Debra Ponzek is an American chef, who won the

James Beard Foundation 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 awar ...

for Rising Star Chef in 1992 beating her then-husband

Bobby Flay Robert William "Bobby" Flay (born December 10, 1964) is an American celebrity chef, food writer, restaurateur, and Television presenter, television personality. Flay is the owner and Chef de cuisine, executive chef of several restaurants and fr ...

. She is now the owner of Aux Délices restaurants in

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

Career

Debra Ponzek was born and brought up in

Morristown, New Jersey Morristown () is a Town (New Jersey), town in and the county seat of Morris County, New Jersey, Morris County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.

. She studied engineering at

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...

, but dropped out and decided to pursue a career in cooking and attended

The Culinary Institute of America The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) is a Private university, private culinary school with its main campus in Hyde Park, New York, and branch campuses in St. Helena, California, St. Helena and Napa, California; San Antonio, Texas; and Singa ...

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 ...

where she graduated in 1984. She would later return to the institute to give the commencement address to the students in 2015. As part of an

externship Externships are experiential learning opportunities, similar to internships, provided by partnerships between educational institutions and employers to give students practical experiences in their field of study. In medicine, it may refer to a visi ...

, she worked in Chatham, New Jersey, at the Tarragon Tree restaurant and at Toto Steakhouse in

Summit, New Jersey Summit is the northernmost City (New Jersey), city of Union County, New Jersey, Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, located within the New York metropolitan area. Situated on a ridge in north Jersey, northern–central Jersey, centra ...

. Following graduation, she began working under Drew Nieporent at his restaurant Montrachet as a

sous chef A sous-chef is a chef who is second in command of a kitchen, ranking directly below the head chef in the Kitchen Brigade system developed by Auguste Escoffier. In large kitchens, sous-chefs are typically left in charge of managing members o ...

. Nieporent was an advertising executive who had spotted her when she worked at Toto Steakhouse. She went on to become

executive chef A chef de cuisine (, French language, French for ''head of kitchen'') or head chef is a chef that Supervisor, leads a kitchen and its cooks. A chef patron (feminine form ''chef patronne'') (French for ''boss chef'') or executive chef is a chef ...

at Montrachet for seven years, during which time the restaurant was praised by the food critics of New York City. While there she won the 1992

for Rising Star Chef. She appeared on the '' Great Chefs - Great Cities'' television series, preparing three dishes. Ponzek departed Montrachet in 1994, and opened her own restaurant, Aux Délices in

Greenwich, Connecticut Greenwich ( ) is a New England town, town in southwestern Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it had a population of 63,518. It is the largest town on Gold Coast (Connecticut), Connectic ...

. She has since expanded this to multiple sites, and runs cooking classes out of her central kitchen for the restaurants.

Personal life

Ponzek married fellow chef

in May 1991. They had met the previous June and decided to get married within a matter of weeks. They were both nominated for the 1992 James Beard Foundation Award for Rising Star Chef, and Flay attempted to withdraw from the category when he learned he was nominated alongside his wife. The Foundation refused, but when he won the following year, Ponzek presented him with his award. She later divorced Flay and married Greg Addonizio, moving to Connecticut. When they opened Aux Délices together, Ponzek was pregnant with their first child; they have since had two more.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ponzek, Debra Living people People from Morristown, New Jersey American women chefs Culinary Institute of America alumni James Beard Foundation Award winners Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American women Boston University College of Engineering alumni