Thomas Patrick Colicchio (; born August 15, 1962) is an American

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 ...

. He co-founded the Gramercy Tavern 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 ...

, and formerly served as a co-owner and as the executive chef. He is also the founder of Crafted Hospitality, which includes Craft (NYC and Los Angeles), Riverpark (NYC), Temple Court (NYC), Craftsteak (MGM Grand Las Vegas), Heritage Steak (Mirage Las Vegas) and Small Batch (Long Island) restaurants. Colicchio is the recipient of five

James Beard Foundation Award The James Beard Foundation Awards are annual awards presented by the James Beard Foundation to recognize chefs, restaurateurs, authors and journalists in the United States. They are scheduled around James Beard's May 5 birthday. The media award ...

s for cooking accomplishments. He has been the head judge on every season of Bravo reality TV show ''

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 ch ...

'' as well as '' Best New Restaurant'' which he also executive produces. Colicchio has also been a featured chef on ''

Great Chefs Great Chefs is a franchise of 656 televised cooking shows ( +13 cookbooks), that began with thirteen half-hour programs produced for PBS nationally, entitled "Great Chefs of New Orleans" by John Beyer and John Shoup in New Orleans. Later PBS se ...

'' shows.

Early life

Colicchio was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey, the middle son of Beverly Ann (née Corvelli) and Thomas Patrick Colicchio. He has an older brother Michael and a younger brother Philip John. His father was a

union organizer A union organizer (or union organiser in Commonwealth spelling) is a specific type of trade union member (often elected) or an appointed union official. A majority of unions appoint rather than elect their organizers. In some unions, the orga ...

. He is of Italian descent on both sides. He graduated in 1980 from Elizabeth High School.

Career

In the mid-1980s, Colicchio served as a sous-chef to

Thomas Keller Thomas Aloysius Keller (born October 14, 1955) is an American chef, restaurateur, and cookbook author. He and his landmark Napa Valley restaurant, The French Laundry in Yountville, California, have won multiple awards from the James Beard Foun ...

at Rakel. In July 1994, Colicchio and his partner

Danny Meyer Daniel Meyer (born March 14, 1958) is a New York City restaurateur and the Founder & Executive Chairman of the Union Square Hospitality Group (USHG). Background and early career Meyer was born and raised in a reform Jewish family in St. Louis, ...

opened the Gramercy Tavern in the Gramercy Park neighborhood of Manhattan. It was voted Most Popular Restaurant in New York City by the

Zagat Survey The ''Zagat Survey'', commonly referred to as Zagat (stylized in all caps; , ) and established by Tim and Nina Zagat in 1979, is an organization which collects and correlates the ratings of restaurants by diners. For their first guide, coverin ...

in 2003 and 2005. He sold his interest in 2006 and is no longer affiliated with the restaurant. In spring 2001, he opened the first Craft restaurant one block south of Gramercy Tavern. A year later, he opened the first Craftsteak at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. In 2003, he began the first , his sandwich shop. In 2010, he opened Colicchio & Sons, and also Riverpark. Shortly after the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...

, Colicchio volunteered serving food to rescue workers at Ground Zero. Colicchio won the 2010 Outstanding Chef award from 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 ...

. Colicchio has written three

cookbooks A cookbook or cookery book is a kitchen reference containing recipes. Cookbooks may be general, or may specialize in a particular cuisine or category of food. Recipes in cookbooks are organized in various ways: by course (appetizer, first cours ...

. He,

Jeff Bridges Jeffrey Leon Bridges (born December 4, 1949) is an American actor. He has received various accolades throughout his career spanning over seven decades, including an Academy Award and two Golden Globe Awards. Bridges comes from a prominent ac ...

, and

Raj Patel Rajeev "Raj" Patel (born 1972) is a British Indian academic, journalist, activist and writer who has lived and worked in Zimbabwe, South Africa, and the United States for extended periods. He has been referred to as "the rock star of social j ...

appeared in the

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...

'' A Place at the Table'' released in the U.S. on March 1, 2013. The movie was directed by his wife Lori Silverbush. He is also Executive Producer of ''A Place At The Table''.IMDB entry
/ref> Colicchio serves on the Food Council at City Harvest and the Culinary Council at

Food Bank for New York City Food Bank For New York City is a non-profit social services organization and the major hunger-relief organization working against hunger in the five boroughs. Its aim is to organize food, information and support for needy citizens of New York City ...

, two hunger-relief organizations. Colicchio has long been involved in food supply chain, restaurant and hunger relief issues.

Television

Colicchio has been involved with ''

'' since its beginning in 2006, where he has served as head judge. He is also the main consulting producer on Bravo's ''

'' spin-off series entitled ''

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 ''Top Chef'' is an American reality competition te ...

''. He also won an Emmy Award in 2010 for Outstanding Reality-Competition Programming as an executive producer of ''Top Chef'', on which he appears. Colicchio was the host of the reality series '' Best New Restaurant'' (an adaptation of the British reality show '' Ramsay's Best Restaurant'') in 2015. Colicchio appeared in the fifth episode of the first season of HBO's '' Treme'' as himself along with fellow chefs

Eric Ripert The given name Eric, Erich, Erikk, Erik, Erick, or Eirik is derived from the Old Norse name ''Eiríkr'' (or ''Eríkr'' in Old East Norse due to monophthongization). The first element, ''ei-'' may be derived from the older Proto-Norse ''* ain ...

David Chang David Chang (Korean: ; born August 5, 1977) is an American restaurateur, author, podcaster, and television personality. He is the founder of the Momofuku restaurant group. In 2009, Momofuku Ko was awarded two Michelin stars, which the restaura ...

and

Wylie Dufresne Wylie Dufresne (born 1970) is the chef and owner of Du's Donuts and the former chef and owner of the wd~50 and Alder restaurants in Manhattan. Dufresne is a leading American proponent of molecular gastronomy, the movement to incorporate science ...

. He made another cameo in Season 2 alongside Ripert. In 2011, he made cameos in the Season 23 premiere episode of ''

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer Simpson, Homer, Marge ...

'', " The Falcon and the D'ohman," and ''

The Smurfs ''The Smurfs'' (french: Les Schtroumpfs; nl, De Smurfen) is a Belgian comic franchise centered on a fictional colony of small, blue, humanoid creatures who live in mushroom-shaped houses in the forest. ''The Smurfs'' was first created and int ...

''. Colicchio appeared in The tenth episode of fifth season of Billions (TV Series) as a chef.

Podcasting

In June 2020, Colicchio launched his podcast, "Citizen Chef" via the iHeartRadio Podcast Network. The seasonal series deals with issues of food, politics, policy and citizenship.

Restaurants

;Craft *

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

;Craftsteak *

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 ...

;Small Batch * Garden City, NY ;Temple Court (formerly known as Fowler & Wells) * New York City ;Tom Colicchio's Heritage Steak *Las Vegas, The Mirage ;Riverpark *New York City ; *New York City

Former restaurants

* Beachcraft, Miami Beach, closed * Craft,

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

, closed June 30, 2012 * Craft and Craftbar,

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

, closed * Craftbar, New York City, closed *Craftsteak, MGM Grand at Foxwoods, closed *Colicchio & Sons, New York City, closed * Gramercy Tavern, New York City, no longer affiliated * Topping Rose House,

Bridgehampton, NY Bridgehampton is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) on the South Fork of Suffolk County, New York, United States. The population was 1,756 at the 2010 census. Bridgehampton is in the town of Southampton, on Long Island. Shortly after ...

, no longer affiliated *,

, closed *,

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " 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 fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

, closed

Personal life

He has been married to filmmaker Lori Silverbush since 2001. He has three sons: Dante (born 1993), his child with an ex-girlfriend, and his two children with Silverbush, Luka Bodhi (born 2009) and Mateo Lev (born 2011).

Books

* * *

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Colicchio, Tom 1962 births American chefs American male chefs American people of Italian descent American restaurateurs Living people Participants in American reality television series Primetime Emmy Award winners Businesspeople from Elizabeth, New Jersey Businesspeople from New York City Elizabeth High School (New Jersey) alumni James Beard Foundation Award winners