Graham Elliot Bowles (born January 4, 1977)Vettel, Phi

''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television a ...

'' blog, July 29, 2010 is an American chef, restaurateur, and

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early ...

personality. He first gained recognition in the restaurant business as a three-time nominee for the

James Beard 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 ...

. In 2004, he was named to '' Food & Wine'' "Best New Chefs" list, and became the youngest chef in the United States to receive four stars from a major publication (''

'', ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago ...

''). Among television viewers, he gained fame as a contestant on the programs ''

Iron Chef is a Japanese television cooking show produced by Fuji Television. The series, which premiered on October 10, 1993, was a stylized cook-off featuring guest chefs challenging one of the show's resident "Iron Chefs" in a timed cooking battle bui ...

'' and ''

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 ...

'', and as a judge on the first six seasons of the American ''

MasterChef ''MasterChef'' is a competitive cooking show television format created by Franc Roddam, which originated with the UK version in July 1990. The format was revived and updated for the BBC in February 2005 by executive producers Roddam and John ...

'' and its spinoff, '' MasterChef Junior''.

Early life

Graham Elliot Bowles was born in

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region ...

.Front Burner: Graham Elliot Bowles
''Chicago'', June 2008 (accessed June 24, 2011)Graham Elliot
at starchefs.com A self-described "Navy brat", Elliot has traveled the world and all fifty states, sparking an intense interest in food and music, which led him to attend

Johnson & Wales University Johnson & Wales University (JWU) is a private university with its main campus in Providence, Rhode Island. Founded as a business school in 1914 by Gertrude I. Johnson and Mary T. Wales, JWU enrolled 7,357 students across its campuses in the fa ...

Career

In 2004, Elliot was named to '' Food & Wine'' "Best New Chefs" list, and he became the youngest chef in the States to receive four stars from a major publication (''

'', ''

'') before the age of 30. At the age of 27 he was the youngest four-star chef to be named in any city, also earning himself a spot on ''

Crain's Chicago Business ''Crain's Chicago Business'' is a weekly business newspaper in Chicago, IL. It is owned by Detroit-based Crain Communications, a privately held publishing company with more than 30 magazines, including ''Advertising Age'', ''Modern Healthcare'' ...

'' list of "40 Under Forty", alongside President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...

, for whom Elliot cooked on the President's 49th birthday. In May 2008, he opened his eponymous restaurant, which was the first French casual fine dining restaurant in Chicago. In 2009, Elliot appeared on the TV show ''

''. In the show, he cooked for The Heart and Stroke Foundation, a charity with which he became associated as a result of his nephew's need for a heart transplant. In 2010, the series ''

'' premiered, with Elliot as one of the three judges. In 2013, the series spun off a child version of the program, '' MasterChef Junior'', on which Elliot also was featured as a judge. He left the franchise in September 2015, following the completion of season 6 of the parent program. In 2016, he became a judge on ''

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 ...

''.

Awards and honors

Graham Elliot Restaurant received three stars from the ''

'', and two stars in the 2013 ''

Michelin Guide The Michelin Guides ( ) are a series of guide books that have been published by the French tyre company Michelin since 1900. The Guide awards up to three Michelin stars for excellence to a select few establishments. The acquisition or loss of ...

''. He has been nominated for a

three times.

Collaborations and marketing

In addition to being judge and host of ''MasterChef'' and '' MasterChef Junior'' from 2010 to 2016, Graham has also been a judge on

Food Network Food Network is an American basic cable channel owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a joint venture and general partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery Networks (which holds a 69% ownership stake of the network) and Nexstar Media Group ( ...

's ''Cooks vs. Cons'' hosted by Geoffrey Zakarian. He also appeared as a special guest in '' MasterChef Canada'' Season 2, Episode 9 and '' MasterChef Italia'' Season 3, Episode 9. He has worked as the Culinary Director at Lollapalooza, a three-day music festival in Chicago, every year since 2009, where he has cooked for both the public as well as backstage for the performers. In June 2012, he opened Graham Elliot Bistro in Chicago's West Loop. The bistro uses traditional techniques and ingredients to showcase its take on classic American cuisine. That same year also saw Elliot named Chef of the Year and inducted into the Chicago Chefs Hall of Fame. Additionally, Chicago Mayor

Rahm Emanuel Rahm Israel Emanuel (; born November 29, 1959) is an American politician and diplomat who is the current United States Ambassador to Japan. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served two terms as the 55th Mayor of Chicago from 2011 ...

proclaimed September 19 "Graham Elliot Day" in the city of Chicago. In 2017, Elliot was a pitchman in an infomercial for the Gotham Steel Double Grill.

Personal life

Elliot resided in Morgan Park on the south side of Chicago with wife/business partner and his three children. Elliot sings and plays guitar. He also collects baseball cards. In 2013, Elliot underwent weight loss surgery and took up jogging, losing and reducing his weight to , explaining the decision as a response to becoming a father."Celebrity Chef Graham Elliot On Weight Loss: I 'Couldn't Play With My Kid'"
''

HuffPost ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...

''. Retrieved January 2, 2020.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Elliot, Graham 1977 births Chefs from Chicago American male chefs American restaurateurs Businesspeople from Seattle Johnson & Wales University alumni Living people Judges in American reality television series Chefs from Seattle