Biography
Born in 1950, Waxman grew up near Berkeley, California. [2] After graduating from the University of Nevada, Reno, he found work playing in bands at casinos and later with a rock band named "Lynx." [3]
Waxman eventually gave up his career as a trombonist to study at La Varenne cooking school in France. [4] [5] In 1979, he and restaurateur Michael McCarty opened Michael's Restaurant in an old mansion near the Santa Monica beach; the groundbreaking cuisine attracted diners from all over America. [6] Five years later, he opened Jams Restaurant on East 79th Street in New York; the chance to dine with what New York Magazine called "an elder statesman of the new California cooking" made Jams the most sought after dining sensation of the season. [7] His work at Jams made him a celebrity chef; "whoever said chefs in the 80's were like rock-and-roll stars", said one reviewer, "had Jonathan in mind." [8] Among other restaurants created by Waxman are Bud's, Hulot's, Jams of London and Table 29. [9] Esquire magazine put him on its list of most influential Americans. [10]
Waxman is currently the chef-owner of Barbuto in New York City's West Village, [11] Jams in New York City's Midtown, [12] Brezza Cucina in Atlanta's Ponce City Market, [13] Adele's in Nashville, [14] and in 2016 opened Waxman's at Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco. [15] According to New York Magazine, Barbuto's food is "rustic Italian," and the mood is "casually hip." [16] His cookbook published by Simon & Schuster was released in 2011. [17]
In 2018, Waxman served as a guest judge on season nine of MasterChef , and was introduced as the mentor of Aarón Sanchez. In 2021, he again appeared as a guest judge for the show on season eleven.
Waxman has also been an occasional judge on Guy's Grocery Games - including when Rocco DiSpirito has competed from time to time.
Harold Dieterle III is an American top chef, best known as the winner of the first season of the Bravo television network's reality television series Top Chef. After winning Top Chef, he owned and ran three restaurants in New York City: Perilla, Kin Shop, and The Marrow. He closed all three in 2014 and 2015. In 2019 Dieterle opened a new restaurant, "Ten Hope," in Williamsburg.
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Aarón Sánchez is a Mexican-American celebrity chef, restaurateur, television personality, cookbook author and philanthropist. He is the executive chef and part-owner of the Mexican restaurant Johnny Sánchez in New Orleans.
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Timothy Hollingsworth is an American chef and restaurateur. In 2012, he left his post as Chef de Cuisine at Thomas Keller’s The French Laundry and moved to Los Angeles, where he opened Otium. He has won multiple awards throughout his career, including the 2010 James Beard Foundation's Rising Chef of the Year Award, the 2010 San Francisco Chronicle Rising Star Chef, and the 2009 Bocuse d'Or, where he placed sixth. He was the winner of the 2018 cooking competition The Final Table.
Ludovic Lefebvre is a Michelin-star French chef, restaurateur, author, and television personality. He trained in France for 12 years before moving to Los Angeles. He was awarded the prestigious Forbes Travel Guide Five Star Award at two different restaurants, L'Orangerie in 1999 and 2000 and Bastide in 2006.
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Bryan Voltaggio is an American celebrity chef, restaurateur, and author. He is a Top Chef television series alum; and he was a semi-finalist for the James Beard award. His brother is celebrity chef Michael Voltaggio. He resides in Frederick, Maryland and is known for Mid-Atlantic cuisine.
Michael Voltaggio is an American celebrity chef, restaurateur, and author. He is a Top Chef television series alum and the winner of season 6. His brother Bryan Voltaggio is also a celebrity chef. He resides in Los Angeles, California.
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Thierry Rautureau, nicknamed The Chef in the Hat, was a French-American celebrity chef based in Seattle, Washington. He was also the chef and owner of several former restaurants, including Loulay and Luc, but entered "semi-retired" following his restaurants' difficulties with the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Hugh Acheson is a Canadian-born chef and restaurateur. He owns four restaurants in Georgia, and serves as a judge on the reality cooking competition show Top Chef, and as an Iron Chef on Iron Chef Canada.
Kristen Kish is a Korean-born American chef known for winning the tenth season of Top Chef. She was formerly chef de cuisine at Menton in the Fort Point neighborhood of Boston. She is the host of 36 Hours on Travel Channel and a co-host of Fast Foodies on TruTV as well as co-host of Iron Chef: Quest for an Iron Legend. She also hosts National Geographic’s Restaurants at the End of the World.
Gregory Gourdet is an American chef, writer, restaurateur, and former finalist on the twelfth and seventeenth seasons of Bravo's American reality television series, Top Chef. He is of Haitian descent. He is the owner of the restaurant Kann and the former executive chef and culinary director of Departure at The Nines in Portland, Oregon. His book, Everyone’s Table: Global Recipes for Modern Health, is a national bestseller.
Barbuto is an Italian restaurant owned by Jonathan Waxman located in the West Village of Manhattan, New York City, on Washington Street. The original location closed after 15 years when it lost its lease in 2019. They reopened in the autumn of 2021 at 113 Horatio Street. The new location actually opened in February 2020 but three weeks later they were forced to shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Erick Williams is an American chef. In 2022 he was named Best Chef in the Great Lakes Region by the James Beard Foundation.
