Elizabeth Falkner (born 1966) is an American chef and restaurateur. She has appeared as a competitor and a judge on reality television cooking competitions, and she is a ''

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 ...

'' television series alum.

Early life and education

Elizabeth Falker was born in 1966, in San Francisco, California, and raised in Southern California. Her father was an art professor. Falkner graduated from the

San Francisco Art Institute San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) was a Private college, private art school, college of contemporary art in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1871, SFAI was one of the oldest art schools in the United States and the oldest west of the Mis ...

in 1989 with a BFA degree.

Career

Her first restaurant job was as a dishwasher at French bistro Cafe Claude in San Francisco. She moved into French fine dining at Masa's with Chef Julian Serrano. In 1993, Falkner became the pastry chef at Elka in the Miyako Hotel, and in 1994 Falkner was the pastry chef under chef

Traci Des Jardins Traci Des Jardins is an American chef and restaurateur who previously owned Jardinière, a French influenced California fine-dining restaurant in the Hayes Valley neighborhood of San Francisco, California. Biography Des Jardins was raised on a ...

at Drew Nieporent's restaurant Rubicon.

Citizen Cake and Orson

In 1997, Falkner opened Citizen Cake, a dessert cafe at its first location in the

Mission District The Mission District ( Spanish: ''Distrito de la Misión''), commonly known as the Mission ( Spanish: ''La Misión''), is a neighborhood in San Francisco, California. One of the oldest neighborhoods in San Francisco, the Mission District's name ...

at 82-14th Street, San Francisco in a partnership with coffee roaster Bob Vorhees. It remained there until 2000 when she moved the restaurant to 399 Grove Street, in the Hayes Valley neighborhood. A second spinoff location of Citizen Cake was located in the Virgin Megastore on Market Street in San Francisco. From 2010 to 2011, Citizen Cake moved to 2125 Fillmore Street in

Pacific Heights Pacific Heights (often referred to as Pac Heights) is a wealthy neighborhood in San Francisco, California, United States. It has panoramic views of the Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco Bay, the Palace of Fine Arts, Alcatraz, Presidio of San Fr ...

before closing. The restaurant Orson was co-owned with partner Sabrina Riddle and opened in 2008 in SoMA at 508-4th Street, San Francisco. Orson took two years and cost 4 million dollars to build and was designed by the Zack/de Vito firm. However, the

2008 financial crisis The 2008 financial crisis, also known as the global financial crisis (GFC), was a major worldwide financial crisis centered in the United States. The causes of the 2008 crisis included excessive speculation on housing values by both homeowners ...

coincided with the opening. Orson closed after approximately three years in October 2011.

New York City

In 2011, Falkner closed both of her San Francisco establishments, Citizen Cake and Orson, and moved to New York, where she opened two short-lived Italian restaurants, Krescendo in

Boerum Hill Boerum Hill (pronounced ) is a small neighborhood in the northwestern portion of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, bounded by Schermerhorn Street to the north and Fourth Avenue to the east. The western border is variously given as either ...

, Brooklyn from 2012 to July 2013; and Corvo Bianco on the Upper West Side from July 2013 to February 2014. In 2012, Falkner won first prize at the World Pizza Championship in Naples, Italy, with her "Finocchio Flower Power" pizza from Krescendo.

Teaching and events

From 2001 to 2002, Falkner taught professional pastry courses in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

; and, from 2002 to 2003, she was the chef on a team doing research for American/European pastries for

Barilla ''Barilla'' refers to several species of salt-tolerant (halophyte) plants that, until the 19th century, were the primary source of soda ash and hence of sodium carbonate. The word "barilla" was also used directly to refer to the soda ash obtain ...

Parma Parma (; ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmesan, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,986 inhabitants as of 2025, ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. She has cooked at the

James Beard James Andrews Beard (May 5, 1903 – January 21, 1985) was an American chef, cookbook author, teacher and television personality. He pioneered television cooking shows, taught at The James Beard Cooking School in New York City and Seaside ...

House in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

; the Masters of Food and Wine in Carmel, California; and the Chef's Holiday at the Ahwahnee Hotel in

Yosemite National Park Yosemite National Park ( ) is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States in California. It is bordered on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on the northwest by Stanislaus National Forest. The p ...

Television appearances

She has appeared in ''The Next Iron Chef: Super Chefs'' (season 4, 2011, Food Network); ''and The Next Iron Chef: Redemption'' (2012, Food Network); ''Chopped All Stars'' (Food Network); ''Top Chef Masters;'' ''Top Chef;'' '' Top Chef: Just Desserts'' (Bravo); ''Top Chef: Canada;'' and ''Food Network Challenge'' (Food Network). In 2005, Falkner competed on ''

Iron Chef America ''Iron Chef America'' is an American cooking show based on Fuji Television's ''Iron Chef'', and is the second American adaptation of the series, following the failed ''Iron Chef USA'' that aired in 2001. The show is produced by Food Network, wh ...

'', ''Tyler's Ultimate'', '' $40 a Day'', ''Sugar Rush'', ''Best Of'', ''Bay Cafe'', ''Top Chef-Pastry'' and others. In 2006, Falkner appeared as a guest judge on ''

'', a reality show on the

Bravo Bravo(s) or The Bravo(s) may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music Groups and labels * Bravo (band), a Russian rock band * Bravo (Spanish group), represented Spain at Eurovision 1984 * Bravo Music, an American concert band music publishing compa ...

network. In 2020, 2021, and 2022, Falkner competed on Guy Fieri's Tournament of Champions (Food Network) seasons 1, 2, and 3. In 2024, Falkner competed in ''24 in 24: Last Chef Standing.''

Personal life

Falkner identifies as

lesbian A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexu ...

. She is active in the

LGBTQ LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, Gay men, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning (sexuality and gender), questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, Asexuality, asexual, ...

community, and has done extensive work with

Act Up AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) is an international, grassroots political group working to end the AIDS pandemic. The group works to improve the lives of people with AIDS through direct action, medical research, treatment and advocacy, ...

and the

Human Rights Campaign The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) is an American LGBTQ advocacy group. It is the largest LGBTQ political lobbying organization within the United States. Based in Washington, D.C., the organization focuses on protecting and expanding rights for L ...

, receiving the Charles M. Holmes Award from the latter in 2005.

Awards

Falkner has received multiple awards and nominations, and took first place at the 2012 World Pizza Championship in Naples Italy.

Books

* *

References

External links

* *
Biography at Star Chefs
{{DEFAULTSORT:Falkner, Elizabeth 1966 births Living people Food Network chefs American women chefs American women food writers American women restaurateurs American restaurateurs American LGBTQ broadcasters American LGBTQ businesspeople American lesbian writers Lesbian businesswomen LGBTQ people from San Francisco LGBTQ chefs Pastry chefs San Francisco Art Institute alumni Writers from San Francisco Chefs from San Francisco Chefs from New York City