Johnny Iuzzini /u-zee-nee/ (born August 31, 1974) is an American

pastry chef 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 ...

, television celebrity, and cookbook author. He resides in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. He is a 1994 graduate of The

Culinary Institute of America Culinary arts are the cuisine arts of food preparation, cooking and presentation of food, usually in the form of meals. People working in this field – especially in establishments such as restaurants – are commonly called chefs or ...

and served as executive pastry chef at Daniel from 2001 through 2002 and at

Jean Georges Jean-Georges is a two-Michelin-star restaurant at 1 Central Park West (between West 60th Street and West 61st Street), on the lobby level of the Trump International Hotel and Tower, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, New York City, named afte ...

from 2002 through 2011. Iuzzini is the author of two cookbooks, and was a judge on the first three seasons of ''

The Great American Baking Show ''The Great American Baking Show'' is an American cooking competition television series and an adaptation of ''The Great British Bake Off'' (which is aired in the United States under the title ''The Great British Baking Show''). Its first season a ...

'' in 2017. On November 29, 2017, Iuzzini was accused of sexual harassment by four former employees and the third season of ''The Great American Baking Show'' was pulled after one episode.

Early life

Iuzzini was born August 31, 1974, and raised in the

Catskills The Catskill Mountains, also known as the Catskills, are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Mountains, located in southeastern New York. As a cultural and geographic region, the Catskills are generally defined as those areas c ...

region of New York. His father was a plumbing and heating technician, his mother a veterinarian assistant and wildlife rehabilitator.McBride, Anne E.
"Interview with Johnny Iuzzini"
''ice.com'', January, 2007McDermott, Miranda J.
"TeenLIVE at the NYPL in Retrospect: Johnny Iuzzini on September 20, 2012"
''nypl.org'', April, 2013

Career

Beginnings

Iuzzini's first restaurant job was after school as a part-time dishwasher at the local golf club. At the time, he was enrolled in his high school's voc-tech culinary program. Iuzzini garnered his first cooking award by finishing second in a New York City culinary competition. At age seventeen, Iuzzini took a job as

garde manger A (; French) is a cool, well-ventilated area where cold dishes (such as salads, , appetizers, canapés, pâtés, and terrines) are prepared and other foods are stored under refrigeration. The person in charge of this area is known as the "" o ...

, beginning his career in New York City, and began assisting Pastry Chef Eric Gouteyron at the restaurant. He then switched jobs to work making desserts full-time, launching his career as a pastry chef. Iuzzini attended

The Culinary Institute of America The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) is a private culinary school with its primary campus in Hyde Park, New York, and branch campuses in St. Helena and Napa, California; San Antonio, Texas; and Singapore. The college, which was the firs ...

Hyde Park, New York Hyde Park is a town in Dutchess County, New York, United States, bordering the Hudson River north of Poughkeepsie. Within the town are the hamlets of Hyde Park, East Park, Staatsburg, and Haviland. Hyde Park is known as the hometown of Fran ...

, graduating in 1994 with a Baking and Pastry Arts degree.

Pastry chef

During his externship at the Culinary Institute of America, Iuzzini worked with pastry chef Lincoln Carson at Luxe. Iuzzini and Carson began working for Francois Payard. During the next three and a half years, he managed all dessert stations at Daniel and became Payard's close assistant. When Payard opened his Payard Pâtisserie and Bistro in 1997, Iuzzini was selected as

sous chef A sous-chef is 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 ...

while continuing to work at Daniel.Lurie, Joshu
"Interview: Pastry chef Johnny Iuzzini Discusses the Catskills, Cocktails, Clubbing, Traveling the World and More"
June 2011Bernard, Sara
"Sweet Sensation"
''nymag.com'' In 1998, Iuzzini studied pastry technique while

staging Staging may refer to: Computing * Staging (cloud computing), a process used to assemble, test, and review a new solution before it is moved into production and the existing solution is decommissioned * Staging (data), intermediately storing data b ...

at several of the country's finest patisseries. After eight months around the world, he returned to New York to work 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 f ...

, opening Café Boulud and the new Daniel as Executive Sous Chef. In 2001, Boulud promoted the 26-year-old Iuzzini to Executive Pastry Chef. In May 2002,

Jean-Georges Vongerichten Jean-Georges Vongerichten (; ; born in Alsace, France, on 16 March 1957) is a French chef.

selected Iuzzini for Executive Pastry Chef at Restaurant Jean Georges. Iuzzini was named the “Best Pastry Chef” by New York Magazine in 2002, nominated for “Outstanding Pastry Chef of the Year” nomination 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 ...

in 2003, and named one of the “Ten Best Pastry Chefs in America” by Pastry Art and Design Magazine in 2003 and 2004. In 2006, Iuzzini was awarded Outstanding Pastry Chef of the Year by the James Beard Foundation. 2007 landed him among the honorees of the title of “10 Most Influential Chefs in America” from Forbes, as one of the “Tastemaking Chefs”."Johnny Iuzzini Author Profile"
''cookbookdatabase.com''

Pastry and culinary arts consulting

In 2011 Iuzzini started a pastry and culinary arts consulting company, Sugar Fueled, Inc, performing demonstrations of pastry techniques to live audiences. In 2014, he entered a partnership with Le Méridien Hotels & Resorts.

Television

In September 2010, Iuzzini was cast for two seasons as head judge on the American reality competition show '' Top Chef: Just Desserts'' on the Bravo cable television network. In 2011, the show received the

GLAAD Media Award The GLAAD Media Award is an accolade bestowed by GLAAD to recognize and honor various branches of the media for their outstanding representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community and the issues that affect their liv ...

nomination for

Outstanding Reality Program The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Structured Reality Program is handed out annually at the Creative Arts Emmy Award ceremony. In 2014, Outstanding Reality Program was separated into two categories – Outstanding Unstructured Reality Pro ...

. On October 23, 2014, he appeared as a competitor in the "Superstar Sabotage" tournament of '' Cutthroat Kitchen''.

Sexual harassment allegations

On November 29, 2017, Iuzzini was accused of sexual harassment by four of his former employees. As a result of the accusations against Iuzzini, the third season of ''

'' was pulled after one episode. On December 13, 2017, Iuzzini was fired from ABC and ''

'' following the sexual misconduct allegations.

Books

In ''Dessert Fourplay'', Iuzzini provides recipes based upon his after-dinner quartet offerings from Jean Georges. His second cookbook was titled ''Sugar Rush'' and intended for home cooks."He’s No Cream Puff: Pastry Chef Johnny Iuzzini Shares His Secrets"
yahoo.com

Cookbooks

* *

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Iuzzini, Johnny 1974 births Living people Pastry chefs American chefs American male chefs Culinary Institute of America alumni American cookbook writers American male non-fiction writers