Elizabeth Falkner (born February 12, 1966) is an American chef, pastry chef, author, restaurateur, and consulting chef. She has appeared as a competitor and sometimes a judge on reality television cooking competitions, and she is a

Top Chef ''Top Chef'' is an American reality competition television series which premiered on Bravo on March 8, 2006. The show features chefs competing against each other in culinary challenges. The contestants are judged by a panel of professional chef ...

television series alum. She is currently residing and working in Los Angeles, California,

Early life and education

Elizabeth Falker was born on February 12, 1966, in San Francisco, California, and raised in Southern California. Her father was an art professor. Falkner graduated from the

San Francisco Art Institute San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) was a private college of contemporary art in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1871, SFAI was one of the oldest art schools in the United States and the oldest west of the Mississippi River. Approximately ...

in 1989 with a BFA degree.

Career

Her first restaurant job was as a dishwasher at French bistro Cafe Claude in San Francisco. She moved into French fine dining at Masa's with Chef

Julian Serrano Julián Serrano is a Spanish chef who lives and works in the United States. He first gained attention in San Francisco and is now most active in Las Vegas. Biography Born in Madrid, he studied in Marbella. He worked in several restaurants, Cari ...

. In 1993, Falkner became the pastry chef at

Elka ELKA, Elka, or Elkas may refer to: * Aspioti-ELKA, Greek publishing and printing firm, active 1873–1997 * An Italian synthesizer manufacturer, now defunct; brand now owned by Generalmusic, used for their amplifier products ** Elka Synthex, a synt ...

in the Miyako Hotel, and in 1994 Falkner was the pastry chef under chef

Traci Des Jardins Traci Des Jardins is an American chef and restaurateur who previously owned Jardinière, a French influenced California fine-dining restaurant in the Hayes Valley neighborhood of San Francisco, California. She is also chef and partner of ''Publ ...

at Drew Nieporent's restaurant Rubicon.

Citizen Cake and Orson

In 1997, Falkner opened Citizen Cake, a dessert cafe at its first location in the

Mission District The Mission District (Spanish: ''Distrito de la Misión''), commonly known as The Mission (Spanish: ''La Misión''), is a neighborhood in San Francisco, California. One of the oldest neighborhoods in San Francisco, the Mission District's name is ...

at 82-14th Street, San Francisco in a partnership with coffee roaster Bob Vorhees. It remained there until 2000 when she moved the restaurant to 399 Grove Street, in the

Hayes Valley Hayes Valley is a neighborhood in the Western Addition district of San Francisco, California. It is located between the historical districts of Alamo Square and the Civic Center. Victorian, Queen Anne, and Edwardian townhouses are mixed with hig ...

neighborhood. A second spinoff location of Citizen Cake was located in the Virgin Megastore on Market Street in San Francisco. From 2010 to 2011, Citizen Cake moved to 2125 Fillmore Street in

Pacific Heights Pacific Heights is a neighborhood in San Francisco, California. It has panoramic views of the Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco Bay, the Palace of Fine Arts, Alcatraz, and the Presidio. The Pacific Heights Residents Association defines the neig ...

before closing. The restaurant Orson was co-owned with partner Sabrina Riddle and opened in 2008 in

SoMA Soma may refer to: Businesses and brands * SOMA (architects), a New York–based firm of architects * Soma (company), a company that designs eco-friendly water filtration systems * SOMA Fabrications, a builder of bicycle frames and other bicycle ...

at 508-4th Street, San Francisco. Orson took two years and cost 4 million dollars to build and was designed by the Zack/de Vito firm. However, in 2008, the same year as opening, there was a period of economic recession. Orson closed after approximately three years in October 2011.

New York City

In 2011, Falkner closed both of her San Francisco establishments, Citizen Cake and Orson, and moved to New York, where she opened two short-lived Italian restaurants, Krescendo in

Boerum Hill Boerum Hill (pronounced ) is a small neighborhood in the northwestern portion of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, bounded by Schermerhorn Street to the north and Fourth Avenue to the east. The western border is variously given as either Sm ...

, Brooklyn from 2012 to July 2013; and Corvo Bianco on the Upper West Side from July 2013 to February 2014. In 2012, Falkner won first prize at the

World Pizza Championship The World Pizza Championship is an event held annually for three days in April since 1991 in Salsomaggiore Terme (Parma), Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Eu ...

in Naples, Italy, with her "Finocchio Flower Power" pizza from Krescendo.

Teaching and events

From 2001 to 2002, Falkner taught professional pastry courses in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

; and, from 2002 to 2003, she was the chef on a team doing research for American/European pastries for

Barilla ''Barilla'' refers to several species of salt-tolerant (halophyte) plants that, until the 19th century, were the primary source of soda ash and hence of sodium carbonate. The word "barilla" was also used directly to refer to the soda ash obtained ...

Parma Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmigiano-Reggiano, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. She has cooked at the

James Beard James Andrews Beard (May 5, 1903 – January 23, 1985) was an American chef, cookbook author, teacher and television personality. He pioneered television cooking shows, taught at The James Beard Cooking School in New York City and Seaside, ...

House in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

; the Masters of Food and Wine in

Carmel Carmel may refer to: * Carmel (biblical settlement), an ancient Israelite town in Judea * Mount Carmel, a coastal mountain range in Israel overlooking the Mediterranean Sea * Carmelites, a Roman Catholic mendicant religious order Carmel may also ...

, California; and the Chef's Holiday at the

Ahwahnee Hotel The Ahwahnee Hotel is a grand hotel in Yosemite National Park, California, on the floor of Yosemite Valley. It was built by the Yosemite Park and Curry Company and opened for business in 1927. The hotel is constructed of steel, stone, concre ...

Yosemite National Park Yosemite National Park ( ) is an American national park in California, surrounded on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on the northwest by Stanislaus National Forest. The park is managed by the National Park Service and covers an ar ...

Television appearances

She has appeared in ''The Next Iron Chef: Super Chefs'' (season 4, 2011, Food Network); ''and The Next Iron Chef: Redemption'' (2012, Food Network); ''Chopped All Stars'' (Food Network); ''Top Chef Masters;'' ''Top Chef;'' '' Top Chef: Just Desserts'' (Bravo); ''Top Chef: Canada;'' and ''Food Network Challenge'' (Food Network). In 2005, Falkner competed on ''

Iron Chef America ''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, whi ...

'', ''Tyler's Ultimate'', ''

$40 a Day ''$40 a Day'' was a Food Network show hosted by Rachael Ray. In each episode, Ray takes a one-day trip to an American, Canadian, or European city with only $40 US, to spend on food. While touring the city, she finds restaurants to go to (often ba ...

'', ''Sugar Rush'', ''Best Of'', ''Bay Cafe'', ''Top Chef-Pastry'' and others. In 2006, Falkner appeared as a guest judge on ''

'', a reality show on the

Bravo Bravo(s) or The Bravo(s) may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music Groups and labels *Bravo (band), a Russian rock band * Bravo (Spanish group), represented Spain at Eurovision 1984 *Bravo Music, an American concert band music publishing company ...

network. In 2020, 2021, and 2022, Falkner competed on Guy Fieri's Tournament of Champions (Food Network) seasons 1, 2, and 3.

Personal life

Falkner identifies as

lesbian A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...

. She is active in the

LGBTQ ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

community, and has done extensive work with

Act Up AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) is an international, grassroots political group working to end the AIDS pandemic. The group works to improve the lives of people with AIDS through direct action, medical research, treatment and advocacy, ...

and the

Human Rights Campaign The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) is an American LGBTQ advocacy group. It is the largest LGBTQ political lobbying organization within the United States. Based in Washington, D.C., the organization focuses on protecting and expanding rights for LGB ...

, receiving the Charles M. Holmes Award from the latter in 2005.

Awards

* "Rising Star Chef" (1995) by the

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. de ...

* "Pastry Chef of the Year" (1999) by

San Francisco Magazine ''San Francisco'' is an American monthly magazine devoted to the people, culture, food, politics, and arts of the San Francisco Bay Area. It is published monthly by Modern Luxury publications. History There have been two separate ''San Francis ...

* "Golden Bowl" for "Best Pastry Chef" (2003) by Women Chefs and Restaurateurs * "Golden Bowl" for "Women Who Inspire" (2003) by Women Chefs and Restaurateurs * "10 Women With Substance and Style" (2004) by Organic Style Magazine * "Best Pastry Chef" nominee (2005) by 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 ...

* "Charles M. Holmes Award" (2005) by the

* 2012

, 1st Place, Naples Italy. * 2019 Blended Burger Battle, 1st Place, StarChefs, Brooklyn Expo, International Chefs Congress

Books

* *

References

External links

* *
Biography at Star Chefs
{{DEFAULTSORT:Falkner, Elizabeth 1966 births Living people American food writers Food Network chefs Lesbian entertainers American LGBT entertainers LGBT people from California Pastry chefs San Francisco Art Institute alumni Women chefs Women food writers Writers from San Francisco LGBT chefs Chefs from San Francisco Chefs from New York City American women restaurateurs American restaurateurs