Marcel Vigneron is an American celebrity chef best known for his award-winning restaurant and catering company, Wolf, in Los Angeles. Marcel was also the runner-up of the second season of ''

Top Chef ''Top Chef'' is an American reality competition television series which premiered on Bravo on March 8, 2006. The show features chefs competing against each other in culinary challenges. The contestants are judged by a panel of professional che ...

'', which aired in 2006–2007. In 2011, he had his own television program on Syfy, ''

Marcel's Quantum Kitchen ''Marcel's Quantum Kitchen'' is an American television program broadcast by the Syfy channel. The first episode premiered on March 22, 2011 at 10 pm EST. The series follows Marcel Vigneron of ''Top Chef'' fame in his new molecular gastronomy ca ...

'', in which he started and ran a

molecular gastronomy Molecular gastronomy is the scientific approach of nutrition from primarily the perspective of chemistry. The composition ( molecular structure), properties (mass, viscosity, etc) and transformations (chemical reactions, reactant products) o ...

experiential catering company. He later competed on '' Top Chef: All-Stars'' in 2011, on

The Food Network Food Network is an American basic cable channel owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a joint venture and general partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery Networks (which holds a 69% ownership stake of the network) and Nexstar Media Group ( ...

's ''

The Next Iron Chef ''The Next Iron Chef'' is a limited-run series on the Food Network that aired its fifth season in 2012. Each season is a stand-alone competition to select a chef to be designated an Iron Chef, who will appear on the Food Network program '' Iro ...

'' in 2012 and

's "Superstar Sabotage: Heat 2" on the show ''

Cutthroat Kitchen ''Cutthroat Kitchen'' is an American cooking show hosted by Alton Brown that aired on the Food Network from August 11, 2013 to July 19, 2017. It features four chefs competing in a three-round elimination cooking competition. The contestants f ...

'' in 2014. Marcel has gone on to judge several televised cooking competitions, such as ''Iron Chef'', ''America’s Best Cooks'', and ''Guy's Grocery Games''.

Early life

Vigneron is originally from

Bainbridge Island, Washington Bainbridge Island is a city and island in Kitsap County, Washington. It is located in Puget Sound. The population was 23,025 at the 2010 census and an estimated 25,298 in 2019, making Bainbridge Island the second largest city in Kitsap County. ...

. Vigneron attended the

Culinary Institute of America Culinary arts are the cuisine arts of food preparation, cooking and presentation of food, usually in the form of meals. People working in this field – especially in establishments such as restaurants – are commonly called chefs ...

(CIA) in New York and achieved his associate degree in Culinary Arts. There, Vigneron met fellow chef

Spike Mendelsohn Evangelos Spiros "Spike" Mendelsohn (born December 15, 1980) is a Washington, D.C.-based chef and restaurateur best known as the fifth-place finisher of the fourth season of ''Top Chef'', which aired 2008–2009. He is the chef and owner of multi ...

. The two played a lot of

frisbee A frisbee (pronounced ), also called a flying disc or simply a disc, is a gliding toy or sporting item that is generally made of injection-molded plastic and roughly in diameter with a pronounced lip. It is used recreationally and competitiv ...

together and became best friends; they would later compete together on the 5th season of ''

''. At the CIA Vigneron enrolled in the teaching assistant program, where he served as the sous chef to Dwayne Lipuma at the school's Ristorante Caterina de’ Medici.

''Top Chef''

Vigneron appeared in season two of Bravo's reality series ''Top Chef'', which was filmed in 2006, and aired in late 2006 and early 2007. At the time of his appearance on ''Top Chef'', he was a Master Cook at

Joël Robuchon Joël Robuchon (, 7 April 1945 – 6 August 2018) was a French chef and restaurateur. He was named "Chef of the Century" by the guide Gault Millau in 1989, and awarded the Meilleur Ouvrier de France (France's best worker) in cuisine in 1976. ...

in Las Vegas, Nevada. On the show, he became known for his

techniques, especially his use of

foams Foams are materials science, materials formed by trapping pockets of gas in a liquid or solid. A Sponge (tool), bath sponge and the Beer head, head on a glass of beer are examples of foams. In most foams, the volume of gas is large, with thin ...

. He also notably clashed with many of the show's other contestants, culminating in an incident in which several of the show's contestants egged on contestant Cliff Crooks to pin down Vigneron and shave his head. This led to Cliff being kicked off the show. Several ''Top Chef'' viewers blogged about discrepancies in the sequence of events relating to the hair-shaving incident, including one clip that shows contestant

Elia Aboumrad Elia Aboumrad (born in Mexico City, Mexico) is a Mexican chef and former ''Top Chef'' contestant. Biography Aboumrad studied at Ecole Lenôtre. After earning Le Cordon Bleu's 'Grand Diplôme', Aboumrad went on to work under Joël Robuchon in Par ...

during the shave attempt with all of her hair intact, despite being shown shaving her head earlier in the sequence. Activity in the blogosphere eventually attracted the attention of entertainment news outlets, some of which commented that the creative editing was done in an attempt to downplay interpersonal conflicts. Vigneron characterized the event as more like a drunken assault, and confirmed that the attack on him came before the other contestants shaved their heads, contrary to how the footage was edited. Vigneron made it to the finals, finishing as runner-up behind the winner Ilan Hall.

Post-''Top Chef''

In 2008, he was an Executive

Sous Chef A sous-chef is a chef who is second in command in a kitchen; the person ranking next after the head chef, usually the more hands on manager with regards to training staff and organising the kitchen. Duties and functions The sous-chef has many re ...

at The Bazaar in the SLS Hotel in

Beverly Hills, California Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California. A notable and historic suburb of Greater Los Angeles, it is in a wealthy area immediately southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. ...

. In March 2010 it was announced that Vigneron would star in ''

'', a

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...

show that aired on the Syfy

cable network Networking cables are networking hardware used to connect one network device to other network devices or to connect two or more computers to share devices such as printers or scanners. Different types of network cables, such as coaxial cable, op ...

. In each episode, Marcel and his new catering and event company were hired by a demanding client to produce an extraordinary celebration or event. Marcel dreamed up a theme and cuisine for the event based on the client's requests. The show was a production of Mission Control Media with Executive Producers Michael Agbabian and Dwight Smith. The show lasted six episodes. He returned to the ''

'' series in '' Top Chef: All-Stars''. On the episode that aired on January 19, 2011, Marcel was eliminated from the competition after the Restaurant Wars challenge. In 2012, Vigneron was a contestant on '' The Next Iron Chef: Redemption'', making it into the final four before being eliminated. In October 2013, Vigneron 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, whi ...

'' with

vs. Iron Chefs Zakarian and Guarnaschelli in battle "Halloween Scary Combinations". On July 22, 2014, Vigneron appeared on NBC's '' Food Fighters'', also on the Food Network in Canada, where he competed and won against home cook Elisha Joyce. On September 9, 2014, Vigneron reappeared on ''Food Fighters'' where he competed and lost against home cook Jim Stark. Vigneron's third appearance on ''Food Fighters'' aired on September 3, 2015, where he competed and lost against home cook Alice Currah. On August 10, 2014, Vigneron appeared on ''

Guy's Grocery Games '' Guy's Grocery Games '' (often nicknamed ''Triple G'') is an American reality-based cooking television game show hosted by Guy Fieri on Food Network. Each episode features four chefs competing in a three-round elimination contest, cooking food ...

'', where he lost the competition in the final round to Chef Alex Guarnaschelli. On October 15, 2014, Vigneron appeared on Food Network's ''

: Superstar Sabotage'', where he won over $7,000 for charity. On Season 07/Episode02 of "

: All-Stars and A-Lister Dinners" in 2015, Vigneron went on to beat Eric Greenspan, Jet Tila and Anne Burrell. He won $20,000 for his charity, L.A. Kitchen. In 2017, Vigneron appeared in Bong Appétit on VICELAND. Season 1, episode 1. In 2022, He participated in season 3 of '' Tournament of Champions (Food network)''. He faced Chef Shirley Chung, where he lost.

Personal life

Vigneron currently resides in the

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

area. He is the owner of the restaurant "Wolf" on Melrose Ave. His most recent restaurant, Beefsteak, opened in August 2016. Vigneron closed both restaurants in February 2019 to pursue catering. He wed entrepreneur Lauren Rae Levy on November 9, 2019, in Santa Susana, California. Their son Kingston Levy Vigneron was born in December 2020.m99ugocuk2

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vigneron, Marcel Top Chef contestants Living people Molecular gastronomy American chefs American male chefs People from Bainbridge Island, Washington Culinary Institute of America Hyde Park alumni Year of birth missing (living people) American gastronomes