Stephen Asprinio (born in

Palm Beach County, Florida Palm Beach County is a county in the southeastern part of Florida, located in the Miami metropolitan area. It is Florida's third-most populous county after Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County and Broward County, Florida, Broward County ...

) is an American

restaurateur A restaurateur is a person who opens and runs restaurants professionally. Although over time the term has come to describe any person who owns a restaurant, traditionally it refers to a highly skilled professional who is proficient in all aspe ...

sommelier A ''sommelier'' ( , , ), ''chef de vin'' or wine steward, is a trained and knowledgeable wine professional, normally working in fine restaurants, who specializes in all aspects of wine service as well as wine and food pairing. The role of the ''s ...

chef A chef is a professional Cook (profession), cook and tradesperson who is proficient in all aspects of outline of food preparation, food preparation, often focusing on a particular cuisine. The word "chef" is derived from the term (), the di ...

, and former ''

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 ...

'' contestant.

Biography

Asprinio studied at the

Culinary Institute of America The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) is a private culinary school with its main campus in Hyde Park, New York, and branch campuses in St. Helena and Napa, California; San Antonio, Texas; and Singapore. The college, which was the first to ...

. He continued his education after culinary school and earned his bachelor's degree from the

Cornell University School of Hotel Administration The Nolan School of Hotel Administration (SHA, more commonly known as the Hotel School) is a specialized business school in the Cornell Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University, a private Ivy League university located in ...

. He also studied and trained at Hermann J. Wiemer Vineyard. Asprinio appeared on

reality TV 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 199 ...

show ''

'' on

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 ...

during its first season and was one of the final five contestants when he was eliminated from the competition. Asprinio also competed as a contestant on '' Top Chef: All Stars'' in 2010, but he was eliminated in the third episode. Asprinio is best known as the "villain" of Top Chef's first season; ABC named him one of "Reality TV's Top 15 Meanest Villains." One of the starkest examples of this "villain" behaviour was Asprinio's ongoing verbal treatment of another contestant, Candice Kumai, whom he allegedly called "trash." At the age of 26, Stephen Asprinio opened his first and namesake restaurant, ''Forté di Asprinio'' in South Florida, which was named "One of the Top 10 Best New Restaurants in the United States" by the Gayot Restaurant Guide. However, he left soon after its opening; the restaurant changed course and dropped “di Asprinio” from the name. Asprinio currently resides in New York City, where his hospitality firm, S.A. Hospitality Innovations, is based.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Asprinio, Stephen Living people People from Palm Beach County, Florida Cornell University School of Hotel Administration alumni Culinary Institute of America alumni Year of birth missing (living people)