Alessandro Stratta (born October 29, 1964) is a

celebrity chef A celebrity chef is a kitchen chef who has become a celebrity. Today, chefs often become celebrities by presenting cookery advice and demonstrations, usually through the media of television and radio, or in printed publications. While television ...

and

restaurateur A restaurateur is a person who opens and runs restaurants professionally. Although over time the term has come to describe any person who owns a restaurant, traditionally it refers to a highly skilled professional who is proficient in all aspec ...

of mixed

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

and French heritage. Stratta played the role of ''Iron Chef Italian'' on the television show

Iron Chef USA is a Japanese television cooking show produced by Fuji Television. The series, which premiered on October 10, 1993, was a stylized cook-off featuring guest chefs challenging one of the show's resident "Iron Chefs" in a timed cooking battle bui ...

. He was the recipient of the

James Beard Foundation The James Beard Foundation is a New York City-based national non-profit culinary arts organization named in honor of James Beard, a prolific food writer, teacher, and cookbook author, who was also known as the "Dean of American Cookery." The prog ...

award for Best Chef Southwest in 1998 and was

executive chef A chef de cuisine (, French for ''head of kitchen'') or head chef is a chef that leads and manages the kitchen and chefs of a restaurant or hotel. A chef patron (feminine form ''chef patronne'') (French for ''boss chef'') or executive chef is ...

and owner of his famous namesake restaurant,

Alex Alex is a given name. It can refer to a shortened version of Alexander, Alexandra, Alexis. People Multiple *Alex Brown (disambiguation), multiple people * Alex Gordon (disambiguation), multiple people *Alex Harris (disambiguation), multiple pe ...

, in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

until its closure on January 15, 2011. He was later diagnosed with

colon cancer Colorectal cancer (CRC), also known as bowel cancer, colon cancer, or rectal cancer, is the development of cancer from the colon or rectum (parts of the large intestine). Signs and symptoms may include blood in the stool, a change in bowel mo ...

and became a

cancer survivor A cancer survivor is a person with cancer of any type who is still living. Whether a person becomes a survivor at the time of diagnosis or after completing treatment, whether people who are actively dying are considered survivors, and whether ...

. He was the executive chef and owner of "Tapas by Alex Stratta" in the

suburb of

Summerlin Summerlin is a master-planned community in the Las Vegas Valley of Southern Nevada. It lies at the edge of the Spring Mountains and Red Rock Canyon to the west; it is partly within the official city limits of Las Vegas and partly within uninco ...

, until it closed in 2015. In 2016, Stratta became executive chef de cuisine at Prado restaurant at the Omni Hotel in

Paradise Valley, Arizona Paradise Valley is a town in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, and a suburb of Phoenix, the state's largest city. It is Arizona's wealthiest municipality. The town is known for its luxury golf courses, shopping, expensive real estate, and ...

Biography

Early life

Stratta is a fourth-generation

hotelier A hotel manager, hotelier, or lodging manager is a person who manages the operation of a hotel, motel, resort, or other lodging-related establishment. Management of a hotel operation includes, but is not limited to management of hotel staff, bu ...

born to parents from locales well known for their

culinary Culinary arts are the cuisine arts of outline of food preparation, food preparation, cooking and food presentation, presentation of food, usually in the form of meals. People working in this field – especially in establishments such as res ...

traditions; his

father is from the

Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

region, and his French mother from

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...

along the

Côte d'Azur The French Riviera (known in French as the ; oc, Còsta d'Azur ; literal translation " Azure Coast") is the Mediterranean coastline of the southeast corner of France. There is no official boundary, but it is usually considered to extend fro ...

. As his father was president of Princess Hotels & Resorts, he spent much of his early life living in luxurious

resorts A resort (North American English) is a self-contained commercial establishment that tries to provide most of a vacationer's wants, such as food, drink, swimming, lodging, sports, entertainment, and shopping, on the premises. The term ''resort' ...

in countries all over the world, including Singapore, Malaysia, Italy, France, Mexico, and Pakistan; this upbringing helped him become fluent in French,

, Spanish, and English. Stratta attended the

California Culinary Academy The California Culinary Academy (CCA) was a for-profit school, and an affiliate of Le Cordon Bleu located in San Francisco, California. Danielle Carlisle established the school in 1977 to train chefs using the European education model. The origina ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, California and graduated with honors in 1983.

Culinary development

Stratta began his career as a

patissier A pastry chef or pâtissier (; the French female version of the word is pâtissière ), is a station chef in a professional kitchen, skilled in the making of pastries, desserts, breads and other baked goods. They are employed in large hotels, bi ...

-in-training at the

Stanford Court Hotel The Stanford Court Hotel is a historic 393-room hotel located at 905 California Street on Nob Hill in San Francisco, California. The hotel sits at the intersection of California & Powell St, where the city's cable car lines also intersect. His ...

. He then accepted an

internship An internship is a period of work experience offered by an organization for a limited period of time. Once confined to medical graduates, internship is used practice for a wide range of placements in businesses, non-profit organizations and gover ...

at the Hôtel de Paris in Monaco; soon after,

Alain Ducasse Alain Ducasse (; born 13 September 1956) is a French-born Monégasque chef. He operates a number of restaurants including Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester which holds three stars (the top rating) in the Michelin Guide. Early life and career D ...

invited Stratta to join the team at his Louis XV restaurant there. After two years, Stratta returned to the United States, and at Ducasse's recommendation began working for

Daniel Boulud Daniel Boulud (born 25 March 1955 in Saint-Pierre-de-Chandieu) is a French chef and restaurateur with restaurants in New York City, Palm Beach, Miami, Toronto, Montréal, Singapore, the Bahamas, the Berkshires and Dubai. He is best known for h ...

Le Cirque Le Cirque is a French restaurant that has had several locations throughout the New York City borough of Manhattan for more than forty years. It is currently closed, with its future status unknown. New York City history Le Cirque was establishe ...

in New York City. Both Ducasse and Boulud acted as mentors who heavily influenced Stratta's development as both a

chef A chef is a trained professional cook and tradesman who is proficient in all aspects of food preparation, often focusing on a particular cuisine. The word "chef" is derived from the term ''chef de cuisine'' (), the director or head of a kitche ...

and

; Stratta credits Ducasse with showing him "how to make basic, simple food taste phenomenal", and Boulud for his creative influences as well as business skills.

As executive chef

In 1989, Stratta took on the executive chef position at Mary Elaine's restaurant at The Phoenician

resort A resort (North American English) is a self-contained commercial establishment that tries to provide most of a vacationer's wants, such as food, drink, swimming, lodging, sports, entertainment, and shopping, on the premises. The term ''resort ...

in Scottsdale, Arizona. While there, he was featured in

Food & Wine Magazine ''Food & Wine'' is an American monthly magazine published by Dotdash Meredith. It was founded in 1978 by Ariane and Michael Batterberry. It features recipes, cooking tips, travel information, restaurant reviews, chefs, wine pairings and se ...

as one of "America's Ten Best New Chefs". Under his tenure, the restaurant earned a 4-star rating from the

Mobil Mobil is a petroleum brand owned and operated by American oil and gas corporation ExxonMobil. The brand was formerly owned and operated by an oil and gas corporation of the same name, which itself merged with Exxon to form ExxonMobil in 1999. ...

Travel Guide and also received critical acclaim as the best restaurant in the

Phoenix Phoenix most often refers to: * Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore * Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States Phoenix may also refer to: Mythology Greek mythological figures * Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...

area. In 1998, Stratta became executive chef of the Renoir restaurant at

The Mirage The Mirage is a casino resort on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, Paradise, Nevada, United States. It is owned by Vici Properties and operated by Hard Rock International. The 65-acre property includes a casino and 3,044 rooms. Mirage R ...

after being invited by

Steve Wynn Stephen Alan Wynn (''né'' Weinberg; born January 27, 1942) is an American real estate developer and art collector. He is known for his involvement in the American luxury casino and hotel industry. Early in his career he oversaw the construction ...

. The restaurant earned

Travel Guide's highest rating of 5 stars just six months after opening. In 2005, Stratta opened his namesake restaurant

– once again at the invitation of

, but this time for the grand opening of Wynn's namesake

casino A casino is a facility for certain types of gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos are also known for hosting live entertai ...

and

country club A country club is a privately owned club, often with a membership quota and admittance by invitation or sponsorship, that generally offers both a variety of recreational sports and facilities for dining and entertaining. Typical athletic offer ...

Wynn Las Vegas Wynn Las Vegas, often simply referred to as Wynn, is a luxury resort and casino located on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, United States. It is owned and operated by Wynn Resorts, and was built on the former site of the Desert Inn resor ...

. Stratta's restaurant was billed as a "triumph" and has been extremely well reviewed; it received ratings of 5 stars from the

Travel Guide, 5 diamonds from the

AAA AAA, Triple A, or Triple-A is a three-letter initialism or abbreviation which may refer to: Airports * Anaa Airport in French Polynesia (IATA airport code AAA) * Logan County Airport (Illinois) (FAA airport code AAA) Arts, entertainment, and me ...

Restaurant Ratings, and 2 stars from the

Michelin Guide The Michelin Guides ( ) are a series of guide books that have been published by the French tyre company Michelin since 1900. The Guide awards up to three Michelin star (classification), stars for excellence to a select few establishments. The ac ...

Television

In 2001, Stratta was chosen as Iron Chef Italian on the now-defunct television show

, where he was nicknamed the "Italian

Scallion Scallions (also known as spring onions or green onions) are vegetables derived from various species in the genus ''Allium''. Scallions generally have a milder taste than most onions and their close relatives include garlic, shallot, leek, ch ...

". Although he describes himself as "not that competitive", Stratta decided to appear on the show because he is a fan of the original

Iron Chef is a Japanese television cooking show produced by Fuji Television. The series, which premiered on October 10, 1993, was a stylized cook-off featuring guest chefs challenging one of the show's resident "Iron Chefs" in a timed cooking battle bui ...

show from Japan. In his only battle appearance on the show, he defeated chef

Marcus Samuelsson 25 January 1971) is an Ethiopian-born Swedish-American celebrity chef, restaurateur and television personality. He is the head chef of Red Rooster in Harlem, New York. Early life and education Kassahun Joar Tsegie was born in Ethiopia. His fat ...

. On March 2, 2011, it was announced that Stratta would be one of the contestants competing in the third season of Bravo's reality competition show ''

Top Chef Masters ''Top Chef Masters'' is an American reality competition series that aired on the cable television network Bravo, and premiered June 10, 2009. It is a spinoff of Bravo's hit show ''Top Chef''. In the series, chefs A chef is a trained profes ...

''. He was eliminated during the sixth episode, placing seventh in the competition.

Awards

* America's Ten Best New Chefs,

, 1994 * Best Chef Southwest,

, 1998 * Two Stars

for

Five Diamond Award for

* Five Stars

Mobil Travel Guide Forbes Travel Guide (formerly known as Mobil Guide or Mobil Travel Guide) is a star rating service and online travel guide for hotels, restaurants and spas. In 2011, Forbes Travel Guide published its last set of guidebooks and on November 15, 201 ...

for

Gaming Hall of Fame The Gaming Hall of Fame was established in 1989 to recognize individuals who have played a significant role in the gaming-entertainment industry. The Gaming Hall of Fame Charity Gala is an annual event organized by the American Gaming Associatio ...

2006 Inductee

Restaurants

(

) * Stratta at

(

) * Tapas by Alex Stratta (

) * Prado at Omni Scottsdale Resort & Spa at Montelucia ( Scottsdale) * Salt & Pepper at Tivoli Village (Las Vegas)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stratta, Alessandro American chefs American male chefs 1964 births Living people California Culinary Academy alumni Head chefs of Michelin starred restaurants James Beard Foundation Award winners People from Marquette, Wisconsin