Michael Colameco (born 1957) is an American chef, author, and media personality. A 45-year veteran of the restaurant industry, he is the host and producer for ''Mike Colameco's Real Food'' television show, retooled from the original 3-part series "The Food Dude". Since 2006, he has hosted a live weekly radio show called ''Food Talk''. Colameco is a long time contributor to ''

Saveur ''Saveur'' is an online gourmet, food, wine, and travel magazine that publishes essays about various world cuisines. The publication was co-founded by Dorothy Kalins, Michael Grossman, Christopher Hirsheimer, and Colman Andrews. It was started ...

'', ''Edible Manhattan'', ''Edible New Jersey'', '' Snooth'', and ''Guitar Aficionado'' magazines and in 2009, he published
Mike Colameco's Food Lover's Guide to New York City
' with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Career

Chef Colameco began working in the restaurant industry as a busboy at the age of 13 and he is a graduate of the

Culinary Institute of America The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) is a private culinary school with its main 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 first to ...

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 Fra ...

. Early mentors include chef Seppi Renggli of the Four Seasons Restaurant, where Colameco worked as a line cook and chef Christian Delouvrier at The Maurice, where he worked as a sous chef. Colameco has worked as a chef for numerous New York City-based restaurants, including the legendary

Tavern on the Green Tavern on the Green is an American cuisine restaurant in Central Park in Manhattan, New York City, near the intersection of Central Park West and West 66th Street on the Upper West Side. The restaurant, housed in a former sheepfold, has be ...

, Windows on the World, and The Ritz Carlton Hotel. Taking the helm of his own restaurant, he was chef/owner of the seasonally-focused, The Globe restaurant, near his home based in

Cape May, New Jersey Cape May (sometimes Cape May City) is a City (New Jersey), city and seaside resort located at the southern tip of Cape May Peninsula in Cape May County, New Jersey, Cape May County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Located on the Atlantic Ocean ...

. Importer After selling his restaurant in 1993, Colameco worked as an import food broker and founder of MECO Trading through 2002. As a consultant for US importers of record, he has worked with overseas food manufacturers, mostly in China as a sourcing supplier for US-based Importer Distributors. Television & Radio Host Colameco's popular long-running TV series, ''Mike Colameco's Real Food'', is a pioneer in food television. Shot documentary-style, the show provides a backstage look at how the most influential people in today's restaurant scene transform the way we think about food. Featured chefs include

Daniel Boulud Daniel Boulud (born 25 March 1955) is a French chef and restaurateur with restaurants in New York City, Palm Beach, Miami, Toronto, Montréal, Singapore, the Bahamas, and Dubai. He is best known for his eponymous restaurant Daniel, opened in Ne ...

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 Found ...

, Gabrielle Hamilton, Dan Barber,

Alice Waters Alice Louise Waters (born April 28, 1944) is an American chef, restaurateur, food writer, and author. In 1971, she opened Chez Panisse, a restaurant in Berkeley, California, famous for its role in creating the farm-to-table movement and for ...

Eric Ripert Eric Ripert (; born 2 March 1965) is a French chef, author, and television personality specializing in modern French cuisine and noted for his work with seafood. Ripert's flagship restaurant, Le Bernardin, in Midtown Manhattan, New York has b ...

Alain Ducasse Alain Ducasse (; born 13 September 1956) is a French-born Monégasque chef. He operates a number of restaurants, including Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester, which holds three stars (the top rating) in the Michelin Guide. Early life and career D ...

, April Bloomfield and countless other industry taste makers. ''Mike Colameco's Real Food'' has been on the air since 2000 via New York's flagship PBS affiliate,

WNET WNET (channel 13), branded on-air as Thirteen (stylized as THIRTEEN), is a primary PBS member television station licensed to Newark, New Jersey, United States, serving the New York City area. Owned by The WNET Group (formerly known as the Educ ...

, as well as

NJTV NJ PBS (known as NJTV prior to 2021) is a public television network serving the U.S. state of New Jersey. The network is owned by the New Jersey Public Broadcasting Authority (NJPBA), an agency of the New Jersey state government which owns the ...

. In 2014, the show was picked up for national distribution and airs year-round on the CREATE TV Channel. He is the host and the producer of the show. ''Food Talk with Michael Colameco'' is a weekly one-hour radio show and podcast produced by the Heritage Radio Network. Each hour is a stand alone multi-themed program featuring live interviews with a myriad of guests including chefs, restaurateurs, cookbook authors and food writers. Discussions cover a wide range of topics including ingredient sourcing, cooking, baking, wine, equipment, mixology, beer, farming, foraging, fisheries, sustainability, chocolate, food trends, travel, diet, health, music and his take on the many restaurants he frequents. Food Talk has been on the air since the mid 1990s, founded by the long-time host New York's Food Maven, Arthur Schwartz. A live show airing six days a week on WOR 710, Colameco became the host in 2006, replacing short runs by

Tyler Florence Tyler Florence (born March 3, 1971) is an American chef and television host of several Food Network shows. He graduated from the College of Culinary Arts at the Charleston, South Carolina, campus of Johnson & Wales University in 1991. He was la ...

in 2005 and

Rocco DiSpirito Rocco DiSpirito (born November 19, 1966) is an American chef and reality television personality based in New York City, known for starring in the series '' The Restaurant''. Early life and education DiSpirito was born in Queens, New York. He gra ...

in 2004. Following a change in programming at WOR, Food Talk with Michael Colameco has been airing weekly via the Heritage Radio Network. Book ''Mike Colameco's Food Lover's Guide to New York City'' by

John Wiley & Sons John Wiley & Sons, Inc., commonly known as Wiley (), is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Publishing, publishing company that focuses on academic publishing and instructional materials. The company was founded in 1807 and pr ...

Awards Mousquetaire d' Armagnac, 2003 Compagnon du Beaujolais, 2006

Fitness

An avid sportsman, from 1985 to 1991, Colameco fought for the

New York Athletic Club The New York Athletic Club is a Gentlemen's club, private social club and athletic club in New York (state), New York state. Founded in 1868, the club has approximately 8,600 members and two facilities: the City House, located at 180 Central Pa ...

amateur boxing team and at various times, was the NYAC Middleweight and Light Heavyweight Boxing Champion. Prior to that, he was a paid sparring partner for boxers Chris Reid, Kevin Moley, and

Donny LaLonde Donny Lalonde (born March 12, 1960) is a retired professional boxer. His nickname is "Golden Boy," after the Golden Boy statue atop the Manitoba Legislative Building in his boxing home town of Winnipeg. Lalonde held the WBC Light Heavyweight Ch ...

. In 1986, Colameco earned his Black Belt in

Kyokushin Karate is a style of karate originating in Japan. It is a Full contact karate, full-contact style of stand-up fighting and is rooted in a philosophy of self-improvement, discipline, and hard training. Kyokushin Kaikan is the martial arts organizat ...

, and since then, he has completed five New York City Marathons. An avid open water ocean swimmer, in 2014 his New York Athletic Club 3-man relay team finished 2nd in the men's open division in the FKCC 12.5 mile relay, completing the course in 5 hours 26 minutes.

Personal life

Colameco is Italian-American. He divides his time between homes on the Lower East Side in Manhattan and Cape May. Colameco is married to Heijung Park-Colameco, a real estate agent and native of South Korea. The couple has two sons.

References

External links

Website for Mike Colameco's Real Food

Website for Mike Colameco's radio show on WOR710 in New York City

Facebook Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Colameco, Mike PBS people Living people 1957 births Culinary Institute of America Hyde Park alumni American chefs American writers American media personalities American people of Italian descent