Amar Santana (born 1982/1983) is a Dominican-American chef and television personality. He is known as being a two-time contestant on the reality television show ''

Top Chef ''Top Chef'' is an American reality competition television series which premiered on Bravo in March 2006. The show features chefs competing against each other in culinary challenges. The contestants are judged by a panel of professional chefs ...

''.

Early life

Santana was born in the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

and immigrated to the United States at age 13. He lived in

East Elmhurst, Queens East Elmhurst is a residential neighborhood in the northwest section of the New York City borough of Queens. It is bounded to the south by Jackson Heights and Corona, to the north and east by Bowery Bay, and to the west by Woodside and Dit ...

. After taking part in the Careers through Culinary Arts Program at

Long Island City High School Long Island City High School, commonly abbreviated L.I.C. or LICHS, is a public high school in Long Island City, Queens, New York City. The present building was built in 1995. The school had an enrollment of around 2,500 in 2015. Demographics ...

, he earned a scholarship to 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 ...

Career

Santana studied and worked under chef Charlie Palmer for 10 years. Santana opened the restaurant Broadway By Amar Santana in 2011 in

Laguna Beach Laguna Beach (; ''Laguna'', Spanish for "Lagoon") is a city in Orange County, California, United States. Located in Southern California along the Pacific Ocean, this seaside resort city has a mild year-round climate, scenic coves, and environ ...

, followed by Vaca in

Costa Mesa Costa may refer to: Biology * Rib (Latin: ''costa''), in vertebrate anatomy * Costa (botany), the central strand of a plant leaf or thallus * Costa (coral), a stony rib, part of the skeleton of a coral * Costa (entomology), the leading edge o ...

in 2015. In 2013, Santana defeated chef Mirko Pademo in an episode of ''

Knife Fight A knife fight is a violent physical confrontation between two or more combatants in which one or more participants are armed with a knife.MacYoung, Marc, ''Winning A Street Knife Fight'', (Digital format, 70 min.), Boulder, CO: Paladin Press, ( ...

''. In 2015, he was featured on '' Top Chef: California''. He came in second place behind Jeremy Ford. In January 2020, Santana opened The Hall Global Eatery at the

South Coast Plaza South Coast Plaza is a regional shopping mall in Costa Mesa, California. The largest shopping center on the West Coast of the United States, its pre-COVID sales of over $1.5 billion annually were the highest in the United States. Its 275 retai ...

. It had closed by the end of 2021. Santana was invited to be a guest judge on '' Top Chef: Portland''. In 2023, he returned as a contestant on '' Top Chef: World All-Stars''. He was eliminated in episode 11 alongside Sara Bradley.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Santana, Amar American chefs Living people Dominican Republic emigrants to the United States People from Queens, New York Year of birth missing (living people) Top Chef