Alex Hitz (born February 10, 1969) 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 Books, printed publications. While telev ...

, author of two cookbooks,

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...

, socialite, columnist. Founder of the food product line The Beverly Hills Kitchen. Former food editor of

House Beautiful ''House Beautiful'' is an interior decorating magazine that focuses on decorating and the domestic arts. First published in 1896, it is currently published by the Hearst Corporation, who began publishing it in 1934. It is the oldest still-publi ...

. He was named “the very best host in the world” by The

Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

Biography

Alex Hitz was born in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

, on February 10, 1969, to Caroline Bryans Sauls and Alex Hitz. His mother's family was one of the investors in

The Coca-Cola Company The Coca-Cola Company is an American multinational corporation founded in 1892. It manufactures, sells and markets soft drinks including Coca-Cola, other non-alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups, and alcoholic beverages. Its stock is lis ...

, and Mrs. Hitz was a trustee of the Atlanta Memorial Arts Center (now called the Woodruff Arts Center) and the Atlanta Historical Society (now called the Atlanta History Center). His father's family is descended from Florian Hitz, the first

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

ambassador to the United States. His parents divorced when Hitz was three years old, and in December 1973 his mother remarried Robert Shaw, a symphonic and choral conductor. Hitz spent his young years at the family home in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. In 1987, after graduating from Avon Old Farms School, Hitz worked at the restaurant ''The Patio by The River'' in Atlanta, Georgia.

Education

Alex Hitz graduated with a bachelor's degree in English from

Washington and Lee University Washington and Lee University (Washington and Lee or W&L) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Lexington, Virginia, United States. Established in 1749 as Augusta Academy, it is among ...

in 1991. At the same time, he attended undergraduate programs at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

, where he studied English and Theatre, and at L’Université de Paris-La Sorbonne, where he studied French Culture and Civilization. He completed advanced programs at Peter Kump's Cooking School (now the Institute of Culinary Education) in New York City in 1995 and

Le Cordon Bleu Le Cordon Bleu (; French: " The Blue Ribbon"; LCB) is a French hospitality and culinary education institution, teaching haute cuisine. Its educational focuses are hospitality management, culinary arts, and gastronomy. The institution consists ...

in Paris in 1996.

Career

In 1991, Hitz became co-owner of ''The Patio by the River'' with Mary Boyle Hataway and sold it in 1994. In 1995, he moved to New York City and produced some Broadway shows ( Triumph of Love (1997), the revival of

The Sound of Music ''The Sound of Music'' is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is based on the 1949 memoir of Maria von Trapp, '' The Story of the Trapp Family Singers''. ...

(1998) etc.) In 1998, Hitz started investing in real estate in the New York, Atlanta, and Los Angeles areas and designed bespoke clothing. Since 2009, Hitz is one of the three trustees of The Dennis Hopper Trust.

Food product line

In 2008 Hitz began developing The Beverly Hills Kitchen which was a line of

gourmet Gourmet (, ) is a cultural idea associated with the culinary arts of fine food and drink, or haute cuisine, which is characterized by their high level of refined and elaborate food preparation techniques and displays of balanced meals that have ...

frozen food products. The first food product, Beef Bourguignon, was presented on the

QVC QVC (short for "Quality Value Convenience") is an American free-to-air television network and a flagship shopping channel specializing in televised Shopping channel, home shopping, owned by QVC Group (formerly Qurate Retail Group). Founded in 19 ...

on October 1, 2009. In January 2011 Hitz moved his product line to the

Home Shopping Network HSN, Inc. an initialism of its former name Home Shopping Network, is an American free-to-air television network owned by the QVC Group (formerly Qurate Retail Group), which also owns Catalog merchant, catalog company Cornerstone Brands. It is ...

(HSN) television station.

Culinary manner

Hitz culinary art combines the Atlanta and French cuisines and cooking styles. He creates haute-cuisine restaurant-quality recipes for the home cook. His updated Southern dishes consist of the Low Country and the

Creole cuisine Creole cuisine (; ; ) is a cuisine style born in colonial times, from the fusion between African, European and pre-Columbian traditions. ''Creole'' is a term that refers to those of European origin who were born in the New World and have adap ...

s. His teachers were Andre Soltner at Lutèce in New York, and Michel Guerard at Eugenie-Les-Bains in France.

Books

Hitz is the author of the cookbook ''My Beverly Hills Kitchen: Classic Southern Cooking with a French Twist'' (

Knopf Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. () is an American publishing house that was founded by Blanche Knopf and Alfred A. Knopf Sr. in 1915. Blanche and Alfred traveled abroad regularly and were known for publishing European, Asian, and Latin American writers ...

, October 2012). In October 2019, he published his second book ''The Art of The Host: Recipes and Rules for Flawless Entertaining'' ( Rizzoli). He was a food columnist of ''

'' and he is a contributing editor of ''Town&Country Magazine''.

Recognitions

He is known as “The Ralph Lauren of food and wine”.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hitz, Alex 1969 births Living people American chefs American male chefs