Amanda Freitag
| Amanda Freitag | |
|---|---|
| Born | May 11, 1972 |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Chef, TV Judge |
| Known for | Unique Eats, Chopped, American Diner Revival |
Amanda Freitag (born May 11, 1972) is a New York chef and frequent guest on Food Network television programming. She is also a judge on the TV cooking competition Chopped and co-host, with Ty Pennington, of American Diner Revival.[1]
Career
Freitag was raised in Cedar Grove, New Jersey,[2] and attended Cedar Grove High School (then known as Memorial High School), where a teacher suggested that Freitag might be interested in attending the Culinary Institute of America.[3]
Following graduation from the Culinary Institute of America in 1989, Freitag took a position at Vong New York working under chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten. In 1994, she left Vong to cook at Verbena, under chef Diane Forley. After Verbena, Freitag traveled to France and Italy, working for a short while at L'Arpège restaurant under chef Alain Passard in 1999.[4]
In 2003, Freitag and restaurateur Godfrey Polistina opened the Upper West Side restaurant Cesca Enoteca & Trattoria.
Freitag was chef de cuisine at Cesca, before moving to an executive chef position at The Harrison.[5][6] On September 3, 2010, The New York Times reported that Freitag would be leaving the Harrison, and the restaurant's owner, Jimmy Bradley, will return as chef.
Freitag is a frequent judge on the culinary game show Chopped. She battled Bobby Flay on Iron Chef America in “Battle: King Crab”. She narrowly lost, with a score of 49 against Flay's 50 points. The judging was evenly matched, with the exception of Freitag having earned one point fewer in the "taste" category.[4][7]
On October 16, 2009, Freitag appeared on the The Martha Stewart Show and demonstrated recipes for yogurt panna cotta and celery root and ginger gold apple soup.[8]
Freitag competed in The Next Iron Chef Season 2, finishing in fourth place. Freitag stated she would continue as a judge on Chopped for the 2010 season[9] and she returned for the season four episode "Against the Tide".[10]
On the April 15, 2012 episode of Iron Chef America, Freitag appeared alongside Chopped Grand Champion Madison Cowan in Battle Kale,[11] acting as Cowan's sous chef.
On August 7, 2012, it was announced that Freitag would make another appearance as a contestant on season five of The Next Iron Chef. She lost to Alexandra Guarnaschelli in the finale on December 23.
On January, 2014, Freitag took over as executive chef of the Empire Diner in Manhattan, New York. She left in July 2015.[12]
On May 22, 2015, she and Ty Pennington began hosting the new Food Network series American Diner Revival, on which they make over diners' menus and interiors.[1]
See also
References
- 1 2 The Food Network: American Diner Revival
- ↑ Hyman, Vicki. "Umami, shmumami: 'Next Iron Chef' says goodbye to Amanda Freitag", The Star-Ledger, November 8, 2009. Accessed April 29, 2013. "Amanda Freitag apparently didn't have the umami (Japanese for deliciousness) to continue in 'The Next Iron Chef.' The Cedar Grove-raised chef, who also appears a judge on the Food Network's 'Chopped,' had made it all the way to the final four."
- ↑ Rosenblum, Dan. "What's Amanda Freitag's secret ingredient? A dash of Cedar Grove", Verona-Cedar Grove Times, May 25, 2013. Accessed September 22, 2013. "However, her first taste in the cooking profession happened at Memorial High School (now Cedar Grove High School), when Freitag's home economics teacher told her about the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y."
- 1 2 "Amanda Freitag : Chefs : Food Network". Retrieved 2009-11-17.
- ↑ Mike Colameco (2009). Mike Colameco's Food Lover's Guide to New York City. New York: Wiley. ISBN 0-470-04443-8.
- ↑ "Amanda Freitag Gleeful at the Harrison -- Grub Street: New York Magazine's Food and Restaurant Blog". Retrieved 2009-11-17.
- ↑ "Iron Chef America: Iron Chef Bobby Flay vs. Amanda Freitag Episode Recap on TV.com". Retrieved 2009-11-19.
- ↑ "The Breast Cancer Show". Archived from the original on 21 November 2009. Retrieved 2009-11-19.
- ↑ "The Final Four Next Iron Chef Elimination: Exclusive interview with Chef Amanda Freitag". Archived from the original on 5 February 2010. Retrieved 2010-01-20.
- ↑ "Against the Tide". Chopped. Season 3. Episode 12. March 2, 2010. Food Network.
- ↑ "Battle Kale".
- ↑ Morabito, Greg (July 10, 2015). "TV Fixture Amanda Freitag Leaves the Kitchen at Empire Diner". Archived from the original on July 13, 2015. Retrieved January 31, 2016.