Test your design IQ

Who is the Italian-American chef who won the first seasons of Top Chef and now runs two critically acclaimed restos,  Perilla and Kin Shop?

MANILA, Philippines - He was born in 1977 in West Babylon, New York.  It is said that is was his Italian-American upbringing that inspired him to be a chef, specifically, watching and assisting his mother prepare traditional Sicilian Sunday suppers in their Long Island Home.

With German and Irish grandparents on his father’s side, he says he learned to love many different styles of cuisine, but one recipe he kept close to his heart was his Sicilian grandmother’s tomato sauce.

His interest in cooking continued until middle school when he enrolled in a home economics class and first learned basic recipes for dishes such as fried chicken.

After graduating from high school in 1995, he went to Spain to work in some of the country’s top kitchens. Upon his return, he attended the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) in Hyde Park, New York.

After graduating, he worked in a series of high-quality establishments and in Manhattan, most notably at the 1770 House in 2002, which garnered a two-star review from the New York Times during his time there.

In 2002, he landed a job in Jimmy Bradley’s Tribeca restaurant, the Harrison, where he worked under  future standout chefs Joey Campanaro and Brian Bistrong.

In 2006, he competed in and won the first season of Bravo’s Top Chef.  His signature dish was spicy duck meatballs.

The following year, he and business partner Alicia Nosenzo opened Perilla, a critically acclaimed New American restaurant with Asian influences.

In October 2010, he and his partner opened their second West Village restaurant Kin Shop, which offers contemporary Thai cuisine, inspired by his many trips to Thailand.

He and his partner are looking at opening the Marrow in a new hotel in downtown Brooklyn.  For this, he will be looking more into his Italian and German family background with recipes like ostrich schinizel with quark spaezle, braised cuttlefish with garlic bread and cured pork, bison carpaccio with wild rocket, gooseberries and miso dressing, as well as straightforward steaks.

In a positive review of Kin Shop in the magazine New York, food critic Adam Platt called him, “the original and easily most talented winner of Top Chef.”

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Last week’s question: What is this museum of modern and contemporary art, designed by Canadian-American architect Frank Gehry, built by Ferrovial, and located in Bilbao, Spain?

Answer: Guggenheim Museum Bilbao

Winner: Anne Suarez of Quezon City