Alex Guarnaschelli

Background

Alex Guarnaschelli is the daughter of cookbook editor Maria Guarnaschelli and John Guarnaschelli. She was born in St. Louis but soon moved to New York City just a few days old. In 1991, she graduated from Barnard College with a degree in art history. That very same year, she got an entry-level job at a restaurant called An American Place for one year. Still, Guarnaschelli’s culinary experience started earlier while watching her mother test numerous recipes at home while editing cookbooks. She worked under Larry Forgione and then at several restaurants in New York, France, and Los Angeles, including Guy Savoy’s La Butte Chaillot. She eventually ended up becoming the executive chef at Butter.

Guarnaschelli appeared on the Food Network’s “Iron Chef America,” where she took on Cat Cora in the “Farmers’ Market Battle” of 2007. She has since appeared as a judge on the program, and in 2011 competed in “The Next Iron Chef,” season four, where she was the third runner-up. She also competed in the “Food Network Challenge Ultimate Thanksgiving Feast” episode and lost the competition. She became a sous-chef to Iron Chef Geoffrey Zakarian after the fourth season of “The Next Iron Chef.” In 2008, she became the host of The Food Network’s “The Cooking Loft with Alex Guarnaschelli,” where she teaches a small group of students, instructing them on how to reinvent classic dishes.

Guarnaschelli has been a judge on the famous Food Network’s competition show “Food Network Challenge” and oftentimes also appears as a judge on “Chopped, Cooks Vs. Cons,” “Young and Hungry,” and “Guy’s Grocery Games.” Additionally, she appeared in the food series “The Best Thing I Ever Ate,” and starred in “Alex’s Day Off,” which premiered in October 2009. She competed in season five of “The Next Iron Chef: Redemption,” winning the final Kitchen Stadium showdown against chef Amanda Freitag. Her debut challenge as an Iron Chef on “Iron Chef America” aired on December 30, 2012.