Michael Chiarello Biography

American chef and television host Michael Chiarello was born in 1962 in Red Bluff, California. Michael grew up in an Italian- American family where traditional cuisine was an essential part of everyday life; by the time he was a young adult, Chiarello was certain of his career path, and so he first studied at the Culinary Institute of America before attending Florida International University, where he received a B.A. in Hospitality Management.

After graduation in 1984, Michael opened his first restaurant – Toby’s Bar and Grill – and also his first hotel, The Grand Bay Hotel. Within a year, he was accumulating accolades such as a Chef of the Year Award from Food & Wine Magazine. After returning to California, Michael settled in the Napa Valley area and opened Tra Vigne, a restaurant inspired by the cuisine of Calabria, Italy. Over the next decade, Michael continued to manage his own restaurants while also serving as executive chef for a number of other high-profile establishments throughout the country.

By the turn of the millennium, Michael had launched his first cooking show on PBS; Season by Season premiered in 2001 and was such a hit that it led to the spin-offs, Michael Chiarello’s Napa and Michael Chiarello’s Napa: Casual Cooking. In 2003, the Food Network came knocking, offering him his own show on their network, Easy Entertaining. The show premiered in 2003 and led to the additional show NapaStyle, on the Fine Living Network.

Today, Michael can still be seen hosting Easy Entertaining and NapaStyle, and he frequently appears as a competitor on The Next Iron Chef. He has authored seven cookbooks so far, the most recent of which – Michael Chairello’s Live Five: 125 Recipes for Cooking Outdoors – was published in 2013, the same year in which he opened the San Francisco restaurant Coqueta.