author, and television personality, who has appeared as a judge on the Food Network television cooking shows such as Cutthroat Kitchen, Iron Chef America and The Next Iron America. As an author, Simon Majumdar, has written books titled Fed, White, and Blue, Eat My Globe, and Eating For Britain. During any cooking shows where he appeared as a judge, ingredients such as coffee and oyster is not used, due to Majumdar extremely allergic to coffee and oysters. Simon Majumdar, is half-Welsh, and half-Bengali , is a food critic, and became a mainstay as judge and food critics on the Food Network appearing in cooking reality shows such as Iron Chef America, Beat Bobby Flay, Best Thing I Ever Ate, Extreme Chef, and Cutthroat Kitchen. Majumdar splits his time between London and Los Angeles, where he lives with his wife, Sybil, whom he met while doing the travel research for this book. On September  17, 2014, became a citizen of the United States.

Antonia Lofaso

Antonia Lofaso best known for her role on Top Chef season 4, is one of America’s most loved chefs and her culinary skills with her full spirit Italian personality on Top Chef: All Stars. Lofaso, aside from being a chef celebrity, she is also the owner and executive chef of the Black Market restaurant in Studio City, California. Antonia Lofaso lived currently in Los Angeles with her daughter Xea, born in 2000, fathered by rapper Heavy D, born Dwight Errington Myers, he was a Jamaican-born American rapper, record producer, singer, actor, and former leader of Heavy D & the Boyz, On November 8, 2011, Myers or best known as Heavy D died at age 44, in Los Angeles, California.Heavy D collapsed outside his home in Beverly Hills and was taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. On December 27, 2011, the autopsy report was released, that the cause of his death was a pulmonary embolism (PE), where the coroner’s office found that Myers death was due to  of a PE that had broken off from a deep vein thrombosis (DVT) in the leg resulting to PE, DVT is a blood clot formation (thrombus) within a deep vein. Heavy D also suffered from heart disease.

Giada Pamela De Laurentiis

Giada Pamela De Laurentiis is an Italian-born American chef, writer, television personality, and the host of Giada at Home, the current Food Network television program, also appears as a contributor and guest co-host on Today at NBC regularly. She is also the founder of the GDL Foods catering business. Giada Pamela De Laurentiis was born in Rome, Italy, the eldest child of actress Veronica De Laurentis and her first husband, actor-producer Alex De Benedetti. Giada De Laurentiis and chef Bobby Flay competed with other chefs, and were defeated by Rachael Ray and Mario Batali on Iron Chef America‘s November 2006 episode. De Laurentiis became a regular mentor to the finalists on The Next Food Network Star, the popular Food Network competition show in June 2010. De Laurentiis married fashion designer Todd Thompson on May 25, 2003. On March 29, 2008, their only child, Jade Marie De Laurentiis-Thompson, was born, named after her mother, Giada, Italian for Jade. De Laurentiis announced on her website on December 29, 2014, that she and Todd separated in July, and have decided to end their 11 years of marriage. 

Jaime Martin del Ocampo and Ramiro Arvizu

Daniel Holzman

Daniel Holzman, age 35, was born and raised on Upper East Side in Manhattan, and at age 15, he began working in a kitchen washing dishes at Le Bernardin in the city. Holzman attended Culinary Institute as a teen when he was urged by famous restaurateur and French chef Eric Ripert, on a full James Beard scholarship. In 2013, Daniel Holzman was named one of StarChefs’ rising stars. Michael Chernow began his interest in cooking and start in the restaurant business and start in the bus at age 13, a native of New York. In 2010, Chef Daniel Holzman 35, and his childhood best friend and business partner, Michael Chernow, 33, opened their first Meatball Shop in New York. Daniel Holzman and Michael Chernow met during their younger years, and the pair worked as delivery boys in Candle Cafe, a vegan restaurant in New York City, and later they went their separate ways. Michael Chernow had planted to open a restaurant together with long friend Holzman. The Meatball Shop is a New York City based restaurant owned and operated by Daniel Holzman and Michael Chernow, both natives of New York, who met as teenagers when they worked together as restaurant delivery boys. Daniel Holzman is the executive chef at The Meatball Shop, while, Michael Chernow runs the creative side of the business, focusing on marketing and branding. Chernow is a graduate of the French Culinary Institute, where he earned degrees in culinary arts and restaurant management. The FYI Networks announced in 2014, it would pick up a pilot, Say It to My Face, that will feature Chefs Holzman and Chernow ” that will defend themselves from their toughest online critics.” It was announced that same year, that Daniel Holzman and Michael Chernow were the inspiration behind an upcoming CBS sitcom, where they will serve as consulting producers, produced by Bill Lawrence, executive producer, borrowing from the real lives of the Meatball Shop owners. The Meatball Shop have now six locations in Williamburg, West Village, Chelsea, Upper West Side and Upper East Side in New York city.

Sherry Yard

Sherry Yard is one of the respected pastry chef, a five fee two, blond and known for her trademark, pink chef’s uniform. Sherry Yard is known as the longtime pastry chef at Spago, also worked with chef Wolfgang Puck for 19 years with Wolfgang Puck in that kitchen’s restaurant’s and other projects in his restaurant empire. Yard finally went out to do something of her own and left Spago in the late 2012, and tea up with chef and owner Sang Yoon, who owned Lukshon and Father’s Office. Sherry Yard and partner Sang Yoon, planned to give new life to the old Helms Bakery complex’ dining hall and bakery. Nancy Silverton is the first pastry chef of Spago, who opened her own La Brea Bakery and Campanile with then-husband Mark Peel and soon after that, she opened her Mozza empire with Mario Batali and Joe Bastianich. Sherry Yard later, trained trained an incredible number of chefs, in the Spago kitchen, from Karen Hatfield, owner of Hatfield’s and Sycamore Kitchen with her husband, Quinn Hatfield, to Food Network personality Giada De Laurentiis. Los Angeles chef are well regarded, if they go through the kitchen of Spago or Campanile influenced by Silverton or Yard. Sherry Yard joined Spago as pastry chef in 1994, and quickly made her mark on the L.A. restaurant scene.

3)   Top Chef

Top Chef  is an American reality competition show on Bravo cable television network, that first aired in 2006, where chefs compete against each other in culinary challenges, which every dishes prepared by the chefs, are judged by a panel of professional chef judges and other notable personalities from the food and wine industry, and in each episode, one or more contestants is eliminated.There were 9 international adaptations of Top Chef which has been produced, two of which, the Franco-Belgian Top Chef and the Dutch Top Chef, with four seasons each. In the United States, The show has had two spin-offs in the United States such as Top Chef Masters, featuring established, award-winning chefs, and Top Chef: Just Desserts, featuring pastry chefs. In 2008 one more spin-off had been planned, the Top Chef Junior, featuring contestants in their early teens, however, as of 2014, it has never aired. Chefs must cook a dish in the Quickfire challenge that meets certain requirements for instance, using specific ingredients or inspiring a certain taste, or participate in a culinary-related challenge such as mise en place, a French phrase which means putting in place  or a taste test. The chef contestants are usually given an hour or less to complete their tasks. The chefs prepare one or more dishes to meet the challenge requirements, in the elimination challenge which are usually more complex and require longer time to execute than a Quickfire challenge. During the elimination challenges, the chefs prepare the dish, may be individual challenges or may require chefs to work in a team, or some may require a chef to produce several courses.The chefs contestants report to Judges’ Table, where the judges, commonly there are four judges, after the elimination challenge ends, who will deliberate on their choices for the best and worst dishes. The top individuals or teams are called in, and judges asked questions about their dishes or preparation before they are notified of their placement, and one or more chefs are named the winner of the challenge and may be awarded an additional prize by the guest judge. The Top Chef prize money was $100,000 for the first 5 seasons, and then increased to $125,000 from season 6 and increased the prize money to $200, 000 in Season 8.

Padma Parvati Lakshmi is an Indian-born American (born in Chennai, India in 1984), cookbook author, actress, model and television host, and has been the Top Chef host of the US reality television program since season 2  in 2006, for which she was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality Competition Program. Padma Lakshmi was hospitalized for two weeks when she was 14 years old, and was eventually diagnosed with Stevens-Johnson Syndrome, a form of toxic epidermal necrolysis, a life-threatening skin condition, in which the epidermis causes cell death to separate from the dermis, which is caused by hypersensitivity to an infection or certain kinds of medications. Lakshmi  was in a car accident in Malibu, California, just two after she was discharged from the hospital, causing an injury to her right arm between her elbow and shoulder, that required surgery leaving a 7-inch scar, also left her with a fractured right hip and a shattered upper right arm. After years of struggling with endometriosis, a condition that causes pelvic pain and has been associated with infertility, Lakshmi confirmed on October 1, 2009, that she was pregnant. Lakshmi can speak English, Hindi, Italian, Spanish and Tamil. Aside from her culinary interest, and fashion style tastes, Lakshmi launched in 2009, her first line of jewelry, named Padma, which the first collection consisted of forty pieces. On April 17, 2004, in New York City, Lakshmi married the British Indian novelist Salman Rushdie, on April 17, 2004 in New York City, twenty-three years her senior, to whom she was introduced in 1999 at a party hosted by the journalist and editor Tina Brown. The couple filed for divorce on July 2, 2007. Lakshmi admitted that sometimes when she is asked to taste samples of other cultural delicacies, she becomes easily nauseated, maybe because she was brought up as a vegetarian. Padma Lakshmi dated financier billionaire philanthropist, Theodore “Teddy” Forstmann, (formerly rumored dating Princess Diana from 1994 to 1995) until his death of brain cancer in November 20, 2011. Teddy Forstmann left an undisclosed sum of money in a trust fund for her daughter, Krishna Thea Lakshmi, whom Padma gave birth during her time together with Forstmann. Padma Lakshmi was unclear at first to the identity of the father of her daughter, but was later revealed that the father is Adam R. Dell, an American venture capitalist, the brother of Michael Dell, the founder of Dell Inc. computer manufacturing. Adam Dell sued Padma Lakshmi for sole custody of their daughter in January 2011, they both reached an agreement, settling out of court, in March 2012, with Dell being granted increased child custody and visitation rights and their daughter’s full name changed to Krishna Thea Lakshmi-Dell.

“Katie” Lee

Katherine Rebekah “Katie” Lee  is an American cookbook author, television food critic, cook and novelist, and has worked in various restaurants and gourmet food and wine stores. Katie Lee helped to open Jeff and Eddy’s Restaurant in 2003, where she served as the house fish dealer. She also hosted the first season of Bravo’s Top Chef in 2006, where her hosting style showed less intense as critical reception, with many viewers citing her lack of  credibility in culinary and delivery in monotonal sound as causing damage to the show. Bravo producers then, decided to replace her with a more lively host Padma Lakshmi in an effort to boost ratings and provide support to viewer reception. In 2010, Katie Lee later returned as a guest judge on Top Chef All Stars, Episode 2, Night at the Museum. Lee is one of the hosts on The Kitchen, a talk show in Food Network. Katie Lee was 22 years old when she met Billy Joel, who was then age 55, American pianist, singer-songwriter and composer, while visiting New York City for a weekend. On October 2, 2004, Lee and Joel married at his home in Oyster Bay, Long Island after dating for a year. Billy Joel’s daughter, Alexa Ray Joel,  who was 18 years old then, Joel’s daughter from his previous marriage to Christie Brinkley, served as maid of honor. In June 2009, Billy and Katie Lee separated after almost five years of marriage, after Lee was rumored to having an affair with Yigal Azrouel is an Israeli fashion designer.

Tom” Colicchio

Thomas Patrick “Tom” Colicchio  is an American celebrity chef, is of Italian descent, co-founder of the American restaurant Gramercy Tavern in New York City,with partner New York restaurateur, Danny Meyer, and formerly served as a co-owner and as the executive chef, and also the founder of Craft and Colicchio & Sons restaurants. Colicchio has been the head judge on every season of reality television show Top Chef, on Bravo, and has been a featured chef on Great Chefs Television. Since 2001, Colicchio has been married to filmmaker Lori Silverbush. Tom Colicchio has three sons, Dante Colicchio, Mateo Lev Colicchio and Luka Bodhi Colicchio. Tom Colicchio also served as the main consulting producer on Bravo’s spin-off series, Top Chef entitled Top Chef Masters. Colicchio appeared in the American drama series Treme‘s fifth episode of the first season of HBO as himself along with fellow chefs, French chef Eric Ripert, Korean-American chef David chang and American chef Wylie Dufresne. Colicchio made another cameo in Season 2 alongside Eric Ripert.

Gail Simmons

Gail Simmons is a Canadian culinary expert, food writer and television personality, and in 2004 she is the Food & Wine magazine‘s Special Projects Director, is a regular judge on the television show Top Chef since its March 8, 2006′s season and hosts its spin-off, Top Chef: Just Desserts premiered on September 15, 2010. In 2008, Gail Simmons married Jeremy Abrams.

Emeril Lagasse

Emeril John Lagasse  is an American celebrity chef, restaurateur, TV personality and cookbook author. Lagasse was born in Fall River, Massachusetts to father John Lagassé, a French-Canadian from Quebec and Portuguese mother, Hilda. Lagasse discovered his ability in cooking when he a teenager and worked in a Portuguese bakery. Lagasse worked at the Venus de Milo restaurant to pay his school and met his first wife, Elizabeth Kief and married in 1978 to 1986, In 1982 Lagasse succeeded American chef Paul Prudhomme as executive chef of Commander’s Palace restaurant in New Orleans. Elizabeth Kief and Lagasse divorced after the birth of their two daughters, Jessica and Jillian. Lagasse married fashion designer, Tari Hohn for a second time, in 1989, but ended in divorce in 1996. On May 13, 2000, Lagasse married on the third time to a real estate broker, Alden Lovelace. Lagasse and Lovelace had a son, Emeril John Lagasse IV, born on March 2003, and a daughter, Meril Lovelace Lagasse, born on December 10, 2004. In 1983, Lagasse was nominated as Chef of the Year. Lagasse became popular in the culinary world as executive chef of Commander’s Palace restaurant in New Orleans. In 1990, he opened his first restaurant, Emeril’s, in New Orleans, Louisiana after leading the Commander’s Palace kitchen for seven and a half years. And that year, his restaurant was designated “Restaurant of the Year” in Esquire magazine. Lagasse is best known for his cooking styles Creole and Cajun cuisine. Emeril’s Homebase’ corporate office and his restaurants are located in New Orleans. Lagasse is the executive chef and proprietor of thirteen restaurants in New Orleans, Las Vegas, Orlando, Charlotte, and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania currently.

Hugh Acheson

Hugh Acheson  is a Canadian-born chef and restaurateur and owner of five restaurants in Georgia, also serving as a judge on Top Chef reality cooking competition show. At age 15, Acheson worked in his first kitchen job, as a dishwasher at Ottawa’s Bank Street Café. Acheson moved back to Ottawa, Ontario, Canada in 1994, with his future wife, Mary Koon, and began working at an iconic restaurant, Café Henry Burger, that closed in the 2000′s after over 80 years of operation. At Henry Burger, Acheson learned about French Cuisine, wine and etiquette at Henry Burger under chef Rob McDonald. Acheson moved with his wife from Ottawa to her hometown at Athens, Georgia in the 1990′s. Acheson became the head chef and manager at the Last Resort Grill after moving to Athens, and best known for preparing French and Italian cuisine. Acheson and wife Mary, moved to San Francisco, California after his wife’s graduation,where Acheson worked at restaurant Mecca. Acheson subsequently worked for chef Gary Danko as a sous chef, helping him to open his eponymous restaurant. Acheson and his wife returned to Athens after about two years in San Francisco, at the request of the Last Resort restaurant owner, Melissa Clegg,who wanted Acheson to help her open a restaurant. Acheson opened his first restaurant,in 2000, in turn, and named it Five & Ten, in Athens. Acheson is married to Mary Koon, a native of Georgia, where they first met in middle school, when Acheson briefly lived in Clemson, South Carolina with his mother. While at university in Canada, Hutcheson and Koon reconnected and married two years later. Acheson and his family resides in Athens, Georgia with their daughters, Beatrice and Clementine.

Wolfgang Puck

Wolfgang Johannes Puck  born Wolfgang Johannes Topfschnig is an Austrian-born (born in Sankt Veit an der Glan, Austria), and American celebrity chef, restaurateur, and also an occasional actor. Wolfgang Puck Companies, run and provides licensed products for Wolfgang Puck restaurants, catering services, cookbooks, with three divisions. Wolfgang learned cooking from his mother, and also sometimes worked as a pastry chef. In 1975, Wolfgang Puck first married Marie France Trouillot, but ended in divorced in 1980. In 1983, Wolfgang Puck married Barbara Lazaroff , and the couple opened the Spago restaurant in 1982 on the Sunset Strip. In 1997, fifteen years later, Puck and Lazaroff opened the award-winning Spago in Beverly Hills, and since 2004, it has been recognized as one of the Top 40 Restaurants in the U.S. Puck and second wife Barbara Lazaroff divorced in 2003. Wolfgang has also appeared as himself on Iron Chef America: Battle of the Masters, as well as The Food Network’s show, Cooking Class with Wolfgang Puck and in the finale episode’s American Idol season where he introduced unusual foods to American country singer and TV personality, Kellie Pickler in comic relief segments. Wolfgang Puck appeared in a cameo role as himself on an episode of Tales from the Crypt, and appeared in a TV commercial advertising California along with famous celebrities  such as Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jack Nicholson. Puck’s favorite food is macaroni, and his signature dish is House Smoked Salmon Pizza. In 2007, Puck married designer Gelila Assefa. He has four  children, two from his second marriage, Cameron Lazaroff-Puck and Byron Puck and  and two with Assefa, Alexander Wolfgang Puck and Oliver Wolfgang Puck.

4)   Iron Chef America

Iron Chef America: The Series is an American television reality cooking show based on Iron Chef on Fuji Television, and the second American adaptation of the series, after the Iron Chef USA failed. The Iron Chef America show is produced by Food Network, which also carried the original Iron Chef dubbed version. Based in the original Japanese culinary game show, and in each episode, a new chef challenger will competes against one of the  Iron Chef‘s resident, in a one-hour cooking competition based on a theme and secret ingredients. The show Iron Chef America is presented as a successor to the original Iron Chef, as to prevent as being a remake. The Chairman of Iron Chef America, is portrayed by actor and martial artist Mark Dacascos, introduced as the nephew of Takeshi Kaga, the original Japanese chairman of Iron Chef. Alton Brown serves as the commentary host while Kevin Brauch served as the floor reporter. Each introduction fiction from the Battle of the Masters miniseries, the story elements which is not followed from the 2002 Iron Chef Japan Cup Special, the character of Chairman Takeshi Kaga, has ordered his nephew (referring to Chairman Mark Dacascos), to continue the tradition of Kitchen Stadium, initially where the Battle of the Masters in Los Angeles, took place, before establishing a permanent Kitchen Stadium in Chelsea Market in New York. For the Battle of the Masters, the elder Chairman dispatched two Iron Chefs, Hiroyuki Sakai and Masaharu Morimoto. In the first episode of that season Iron Chef UK, a British competition-based cooking show based on Iron Chef on Fuji Television and Iron Chef America on Food Network, chef Judy Joo, competed on the US show against Iron Chef Alex Guarnaschelli as an Iron Chef. Alton Brown, is credited as the show’s host instead as the chairman, unlike in the original Iron Chef or Iron Chef USA. On this Iron Chef’s version, in the Iron Chefs current personalities, have either been previous Food Network personalities, and were part of the original Iron Chef, or earned their position on The Next Iron Chef.  

Mark Alan Dacascos

Mark Alan Dacascos  is an American actor and martial artist, who won numerous karate and various Kung fu styles championships since he was 7 years old until 18 years old. Dacascos has portrayed the Chairman of Iron Chef America series on Food Network television since January 2005, which was portrayed previously by Takeshi Kaga in the original Japanese Iron Chef, and the character of chairman is presented as Kaga’s nephew, is Mark Dacascos, though the actors are not related. Dacascos appeared in other roles such as the recurring character of Wo Fat on Hawaii Five-o, the CBS television series, as Kung Lao in the web series Mortal Kombat: Legacy, as Eric Draven in The Crow: Stairway to Heaven, as the Advent Master Eubulon in Kamen Rider: Dragon Knight, as the role of Mani in the Brotherhood of the Wolf French film and the lead role of Crying Freeman in the film of the same name, the Crying Freeman. Dacascos competed in Dancing with the Stars season 9. Mark Dacascos’ father, Al Dacascos, is from Hawaii, and is a martial arts instructor of Filipino, Spanish, and Chinese ancestry, and his mother, Moriko McVey-Murray, is of Irish and Japanese ancestry. Mark Dacascos was raised by his stepmother, Malia Bernal, award winning martial artist. In 1998, Mark Dacascos married actress Julie Condra, who starred with him in the film Crying Freeman. The couple have three children, two older boys Makoa and Kapono, and one younger girl Noelani.

Kevin Brauch

Kevin Jeffery Brauch born in Toronto, Canada, celebrity bartender, host of the The Thirsty Traveler show on the Fine Living Network which was on the Food Network originally, Mega World on Discovery Channel Canada, and Superstar Chef Challenge on Food Network Canada. Brauch also serves as the Iron Chef America floor reporter or sideline reporter on both the Food Network America and Food Network Canada. He will host the upcoming show CheF*Off on Food Network  Canada. Kevin Brauch is born and raised in Toronto, Canada, and worked in his early career as a bartender for seven years while working his way through the radio and TV program at Rverson University. Brauch is also an actor and writer, known for always in Grunge or punk fashion attire.

Mario Batali

Mario Francesco Batali is an American chef, writer, restaurateur and media personality, an expert of Italian cuisine  and known for his classical culinary training, including regional and local variations cooking. Mario Batali also co-owns restaurants in New York City, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Westport, Connecticut. Mario Batali is best known for his signature clothing style such as shorts and orange Crocs. Mario was born and raised in Seattle, Washington, by parents, Armando Batali, who worked for Boeing and Marilyn Batali.  Currently, Mario is currently residing in Greenwhich Village with his wife Susi Cahn, of Coach Dairy Goat Farm, and his two sons Leo and Benno. After working as the sous chef at Four Seasons Hotel San Francisco, Mario was the head chef at Four Seasons Hotel Baltimore at age 27. Batali began working at the Rocco’s Italian restaurant in the early 1990′s, before opening in 1993, Pó in New York City which was a success. Batali’s restaurants translated by New York buzz into the Food Network show Molto Mario which aired from 1996 to 2004 where Mario’s career took off. Then later Mario Batali teamed up with Joe Bastianich to form B&B Hospitality Group, where their culinary empire has expanded to ten restaurants in New York, four restaurants in Las Vegas, two restaurants in Los Angeles, two  restaurants in Singapore, one Italian market in Chicago, and two restaurants in Hong Kong.

 ”Bobby” Flay

Robert William “Bobby” Flay  is an American celebrity chef, restaurateur, and reality television personality, owner and executive chef of several restaurants such as in Las Vegas’ Mesa Grill and the Bahamas,Bar Americain in New York and Uncasville, CT, Bobby Flay Steak in Atlantic City and Bobby’s Burger Palace in eighteen locations and several states. Flay has hosted several TV programs on Food Network, and also appeared as a guest and hosted a numerous special shows on the network. Flay is featured on the Great Chefs television series. Flay is a fourth generation Irish American, and at age 17, he was a dropped out of high school. According to Flay his first job in the restaurant industry was at a pizza parlor and Baskin-Robbins, then worked as preparing salads at Joe Allen Restaurant in the Theater District, New York, where his father, Bill Flay, was a partner. Joe Allen was impressed by Bobby Flay’s natural ability and agreed to pay his tuition at the French Culinary Institute, now known as International Culinary Center. Flay started working as a sous chef, after his culinary school, and learned culinary arts quickly. Flay served as a judge on Wickedly Perfect, The Next Food Network Star and The Next Iron Chef. Flay has cooked with Emeril Lagasse on his show Emeril Live, with Paula Deen on her program Paula’s Party,  and he is also represented by Jon Rosen at American talent agency, William Morris Endeavor (WME). On the Iron Chef America, Flay is an Iron Chef. When the original Iron Chef show traveled to New York for a special battle in 2000, he challenged Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto to battle rock crab. Flay stood on top of his cutting board and raised his arms after an hour battle ended, in what one journalist wrote was a premature victory. Chef Morimoto felt that real chefs consider cutting boards and knives as sacred, and was offended by Flay’s flamboyant gesture, Morimoto criticized Flay’s professionalism, saying that Flay was not a chef. Flay went on to lose the battle. In 1991, Bobby Flay married Debra Ponzek, well-known chef in New York City, but in 1993, the couple divorced. In 1995, Flay married Kate Connelly also ended in subsequently divorced. Together they have a daughter, Sophie, was born on April 16, 1996.On February 20, 2005, Flay married actress Stephanie March, best known as Alexandra Cabot in the long-running Law & Order: Special Victims Unit NBC television series. According to media reports, In March 2015, March and Flay separated, and filed divorce in April 2015. Flay has a personal interest in Thoroughbred horse racing. 

Masaharu Morimoto

Masaharu Morimoto born May 26, 1955, in Hiroshima, Japan, is a Japanese chef, best known as an Iron Chef on the original Iron Chef Japanese TV cooking show and its spinoff Iron Chef America. Morimoto is also known for his unique style of food presentation. Masaharu Morimoto received practical training in sushi and traditional multi-course dinner, Kaiseki cuisine in Hiroshima and in the 1980′s, he opened his own restaurant in that city. In 1985, Morimoto decided to sell his restaurant, to travel to the United States, after he was influenced by Western cooking styles. His travels was later, influenced by cuisine that combines elements of different culinary traditions or fusion style of cuisine. Morimoto established himself in New York City, and worked in some prestigious restaurants in Manhattan, including the dining area for executive staffs for Sony Corporation and visiting VIPs, as the executive chef of the Sony Club,and at the Nobu, an exclusive Japanese restaurant, where he worked as head chef,  and while at Nobu he got his start on the Iron Chef television show. In 1999, after the weekly run of Iron Chef ended, Morimoto left Nobu, eventually opening in 2001, his own Morimoto restaurant in Philadelphia, and currently has opened Morimoto restaurant in Chelsea, New York City. He currently appears as an Iron Chef in Iron Chef America, a spinoff from the original Iron Chef Japanese series. Masaharu Morimoto opened two additional Morimoto restaurants in 2010, and opened a restaurant at Napa Valley in July 2010, and one in Waikiki, Hawaii in October 2010. Masaharu Morimoto made his acting debut on April 11, 2011 in the Hawaii Five-o episode titled Ma Ke Kahakai, as himself. Iron Chef Morimoto has made several appearances as a guest judge in The Next Iron Chef. Iron Chef Morimoto made an appearance on the Hell’s Kitchen 2010 season show teaching the contestants how to make sushi, where each contestants then had to replicate his dish. Iron Chef Morimoto was the Guest Judge in Top Chef season 8, where each finalist had to prepare a Last Supper for one of the judges. Finalist chef Antonia Lofaso prepared a traditional Japanese meal for Morimoto, consisting of miso soup and a sashimi bento. Morimoto is also a friend of chef celebrity Bobby Flay and Andrew Zimmern.  In 1978, Morimoto married Keiko Morimoto.

“Cat“ Cora

Catherine Ann ”Cat“ Cora is an American professional chef, known as an Iron Chef, on the Iron Chef America on Food Network television show and as co-host on Bravo TV show Around the World in 80 Plates. Cora was born to parents, Virginia Lee Brother and Spiro Pete Cora, is of Greek descent, in Jackson, Mississippi. Cora’s style of cooking was influenced by American chef and author Julia Child, American chef Barbara Tropp, American food writer , Mary Frances Kennedy Fisher  best known as M.F.K Fisher and Alma her grandmother. Cora has worked as an entertainer for The Olivia Companies, a travel company catering to the lesbian market. In April 2011, Cora opened the eponymous Cat Cora, a new bar and lounge style restaurant, located at Terminal 2 at San Francisco International Airport (SFO), also in later part of 2011, she opened a Cat Cora’s Kitchen in Terminal E of the Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH). She also opened in Orlando, Florida, and operates Kouzzina at Disney’s Boardwalk Resort at The Walt Disney World Resort. In February 2013, Cora opened The Ocean Restaurant at the S.E.A. Aquarium at Resorts World Sentosa in Singapore, with 63 seat restaurant, located inside the world’s largest aquarium and from every table, the guests has stunning views of deep-sea wildlife.  Cora has four sons, Zoran, Caje, Thatcher, and Nash, with her wife, Jennifer,who gave birth of the first three sons, and after three months after Thatcher was born, Cat gave birth to Nash. Cat Cora and family currently resides in the Santa Barbara, California area. Cora was arrested in Santa Barbara and charged with DUI on June 7, 2012. Cora pled no contest and was sentenced to three years’ probation and fined $2,386, and later, Cora apologized for the arrest.

Michael Symon

Michael D. Symon  is a James Beard Foundation Award-winning American chef, restaurateur, TV personality and author. Symon appeared regularly on Food Network shows such as Iron Chef America, Food Feuds and The Best Thing I Ever Ate, on the Cooking Channel as Cook Like an Iron Chef on the and on ABC’s The Chew. Symon is credited with helping to save the restaurant scene in Downtown Cleveland, Ohio. Symon is the chef and owner of several restaurants in the Greater Cleveland area, including his flagship Lola, Lolita, and The B Spot. Symon owns Michael Symon’s Roast also known as Roast located in Detroit, Michigan. Symon said that his cooking style, is as meat-centric. Michel Symon was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and is of Greek, Italian, and Eastern European ancestry. Symon worked as a cook as a part-time job at Gepetto’s Ribs on Warren Rd.  In February 1997, Michael and his wife, Liz Shanahan, opened Lola in Cleveland’s trendy Tremont neighborhood, which was named after his aunt. At the time, The Tremont neighborhood was just starting to be rediscovered and develop into the hipster, go to neighborhood that has become. Tremont food pioneers, Gerry Groh and Lynda Khoury, had opened and grown one of the first new restaurant, Bohemia, in Tremont, where the couple sold the restaurant to the Symon’s couple, after many years of success. Symon won his first battle on Iron Chef America on November 18, 2007. The Food Network announced on April 21, 2008, that Symon would take over as host of Dinner: Impossible, the network’s third most popular show, and hosted the show for ten episodes until host Robert Irvine was reinstated, which Symon knew it was a temporary gig from the start. Michael Symon has an adult stepson, Kyle, who was then two years old when Symon met  Liz Shanahan. The Fat Doug hamburger was named top burger in 2010, at the Food Network South Beach Wine and Food Festival, and beat a burger from Bobby Flay‘s ”best burger in America.” The Fat Doug burger, is topped with pastrami (brined meat from beef, pork, mutton or turkey), Swiss cheese and coleslaw on a brioche bun, featured on the menu at The B Spot. In 2011 and 2012, Michael Symon also defeated Bobby Flay in the same burger contest.

Jose Garces

Jose Garces is an Ecuadorian American chef,  born in Chicago to Ecuadorian parents, owner of a restaurant, and Iron Chef. Chef Garces won in The Next Iron Chef second season. He owned seven restaurants in Philadelphia, three restaurants at the Revel Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Garces has been a the Iron Chef America challenger, and in 2008 episode, he defeated Bobby Flay featuring melon. Garces  also competed in The Next Iron Chef second season, and on November 22, 2009, he was chosen the sixth Iron Chef after defeating opponent owner of Graffiti restaurant, chef Jehangir Mehta. On January 17, 2010, Garces debuted as an Iron Chef, when he defeated chef Rachel Yang a chef from Seattle in Battle Hawaiian Moi ( also known as Threadfins, a marine fish with silvery grey perciform).On on Aug. 3, 2002, Garces married dentist Cuban American Beatriz Mirabal Garces at Valley Green Inn by the Wissahickon Creek.

Marc Forgione

Marc Forgione  born and raised in Bellerose, New York, is one of the Iron Chefs competing on Iron Chef America on Food Network and also owner Marc Forgione restaurant in New York City. In 2010, he competed on and won in The Next Iron Chef season three. At age sixteen, Marc began his career, and worked with his father, American chef Larry Forgione at An American Place kitchen, which Marc embraced his father’s work and learned to develop his foundation in his unique culinary to have his own identity as chef. Marc’s first restaurant, he named formerly as Forge, and later renamed it as Restaurant Marc Forgione, and has created an approachable place, stating, “that people walk by and are compelled to enter and where the ingredients are the star.” In 2012, Marc received a coveted Michelin star in the New York City Michellin Guide,making him the youngest American-born chef to receive the honors in consecutive years, 2010, 2011 and 2012.

5)   The Next Iron Chef

The Next Iron Chef,  is a Food Network’s limited- run series, airing in 2012 its fifth season. Every season is a stand-alone competition to chose a chef to win the title as an Iron Chef, who will appear on Iron Chef America series on the Food Network. Eight chefs from different states in the U.S. competed to be the next Iron Chef in season one, which first aired on October 7, 2007, Sunday, and the hosts were Alton Brown and Marc Dacascos as The Chairman. Five of the competition challenges one, were held at the Culinary Institute of America, and challenges six and seven was held in Munich, Germany and Paris, France, then the final challenge was held in New York City at the Food Network studios on the set of Iron Chef America. The Next Iron Chef winner was Michael Symon, Cleveland restaurant chef. The Next Iron Chef judges were: Simon Majumdar, Michael Symon, Geoffrey Zakarian and the following:

Michael Carl Ruhlman

Michael Carl Ruhlman is an American Author, home cook and entrepreneur. As an author, Ruhlman has written 21 books of mostly nonfiction. Ruhlman has appeared as a judge on the cooking reality show Under Fire on PBS channel, and on The Next Iron Chef. Ruhlman has also made appearances in television shows hosted by Anthony Bourdain such as in A Cook’s Tour by Bourdain, and he joined Bourdain and Eric Ripert for a meal at The French Laundry restaurant in the Napa Valley, owned by American chef and restaurateur, Thomas Keller, and has appeared in five episodes in Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations. In 1991, Michael Ruhlman married newspaper and magazine photographer, Donna Ruhlman. 

Andrew Knowlton

Andrew Knowlton born in Gainesville, Florida, and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, is the Bon Appétit an American food and entertaining magazine published monthly, and he is a Restaurant Editor since 2000. Knowlton worked in the restaurant industry and for American magazine about intellectual and literary life in academia, Lingua Franca, before working at  Bon Appétit magazine where he is currently in charge of blog presence and the editor of the restaurant section of the  Bon Appétit magazine.In the fall 0f 2007, after Knowlton appeared as a judge on Iron Chef America, he appeared on the The Next Iron Chef at Food Network as a judge for the entire series. Many people believed that  Knowlton as a judge during the course of The Next Iron Chef, he was being too hard on Chef Aarón Sánchez. Thus, chef celebrity Anthony Bourdain stated “Knowlton seems not to make known a prior incident in school campus with a young Aaron “El Guapo” Sanchez, in which Sanchez would have bullied him with out mercy. Knowlton seemed eager to send Sanchez packing. While author entrepreneur, Michael Ruhlman, referred to Knowlton as cranky or odd, and also said Knowlton “is every bit the menace he appears. And it was hard to get to know him off camera, he had a lot of handlers, so it was difficult to get any time with him.” Ruhlman’s commentary is intended as a joke, but people replied on his website, and other people let go on Knowlton with abandon. Andrew Knowlton is married to Christina and have two children together and now lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Donatella Arpaia 

Donatella Arpaia Stewart born in Woodmere, New York, is an American restaurateur and a television personality, also a regular judge on Iron Chef America and The Next Iron Chef on Food Network. Arpaia has also appeared on The Isaac Mizrahi Show, The Martha Stewart Show, The Tony Danza Show and iVillage. In 1998, Arpaia opened her first restaurant, Bellini after her short career as a corporate lawyer. She also owns davidburke & donatella restaurant , which has received four stars from Forbes and Michelin Star Greek restaurant, Anthos, the Five Diamond Award, Anthos, which was named Best New Restaurant by New York and Esquire in November 2007, also nominated for a James Beard Foundation Award for Best New Restaurant, and restaurant, Mia Dona, opened in February 2008. Donatella Arpaia and Greek American restaurateur chef Michael Psilakis opened restaurant Kefi in 2007 at the Upper West Side of New York City. The restaurant’s meatballs were named as the best in the city according to 2007′s New York’s article as ”Best of New York” issue. Donatella Arpaia married cardiac surgeon Allan Stewart in May 2011. On her 4oth birthday on September 15, 2011, Arpaia gave birth her first child, a baby boy, Alessandro. The Arpaia was named by the New York Post as the 31st of “The 50 Most Powerful Women in NYC”, and an American publishing company based in Detroit, Michigan,  Crain Communications Inc., named Arpaia as one of its “40 under 40″ and in March 2006, the Zagat Survey  named her as, “The Hostess with the Mostest.”

Jeffrey L. Steingarten

Jeffrey L. Steingarten is a leading food writer in the United States, and since 1989, he has been the food critic at Vogue magazine. Steingarten, working with Ed Levine, and also co-host of the show New York Eats, which aired in 1998 to 2000 on a local Metro channel. He serves as a judge frequently on Iron Chef America program on the Food Newtork and has been a judge on The Next Iron Chef. Steingarten tends to be the most critical and technically specific judge on the Iron Chef show among the three judges. In recognition of his writings on French gastronomy, Steingarten was made a Chevalier in the Order of Merit by the Republic of France on Bastille Day in 1994. Steingarten is also the author of the best-selling The Man Who Ate Everything and It Must’ve Been Something I Ate, which both food books, published by Knopf and Vintage. The food book, The Man Who Ate Everything was named by British Guild of Food Writers as the food book of the year and awarded the Julia Child Book Award for literary food writing in 1998. The food book has also been translated into Chinese, Japanese, Dutch, German, Portuguese, British English and Czech.

Anya Fernald

Anya Fernald is a sustainable agriculture chef, (the act of farming using ecology’s principles, the study of relationships between organisms and their environment) expert and the co-founder and CEO of Belcampo Meat Co. storefront opened and operates in Marin County, California, and later opened the Belcampo Butchery, which contains butcher shops and restaurants in Los Angeles, Palo Alto, Marin, Santa Barbara and San Francisco. Anya Fernald has appeared as a judge on Iron Chef America and The Next Iron Chef on the Food Network television shows.Anya Fernald was born outside Munich, Germany, on a farm, while her parents worked as teachers, and also researching abroad. The family moved back to the United States when Anya was three years old, and settled in Palo Alto, California. Fernald delivers keynotes and appears frequently on panels of shows such as Food & Wine Classic with chef Mario Batali in Aspen, Colorado, to advocate further sustainable agriculture. She also has frequent appearances as a judge on the Iron Chef America on Food Network and was a judge on The Next Iron Chef second season. In 2004, Anya Fernald is married to Renato Sardo, who hold a fort in their home in Oakland, California. The couple have a daughter, Viola Sardo.

Judy Joo

Judy Joo is a Korean American, born in Summit, New Jersey born from a Korean parents, is an American professional chef, television personality and a French trained chef. Judy Joo started her career in the banking industry working at Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, as an institutional fixed income financial saleswoman. But Judy Joo began working as a chef at the restaurant of famous chef Gordon Ramsay, including Maze, Petrus, Gordon Ramsay at Claridge’s and The Boxwood Café. Judy Joo worked as an executive chef for the Playboy Club London. Joo  has also worked in the The French Laundry and The Fat Duck restaurants. She is planning to open up her own restaurant in London in the winter of 2014, she named, Jinjuu in Soho. Judy Joo was one of the four Iron Chefs on the Iron Chef UK cooking show and was a judge on The Next Iron Chef season four of the Food Network show. Joo has been a regular judge on Iron Chef America and a challenger in the battle of  Iron Chef UK vs. Iron Chef America and also the host of Korean Food Made Simple which debuted April 19, at the Cooking Channel in the USA, and Food Network UK. Chef Joo also a resident judge on Kitchen Inferno for Food Network, and has also appeared on Market Kitchen for UK Food Channel and The Best Thing I Ever Ate  for Food Network and a regular judge on Guy Fieri’s Guy’s Grocery Games. Judy Joo is married to David Allen who works at Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.

6)  The Kitchen

The Kitchen is a talk show with a theme of cooking series, airing on Food Network, presented by Geoffrey Zakarian and food critic Katie Lee, and Food Network’s chefs Sunny Anderson, Jeff Mauro and Marcela Valladolid also hosting Food Network’s series Cooking for Real, Sandwich King and Mexican Made Easy. On January 4, 2014, the series, The Kitchen premiered, and was later announced on February 20, 2014, that the series had been renewed for a second season, which began airing on April 19, 2014. The Kitchen series is in its fourth season currently, which aired on October 25, 2014. In 2015, The Kitchen was nominated for a Template:Daytime Emmy Award.

Sunny Anderson

Sunny Anderson  40, is a television personality of the Food Network, host of the show How’d That Get On My Plate? since July 2008, and on April 2008, she also hosted the Cooking for Real on Food Network, and also the co-host of Mark Istook of the Food Network program Gotta Get It since April 2007. Sunny Anderson was born in Lawton, Oklahoma, raised up as an military brat or Army brat, allowing her to travel the world where she lived with family in Germany and other countries and had tasted many local cuisines with her parents, who were food enthusiasts. In June 1993, Anderson joined the United States Air Force, earning the rank of Senior Airman and worked as a military radio host in Seoul, South Korea, and from 1993 to 1997, she worked for the Air Force News Agency radio and television in San Antonio. In June 1997, Anderson was honorable discharged from the Air Force. At age 19, Anderson was diagnosed with Ulcerative colitis (is a form of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Ulcerative colitis is a form of colitis, a disease of the colon (the largest portion of the large intestine) that includes ulcers or open sores). In October 2005, Anderson first appeared on the Food Network program as a guest on the show Emeril Live, hosted by chef Emeril Lagasse. Anderson served as Food & Lifestyle Editor for Hip Hop Weekly magazine in 2006 to 2007. Anderson became a co-host on the Food Network’s series The Kitchen in January 2014 along with Jeff Mauro, Katie Lee, Marcela Valladolid and Jeffrey Zakarian. 

Jeff Mauro

Jeffrey Michael Mauro  is the host of Sandwich King the Food Network series and Food Network reality television series $24 in 24 (a reality TV show where Mauro goes on a trip to a different city in the United States with only $24 to spend on breakfast, lunch and dinner). Prior to this, Jeff Mauro was the winner of the Food Network Star seventh season competition, and during the Food Network Star competition, there were fifteen contestants competing for an opportunity to have their own cooking show, Mauro concentrated only on sandwiches throughout the competition. Jeff Mauro’s humor and likable persona, which is a striking points of his personality on Sandwich King was most noted by the judges of the show. Mauro rejected criticisms that to fill out a season, and that there was not enough to say about sandwiches, and said that any prepared meal could be classified as a sandwich. Jeff Mauro was nominated in 2012, for a Daytime Emmy award for his show Sandwich King on the Food Network Channel, which the award was given to Bobby Flay for his show Bobby Flay’s Barbecue Addiction. Mauro became a co-host on the Food Network’s series The Kitchen in January 2014, along with co-hosts Sunny Anderson, Katie Lee, Marcela Valladolid and Geoffrey Zakarian. Jeff Mauro is married to Sarah, and together they have a son, Lorenzo Mauro.

Marcela Valladolid

Marcela Luz Valladolid  36, is an American chef and author, hosts of Mexican Made Easy television series on the Food Network, and a co-host of The Kitchen the Food Network television series. Marcela Valladolid was born in San Diego, California. At a young age, Valladolid worked at her Aunt’s Marcela’s cooking school in Tijuana, Mexico, and began her interest to pursue her career as a chef. Marcela Valladolid graduated from the Los Angeles Culinary Institute as a Certified cook and later moved to Paris, France, where she graduated at the Ritz Escoffier Cooking School as a classically trained pastry chef. Valladolid later returned to Tijuana, Mexico and started her own catering company and taught cooking class techniques to 40 students out of her home there. Valladolid also worked as the staff of Bon Appétit magazine as an editor and recipe stylist. Marcela Valladolid, also competed on the The Apprentice: Martha Stewart 2005 series in which she came in fourth place. Valladolid has also appeared as a judge for a fish taco-themed competition on Throwdown with Bobby Flay. In 2012, Valladolid teamed up with chef Bobby Flay to defeat chefs Masaharu Morimoto and teammate Andrew Zimmern on Iron Chef America New Year’s edition. Also in 2012, She also competed in the Food Network’s series Chopped celebrity version in which she advanced to the final round and finished second out of four chefs competitors.Valladolid also served as a judge on Guy’s Grocery Games show in 2013 episode. Marcela debuted in January 2014, as one of the co-hosts on The Kitchen, a Food Network’s new show. In 2013, Marcela Valladolid married Fausto Gallardo however ended in divorce, and together they have 2 sons, Fausto, Jr. whom she jokingly refers to as the rat (born 2004) and David (born April 9, 2015). Valladolid resides in Chula Vista, California, along with her two sons, her father and siblings, who has appeared on her television show.

7)  Worst Cooks in America

Worst Cooks in America  is a reality competition show, which premiered on January 3, 2010, on the Food Network, where the show chose 12 to 16 contestants referred to as recruits with very poor cooking skills through an eight-week culinary boot camp, to earn a cash prize of $25,000 and a Food Network cooking set. The recruits are being trained on the various basic cooking techniques such as on preparation, baking, knife skills, temperature, and seasoning. On the final challenge, the recruits have to cook a restaurant quality three-course meal for the three food critics.In season 1, the show was initially hosted by chef Anne Burrell and chef Beau MacMillan, who was replaced by chef Robert Irvine on Season 2, followed by chef Bobby Flay for Seasons 3–5. A Food Network press release announced on November 20, 2014, that chef Tyler Florence will be paired with chef Anne Burrell to host Season 6, which premiered on January 4, 2015. Anne Burrell was the winning instructor in seasons 1, 2, 3, and 6 with Flay winning in Seasons 4 and 5.

Beau MacMillan

Beau MacMillan also known as BeauMac is an American chef and TV personality, executive chef for Sanctuary on an upscale resort in Arizona, Camelback Mountain, and its featured restaurant, elements. MacMillan started working at Crane Brook Tea Room in Carver at age 16, and worked under Chef Francois de Melogue for a year. MacMillan went on La Vieille Maison in Boca Raton, Florida, and was later promoted to sous chef. MacMillan moved to Los Angeles and worked as sous chef at Hotel Bel-Air. Beau MacMillan and former Executive Chef Charles Wiley opened the restaurant elements in March 2001. In 2005, while MacMillan was handing out hors d’oeuvres at the Aspen Food & Wine festival,  Bruce Seidel, the Food Network’s senior vice president of program planning, visited him at elements and approached him and invited him to take a turn on Iron Chef America, where he eventually beat chef Bobby Flay in Battle American Kobe Beef. In early 2010, MacMillan co-hosted Worst Cooks in America Season 1 of Food Network with Anne Burrell, and also joined the pro team on Beat the Chefs in early August 2012, on the Game Show Network. 

Robert Irvine

Robert P. Irvine is an English celebrity chef, who has appeared on several Food Network a variety of Food Network programs such as Dinner: Impossible, Worst Cooks in America, Restaurant: Impossible and Restaurant Express. Irvine was raised in Wiltshire, England, and began his cooking career upon enlisting at age fifteen in the Royal Navy, and have completed culinary training.The Food Network announced it would honor its contract with Irvine for Dinner: Impossible on its fourth season of thirteen episodes on February 29, 2008, but was also looking for a replacement host for the series. However, the executives of the Food Network released a statement on April 21, 2008, announcing they were expanding the Dinner: Impossible series to a one-hour format and replacing Irvine with recent chef Michael Symon Iron chef of Iron Chef America.The Food Network restored Irvine’s biography to its website in the Spring 2008, which reflected his service in the British Royal Navy and service on the Royal Yacht Britannia. On June 8, 2008, Irvine also appeared in an episode of The Next Food Network Star. Chef Irvine launched a blog in July 2008, and posted information about his service in the Royal Navy, with the British Royal Family, and with the White House Guest Chef program as an attempt to set the record straight about the controversy. Irvine lived with his first wife Karen in Absecon, New Jersey, before buying another home in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, where he resides since at least 2007. From his first marriage, Irvine has two daughters, Annalise and Talia Irvine. On May 10, 2012, Irvine married Korean American Gail Kim, former WWE and current TNA star. Irvine and Gail Kim met on the set of Dinner: Impossible, when he came to serve VIPs for WWE’s professional wresting pay-per-view (PPV) event SummerSlam. 

Tyler Florence 

Tyler Florence born Kevin Tyler Florence, is a chef and television host of Food Network several shows. Florence finished his degree in 1991, at the Charleston, South Carolina’s College of Culinary Arts, Johnson & Wales University campus, and was later given an honorary doctorate from the university for his culinary success.Florence hosted Food 911 is a 30-minute-long show that has aired on the Food Network since 1999, became a presenter on Globe Trekker, also known as Pilot Guides in Australia, Thailand, and originally broadcast as Lonely Planet, an adventure tourism TV series, produced by Pilot Productions, and How to Boil Water, and hosts of Tyler’s Ultimate and  The Great Food Truck Race on the Food Network. Tyler Florence was named by COPIA: The American Center for Wine, Food and the Arts as the Dean of Culinary Education in 2008. He opened a small chain of luxury kitchen supply stores in 2009 in Northern California, and developed three new concepts for his restaurant located in areas such as, Wayfare Tavern in downtown San Francisco, formerly, Rubicon restaurant, Rotisserie & Wine, a fast food restaurant in downtown Napa, California and with American rock and guitarist, Sammy Hagar best known as The Red Rocker, El Paseo in downtown Mill Valley, California, an American tavern featuring ingredients only from Marin County.  Tyler Florence was first married to Christie Lear, and together they have a son, Miles born in 1996. He married second wife former Miss USA 1994 delegates, Tolan Clark, and the couple has a son Hayden Tyler, (born 2007), and a daughter Dorothy Tyler (born 2008). The couple moved in 2007, from New York City to Mill Valley, north of San Francisco, and opened a retail kitchen store (named after his name) in July 2008.