Lee Anne Wong | |
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| Born | New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Education | Fashion Institute of Technology, French Culinary Institute |
| Known for | Chef, culinary producer, television host, restaurateur |
| Culinary career | |
Current restaurant(s)
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Previous restaurant(s)
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Television show(s) | |
Lee Anne Wong is an American chef, restaurateur, a television culinary producer, and television figure. She has appeared as a competitor on reality television cooking competitions, and she is a Top Chef television series alum. Wong was based in New York City, before moving to Hawaii in 2013. [1] [2] She has also worked extensively as a culinary producer for American television series, including for four seasons of Top Chef.
Lee Anne Wong grew up in Wynantskill, New York, a small town in Rensselaer County outside Albany.
She began her college education at the Fashion Institute of Technology, where she studied fashion design, but later transferred to the professional cooking program at The French Culinary Institute (now the International Culinary Center). [3]
Later she became the Executive Chef of Event Operations at The French Culinary Institute, [4] a position she maintained while participating in the Top Chef competitions. [5]
From 2010 until 2013, she has also been seen on the Cooking Channel's Unique Eats as a commentator. She was also the chef consultant for the 2007 American remake of the German film, Mostly Martha , called No Reservations .
Wong participated in a tasting benefit event produced by New York Loves Japan and Project by Project to fundraise for the 2011 Japan earthquake aid relief. [6] In 2011, Wong appeared on Iron Chef America (season 10, episode 1), with Halloween candy being the secret ingredient; chef Wong successfully challenged Iron Chef Marc Forgione with a resulting score of 52–51. [7]
Wong moved to Honolulu, Hawaiʻi, in 2013, followed by a brief move to Maui. [1] In 2014, she opened and continued to run Koko Head Cafe, a popular brunch spot. [8] Wong also joined the Hawaiian Airlines culinary team in 2015 and became executive chef in 2018. [9]
She was one of the last four contestants on the 2006 first season of Bravo's reality show, Top Chef . She was the culinary producer for the next four seasons of Top Chef, [10] where her duties included sourcing and styling the ingredients for the various challenges, as well as determining the budget, equipment restrictions and time limits. [11] She also blogged about the show for Bravo, [12] and hosted the webcast Top Recipe: The Wong Way to Cook, in which she demonstrated how to prepare various winning dishes invented by the program contestants. [13]
In 2018, Wong competed on Top Chef: Colorado, winning a spot on the season proper through its Last Chance Kitchen feature. She withdrew during her second week of the competition due to altitude sickness combined with her pregnancy. [14] In 2020, Wong competed on Top Chef: All-Stars L.A. and made it to Episode 9 before being eliminated.
In 2023, Wong's restaurant Papa’aina at Lāhainā's Pioneer Inn was destroyed during a major wildfire. She and other volunteers proceeded to work with World Central Kitchen to help in the relief effort for affected Maui residents. [15] [16]
Masaharu Morimoto is a Japanese chef, best known as an Iron Chef on the Japanese TV cooking show Iron Chef and its spinoff Iron Chef America. He is also known for his unique style of presenting food.
Iron Chef America is an American cooking show based on Fuji Television's Iron Chef, and is the second American adaptation of the series, following the failed Iron Chef USA that aired in 2001. The show is produced by Food Network, which also carried a dubbed version of the original Iron Chef. Like the original Japanese program, the program is a culinary game show. In each episode, a new challenger chef competes against one of the resident "Iron Chefs" in a one-hour cooking competition based on a secret ingredient or ingredients, and sometimes theme.
Rocco DiSpirito is an American chef and reality television personality based in New York City, known for starring in the series The Restaurant.
Curtis Travis Stone is an Australian celebrity chef, author, and television personality. Stone has been the fresh food and recipes ambassador for Coles Supermarkets in Australia since 2010.
Katherine Lee is an American cookbook author, television food critic, chef and novelist born in West Virginia. She has worked in several restaurants and published two cookbooks. She served as a contributor to several magazines and TV shows, including Iron Chef America, an American cooking show competition, where she was a judge in 2007. She is a co-host of Food Network's talk show The Kitchen, and the host of Cooking Channel's Beach Bites with Katie Lee.
Top Chef: Los Angeles is the second season of the American reality television series Top Chef. It was first filmed in Los Angeles, before concluding in Waikoloa Village, Hawaii. The season premiered on October 18, 2006, and ended on January 31, 2007. Padma Lakshmi replaced Katie Lee Joel as the host, with Tom Colicchio and Gail Simmons returning as judges. The winning recipe from each week's episode was featured on Bravo's Top Chef website and prepared by Season 1 contestant Lee Anne Wong in a web video called The Wong Way to Cook. Bravo cited negative viewer reaction to the Season 2 chefs' attitudes and overall behavior as the reason why no reunion episode was filmed. In the season finale, Ilan Hall was declared the winner over runner-up Marcel Vigneron. Sam Talbot was voted Fan Favorite.
Top Chef: Miami is the third season of the American reality television series Top Chef. It was first filmed in Miami, Florida, before concluding in Aspen, Colorado. The season was Emmy nominated for Outstanding Reality Competition Series, and garnered the Emmy Award for Best Editing in the category. Season 3 premiered on June 13, 2007 and ended on October 10, 2007. Padma Lakshmi returned with Tom Colicchio, Gail Simmons, and new judge Ted Allen, who switched off with Simmons throughout the season. Top Chef: San Francisco contestant Lee Anne Wong was brought in as a food consultant and assisted in planning the challenges. Production took place in April and May 2007 in Miami Beach, Florida, with production activity centered at the Fontainebleau Hotel. The winning recipe from each week's episode of Season 3 was featured on Bravo's Top Chef website and prepared by Lee Anne Wong in a web series called The Wong Way to Cook. In the season finale, Hung Huynh was declared the winner over runners-up Dale Levitski and Casey Thompson. Thompson was voted Fan Favorite.
Richard Blais is an American chef, television personality, restaurateur, and author. He appeared on the reality show cooking show Top Chef, and is known for his take on classic American cuisine. Blais was the runner-up for the fourth season of Top Chef and returned several seasons later to win Top Chef: All-Stars.
Alexandra Maria Guarnaschelli is an American chef, cookbook author, and television personality. She currently serves as an executive chef at New York City's Butter restaurant and was executive chef at The Darby restaurant before its closing. Guarnaschelli studied cooking extensively in France.
Carla Hall is an American chef, television personality and former model.
The Best Thing I Ever Ate is a television series that originally aired on Food Network, debuting on June 22, 2009.
Michael Voltaggio is an American 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.
Tiffany Derry is an American celebrity chef and restaurateur. She is a Top Chef television series alumna, and known for her appearances on Cutthroat Kitchen and Hungry Investors. She is based in Dallas, Texas.
Rocco's Dinner Party is an American reality competition series which premiered on June 15, 2011, on the Bravo cable network. Each week, three chefs are challenged to craft the perfect dinner party for celebrity chef Rocco DiSpirito and his guests. The contestants are judged on their cooking, service, and décor. The winner of each episode wins $20,000 (USD).
Kristen Kish is an American chef known for winning the tenth season of Top Chef. She was formerly chef de cuisine at Menton in Fort Point, Boston. She became the host of Top Chef starting with season 21, Top Chef: Wisconsin. She is also the host of 36 Hours on Travel Channel, a co-host of Fast Foodies on TruTV, a co-host of Iron Chef: Quest for an Iron Legend, and host of National Geographic’s Restaurants at the End of the World.
Naomi Pomeroy was an American chef and restaurateur. Pomeroy in 2009 was listed by Food & Wine magazine as one of America's Top 10 Best New Chefs and in 2014 won the James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef Northwest.
Antonia Marie Lofaso is an American celebrity chef and restaurateur. She has appeared on the reality television shows Top Chef, Chopped, Cutthroat Kitchen and Restaurant Startup, among others. Lofaso owns the restaurants Black Market Liquor Bar, Scopa Italian Roots, and DAMA in Los Angeles, California.
Edward Lee is a Brooklyn-born celebrity chef, author and restaurateur. He has made numerous television appearances on shows including The Mind of a Chef and Top Chef as well as a judge on Gordon Ramsay's Culinary Genius. He is a nine-time James Beard Award nominee, owns multiple restaurants throughout the United States and the Caribbean, and is the author of two award-winning books Buttermilk Graffiti and Smoke and Pickles.
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.
