Lee Anne Wong is an American chef, restaurateur, a television culinary producer, and television figure. She has appeared as a competitor on

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s ...

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. Wong was based in New York City, before moving to Hawaii in 2013. She has also worked extensively as a culinary producer for American television series, including for four seasons of ''Top Chef''.

Early life and education

Lee Anne Wong grew up in Wynantskill, New York, a small town in

Rensselaer County Rensselaer County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 161,130. Its county seat is Troy. The county is named in honor of the family of Kiliaen van Rensselaer, the original Dutch owner of the ...

outside Albany. She began her college education at the

Fashion Institute of Technology The Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) is a public college under the State University of New York, in New York City. It focuses on art, business, design, mass communication, and technology connected to the fashion industry. It was founded in ...

, where she studied fashion design, but later transferred to the professional cooking program at The

French Culinary Institute The International Culinary Center (originally known as the French Culinary Institute) was a private for-profit culinary school from 1984 to 2020 headquartered in New York City, New York. The facilities included professional kitchens for hands- ...

(now the International Culinary Center)."Top Chef Lee Anne Wong," Asiance.com.

Career

Later she became the Executive Chef of Event Operations at The French Culinary Institute,The French Culinary Institute http://www.frenchculinary.com a position she maintained while participating in the Top Chef competitions.Top Chef's Star Chef Lee Anne Wong
" KQED "food blog," Bay Area Bites, September 7, 2006. From 2010 until 2013, she has also been seen 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 ...

's Unique Eats as a commentator. She was also the chef consultant for the 2007 American remake of the German film, '' Mostly Martha'', called '' No Reservations''. Wong participated in a tasting benefit event produced by New York Loves Japan and Project by Project to fundraise for the

2011 Japan earthquake Eleven or 11 may refer to: *11 (number) * One of the years 11 BC, AD 11, 1911, 2011 Literature * ''Eleven'' (novel), a 2006 novel by British author David Llewellyn *''Eleven'', a 1970 collection of short stories by Patricia Highsmith *''Eleven'' ...

aid relief. In 2011, Wong appeared 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 ...

(season 10, episode 1), with Halloween candy being the secret ingredient; chef Wong successfully challenged Iron Chef Marc Forgione with a resulting score of 52–51. Wong moved to Honolulu, Hawaiʻi, in 2013, followed by a brief move to Maui. In 2014, she opened and continued to run ''Koko Head Cafe'', a popular brunch spot. Wong also joined the

Hawaiian Airlines Hawaiian Airlines, Inc. ( ) is a commercial U.S. airline headquartered in Honolulu, and a subsidiary of the Alaska Air Group. It is the largest operator of commercial flights to and from the island state of Hawaiʻi, and the tenth largest ...

culinary team in 2015 and became executive chef in 2018. She was one of the last four contestants on the 2006 first season of Bravo's reality show, ''

''. She was the culinary producer for the next four seasons of ''Top Chef'', where her duties included sourcing and styling the ingredients for the various challenges, as well as determining the budget, equipment restrictions and time limits. She also blogged about the show for Bravo,Lee Anne's Blog: Read Lee Anne Wong's Online Blog – Top Chef TV Show – Official Bravo TV Site
and hosted the webcast ''Top Recipe: The Wong Way to Cook'', in which she demonstrated how to prepare various winning dishes invented by the program contestants.Top Chef: Watch Chef Lee Anne Wong Prepare Winning Recipes In 'Top Recipe: The Wong Way To Cook' – Episode 1 – Official Bravo TV Site
In 2018, Wong competed on Top Chef: Colorado, winning a spot on the season proper through its Last Chance Kitchen feature. She withdrew during her second week of the competition due to altitude sickness combined with her pregnancy. In 2020, Wong competed on Top Chef: All-Stars L.A. and made it to Episode 9 before being eliminated. In 2023, Wong's restaurant Papa’aina at Lāhainā's Pioneer Inn was destroyed during a major

wildfire A wildfire, forest fire, or a bushfire is an unplanned and uncontrolled fire in an area of Combustibility and flammability, combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identified as a ...

. She and other volunteers proceeded to work with

World Central Kitchen World Central Kitchen (WCK) is a not-for-profit, non-governmental organization that Food security, provides food relief. It was founded in 2010 by Spanish American chef and restaurateur José Andrés following the 2010 Haiti earthquake, earthq ...

to help in the relief effort for affected Maui residents.

Filmography

* 2006, '' Top Chef: San Francisco'', as self and contestant * 2010–2013, ''

Unique Eats ''Unique Eats'' is a TV series on Cooking Channel about various restaurants across the United States and their signature dishes. The show features talking head interviews with various chefs and food critics who give their judgement about the foo ...

,'' as self and host * 2011, '' Iron Chef America: The Series'', as self and contestant, in "Forgione vs. Wong: Halloween Candy" (season 10, episode 16) * 2012–2015, '' Chopped,'' as self and judge * 2017, '' Top Chef: Colorado'', as self and contestant * 2020, '' Top Chef: All-Stars L.A., as self and contestant'' * 2023, ''

Tournament of Champions A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

,'' as self and contestant * 2024, ''

,'' as self and contestant

Notes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wong, Lee Anne Living people Year of birth missing (living people) American women chefs American women restaurateurs American restaurateurs American people of Chinese descent Fashion Institute of Technology alumni International Culinary Center alumni American television chefs Chefs from New York City People from Rensselaer County, New York People from Honolulu