Alex Guarnaschelli

As the daughter of esteemed cookbook editor Maria Guarnaschelli, Alex spent her childhood surrounded by food. Guarnaschelli learned to eat according to whatever book her mother was working on at the time: one year was devoted to Indian with Classic Indian Cooking by Julie Sahni; another year was devoted to Italian with The Splendid Table by Lynne Rossetto Kasper. This early emphasis on her palate truly shaped her future in food. On the day of Guarnaschelli’s graduation from Barnard College in 1991, she decided to explore her culinary interests and began working under the tutelage of the acclaimed American chef and restaurateur Larry Forgione.

Forgione encouraged Guarnaschelli to travel and expand her skill set, so she obligingly moved to France to do a work study at La Varenne Culinary School in Burgundy. After school and traveling throughout France, she moved to Paris to begin a four day stage at the Michelin three-star restaurant Guy Savoy. Four days turned into four years with Guarnaschelli rapidly being promoted to sous chef at La Butte Chaillot, another Savoy establishment. After seven successful years in France, Guarnaschelli returned to New York and joined the venerable Daniel Boulud at restaurant Daniel, where she quickly rose through the ranks to become sous chef at the Manhattan standard. Always looking to expand her culinary knowledge, Guarnaschelli moved to Los Angeles for two years to join Joachim Splichal’s Patina Group, where she worked at the acclaimed Patina restaurant in West Hollywood. After two years, Guarnaschelli returned to her hometown to delve into American cooking. Splichal sent her to open Nick and Stef’s Steakhouse, his first New York City venture.

In 2003, Guarnaschelli was given the opportunity to become the executive chef at Butter Restaurant, where she would create her own American and green market-inspired menu. In addition to her restaurant work, Guarnaschelli inspires budding chefs as a Chef-Instructor at New York City’s Institute of Culinary Education.

This past Fall, Guarnaschelli opened a new restaurant, the Darby, an old-style New York supper club with live music, a raw bar and a menu that focuses on seafood and modern reinterpretations of iconic “retro supper club” dishes.

Guarnaschelli has completed the third season of “Alex’s Day Off” on Food Network, a show produced by Bobby Flay. She also is a regular judge on Food Network’s primetime show “Chopped” and a regular contributor to The Best Thing I Ever Ate.” She has appeared on “Iron Chef America” as both a competitor and judge, “Dear Food Network” and “Next Food Network Star”. This fall, she is slated to appear as a contestant on “Next Iron Chef”.

She is currently working on her first book to be published with Clarkson Potter.