Tom Colicchio

Celebrated chef, restaurateur and Emmy-winning media personality Tom Colicchio's adherence to simple, delicious food led to such acclaimed establishments as Gramercy and the Craft franchise, as well as tenure as head judge on the popular "Top Chef" (Bravo, 2006- ) series. Born Thomas Patrick Colicchio on August 15, 1962 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, he grew up cooking with his mother and grandmother in his family's kitchen and taught himself the basics of culinary arts by reading the works of French chef Jacques Pepin.

His career in the food industry began at a seafood restaurant in his home town and quickly progressed to New York City, where he established his reputation as one of the town's best chefs at establishments like Gotham Bar & Grill and Mondrian. In 1994, he teamed with restaurateur Danny Meyer to open Gramercy Tavern; within a decade, it had been voted the most popular restaurant in New York City in 2003 and 2005. He left Gramercy in 2001 and opened his own eatery, Craft, a block away in the Gramercy Park district; again, his menu, based on simple but carefully prepared meat and vegetable dishes, earned critical praise as well as the James Beard Foundation's Best New Restaurant of the Year Award in 2002.

In the years that followed, Colicchio built Craft into a diverse array of sister restaurants, including the steakhouse Craftsteak and ' wichcraft, a sandwich establishment, both in 2003, and additional Craft locations in Los Angeles, California, Dallas, Texas and Atlanta, Georgia. He also began a lengthy tenure as head judge and Emmy-winning executive producer on the popular competition series "Top Chef" in 2006 and served as consulting producer for a spin-off series, "Top Chef Masters" (Bravo, 2009- ).

In 2010, the James Beard Foundation named Colicchio the nation's top chef, a laurel he supported through his restaurant empire - which added Small Batch in 2018 - his media presence, which included executive producing "A Place at the Table" (2013), a documentary about hunger in America, and a 2018 partnership with cookware company Made In to present affordable, high-quality kitchenware.