20 Facts About Geoffrey Zakarian

Geoffrey Zakarian was born on July 25,1959 and is an American chef, restaurateur, television personality and author.

Geoffrey Zakarian is the executive chef of several restaurants in New York City, Atlantic City and Miami.

Geoffrey Zakarian is featured on several television programs on the Food Network, including Chopped and The Next Iron Chef on which, in 2011, he won the right to join Iron Chef America.

Geoffrey Zakarian earned a degree in economics from Worcester State University, and then went to France, where he decided to be a chef.

Geoffrey Zakarian began his culinary career with an associate degree from the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York.

Geoffrey Zakarian then went on to work for the Blue Door of the Delano Hotel in South Beach, Miami.

Geoffrey Zakarian's style is described as "modern" with roots in French cuisine, or as he describes it, "dynamic American".

Geoffrey Zakarian owned two restaurants, Town and Country, both of which are in Manhattan.

Geoffrey Zakarian is a consultant at the Water Club in Atlantic City and executive chef at the Lamb's Club in New York City.

Geoffrey Zakarian is Chairman of the City Harvest Food Council, a food rescue organization dedicated to fighting hunger in New York City.

In spring 2011, Geoffrey Zakarian filed for personal bankruptcy in response to a class action lawsuit against him by his former employees.

In July 2015, Geoffrey Zakarian withdrew from a planned American-style concept restaurant called The National in the Trump International Hotel Washington, DC in the wake of controversial comments made by Donald Trump about undocumented immigrants.

Geoffrey Zakarian has appeared numerous times on Food Network's Chopped series as a judge with fellow restaurateurs Scott Conant, Chris Santos, Aaron Sanchez, Amanda Freitag, Marcus Samuelsson, Marc Murphy, Maneet Chauhan and Alex Guarnaschelli since the show began, and has appeared in the Food Network's series 24 Hour Restaurant Battle, as a judge.

Geoffrey Zakarian has been on Top Chef as a judge and has appeared in Hell's Kitchen.

Geoffrey Zakarian competed as well as a challenger on Iron Chef America in May 2010 where he faced Masaharu Morimoto and lost with a score of 57 to 43.

Geoffrey Zakarian was named the winner of The Next Iron Chef in December 2011, defeating Elizabeth Falkner in the season finale.

In January 2014, Geoffrey Zakarian became a co-host on the Food Network's series The Kitchen along with Jeff Mauro, Katie Lee, Marcela Valladolid and Sunny Anderson.

Geoffrey Zakarian has appeared on Cutthroat Kitchen as a judge and contestant.

Geoffrey Zakarian married Margaret Anne Williams, a marketing executive, in 2005.

Geoffrey Zakarian was previously married to Heather Karaman for approximately ten years.