Andrew Gruel (born July 12, 1980) is an American chef, television personality, and politician based in

Orange County, California Orange County (officially the County of Orange; often initialized O.C.) is a county (United States), county located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area in Southern California, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the population ...

. He appeared as a judge on

Food Network Food Network is an American basic cable channel owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a unit of Warner Bros. Discovery, who manages and operates it as a division of the Warner Bros. Discovery U.S. Networks Group. The channel airs both televi ...

's '' Food Truck Face Off'' and as a host of FYI's ''Say It to My Face!'', and is the founder of Slapfish, a seafood restaurant franchise that he launched in 2012 and sold to Mac Haik Enterprises in 2022. He is the founder, CEO and executive chef of Calico Fish House, a casual seafood restaurant in

Huntington Beach, California Huntington Beach is a seaside city in Orange County, California, United States. The city was originally called Pacific City, but it was changed in 1903 to be named after American businessman Henry E. Huntington. The population was 198,711 as of ...

. He has been a member of the Huntington Beach City Council since March 18, 2025, when he was appointed to fill a vacant seat on the council.

Early life and education

Gruel was born and raised in

Bridgewater, New Jersey Bridgewater Township is a Township (New Jersey), township in Somerset County, New Jersey, Somerset County in the U.S. state of New Jersey, located within the heart of the Raritan River, Raritan Valley region. Situated within Central Jersey, Cen ...

Anthony Clark Carpio
"Slapfish set to jump into bigger pond,"
''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'', January 8, 2014. and graduated from the

Pingry School The Pingry School is a coeducational, independent, college preparatory country day school in New Jersey, with a Lower School (K–5) campus in the Short Hills neighborhood of Millburn, a Middle (6–8) and Upper School (9–12) campus in ...

in 1998. He said that his affinity towards cooking started at an early age, when he would fake sick to stay home from school and watch cooking shows on

public-access television Public-access television (sometimes called community-access television) is traditionally a form of non-commercial mass media where the general public can create content television programming which is Narrowcasting, narrowcast through cable tele ...

. While attending

Bates College Bates College () is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Lewiston, Maine. Anchored by the Historic Quad, the campus of Bates totals with a small urban campus which includes 33 Victorian ...

Lewiston, Maine Lewiston (; ) is the List of municipalities in Maine, second most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine, with the city's population at 37,121 as of the 2020 United States census. The city lies halfway between Augusta, Maine, Augusta, the sta ...

, he worked in lobster restaurants in the area. He received his culinary degree from

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

's College of Culinary Arts.John Walters
"Jack's of New London: Where (almost) everybody knows your name,"
''Kearsarge Magazine'', Summer 2007, pp. 73-74.

Career

Cooking

Gruel began his career working in fine dining restaurants, hotels and diners in New Jersey, as a cook at the

Ritz Carlton The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, LLC is an American multinational corporation, multinational company that operates the Hotel#Luxury, luxury hotel chain known as The Ritz-Carlton. The company has 108 conference and resort hotels, luxury hotels an ...

in Boston and at Jack's of New London in

New London, New Hampshire New London is a New England town, town in Merrimack County, New Hampshire, Merrimack County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 4,400 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The town is the home of Colby–Sawyer College, site ...

. He left the East Coast in 2009 to work as director of Seafood for the Future, a nonprofit program at the

Aquarium of the Pacific The Aquarium of the Pacific (formerly the Long Beach Aquarium of the Pacific) is a public aquarium on a site on Rainbow Harbor in Long Beach, California, United States. It is situated across the water from the Long Beach Convention Center, Sho ...

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter ci ...

. After the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

forced many restaurants to shut down, Gruel started a fund in December 2020 to raise money for out-of-work restaurant industry employees, raising over $230,000 in the first three weeks. The fund, called 86 Restaurant Struggle, is a nonprofit charity that helps struggling and unemployed restaurant workers.

Television

Gruel's first television appearance was on the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

show ''The Endless Feast'' in 2007. He served as a judge on the

Food Channel The Food Channel (not affiliated with Food Network) is an American consumer website with food recipes, news, reviews and advice. The site compiles information to produce food industry trends and aims to be a gateway for all things food. Site c ...

's '' Food Truck Face Off'' and ''

Chopped Junior ''Chopped Junior'' is an American reality-based cooking television game show series hosted by Ted Allen that pits four adolescent chefs against each other, competing for a chance to win $10,000 and a Chopped Junior chef's coat. The show is a spi ...

'', and also appeared on '' Eat St.'' on the

Cooking Channel Cooking Channel is an American basic cable channel owned by and spin-off of Food Network. Both are owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a joint venture and general partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery Networks (69%) and Nexstar Media ...

, ''

Today Today (archaically to-day) may refer to: * The current day and calendar date ** Today is between and , subject to the local time zone * Now, the time that is perceived directly, present * The current, present era Arts, entertainment and m ...

'' on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

, and ''On the Rocks'' on the

. In 2015, Gruel starred as a host on season one of the reality television show ''Say It To My Face!' along with Chef Anthony Dispensa. Since 2020, he has been a frequent guest on various national news programs.

Radio

Gruel hosted a culinary radio show called ''Cooking with Gruel'' in 2015. He co-hosts the weekly ''The SoCal Restaurant Show'' on KLAA, which launched in 2012."About the SoCal Restaurant Show,"
socalrestaurantshow.com. Accessed June 19, 2016.

City council

On March 18, 2025, Gruel was appointed to fill a vacant seat on the Huntington Beach City Council that was previously held by

Tony Strickland Anthony A. Strickland (born February 17, 1970) is an American politician who is a California State Senate, California state senator representing the California's 36th senatorial district, 36th district since 2025. A member of the Republican Party ...

, who was elected to the

California State Senate The California State Senate is the upper house of the California State Legislature (the lower house being the California State Assembly). The state senate convenes, along with the state assembly, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento. ...

Television appearances

Personal life

Gruel and his wife Lauren Gruel have four children.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gruel, Andrew 1980 births American chefs American television chefs Bates College alumni Food Network chefs Johnson & Wales University alumni Living people People from Bridgewater Township, New Jersey People from Orange County, California Politicians from Huntington Beach, California Pingry School alumni Restaurant founders