Although Michael White’s soulful, flavorful interpretations of Italian cuisine indicate otherwise, he is not an Italian native who absorbed generations of recipes at birth. He is, in fact, a Midwesterner who spent the majority of his childhood days in Beloit, Wisconsin. By whim or intuition, White decided to try his hand at culinary school, pursuing a career out of something that had been only a passing fancy. He enrolled at Kendall Culinary Institute in 1989 and just a year later, secured a position prepping in Chicago’s most famous Italian restaurant, Spiaggia. He spent a year and a half learning from Chef Paul Bartolotta and, wanting to find the origin of his mentor’s awe-inspiring recipes, he followed the Chef’s footsteps to Italy.
He trained with the venerated Italian Chef Valentino Marcattilii at Ristorante San Domenico in Imola and it was there, learning to cook in the Old World-style kitchen, that he began his Italian transformation. For the next seven years, he studied the hands-on, ingredient-driven cooking style of the Italians, working with Marcattilii and traveling across the country for informal, but equally important, cooking lessons with friends.
White returned to the US in 2001 to Spiaggia as Chef de Cuisine and contributed to the restaurant’s four-star review from The Chicago Tribune. In 2002, he took New York by storm as Executive Chef of Fiamma Osteria. The restaurant garnered a glowing three-star review from The New York Times and White was named Esquire’s Best New Chef, 2002. White also brought his famous recipes to home cooks with his book, Fiamma: The Essence of Contemporary Italian Cooking (John While & Sons, 2006).
In 2007, White partnered with Wall Street executive and investor, Ahmass Fakahany, to open Due Terre in New Jersey, and later that year he took the helm of the James Beard Award winning (2003) L’Impero and Alto. Alto quickly garnered a three-star review from The New York Times and White earned the restaurant two Michelin Stars for the 2009, 2010 and 2011 Guides. In 2008, White opened his second New Jersey restaurant, Due Mari, and transformed L’Impero into Convivio—a restaurant that exudes the soul and spirit of Southern Italy—which was most recently awarded one Michelin star in the 2011 Guide.
In May 2009, White opened Marea, a restaurant devoted to the bounty of the sea, and again garnered three-stars from The New York Times, a Michelin Star in the 2010 Guide, a nod from Esquire magazine as a Best New Restaurant of 2009, the nomination of Best Italian Chef in the Country and Best New Restaurant by GQ magazine and was awarded two Michelin stars in the 2011 Guide. In April of 2010, Chef White was named one of the 40 most influential New Yorkers under 40 by Crain’s New York Business, and received a nod from the James Beard Foundation with a nomination for Best Chef: New York City and the award for Best New Restaurant in the country for Marea.
In October of 2010, White opened Osteria Morini an homage to his mentor, Gianluigi Morini, in downtown Manhattan. Holding true to the rich and bold flavors of Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region, White successfully recreates an authentic Italian trattoria in the SoHo neighborhood of New York City. In November, White ventured into the hotel dining scene with Ai Fiori on the second floor of the new Setai Fifth Avenue hotel. A Mediterranean-inspired menu, with a strong focus on the French Riviera, more specifically, the region of Linguria and the South of France, Ai Fiori serves as a much welcomed fine dining restaurant in the heart of Midtown Manhattan and recently received 3-Stars from the New York Times.
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