Education
She is a graduate of Horace Mann School and graduated from Barnard College in 1991.
She is a graduate of Horace Mann School and graduated from Barnard College in 1991.
She appears as a television personality on the Food Network shows Chopped, Iron Chef America, All Star Family Cook-off, and The Best Thing I Ever Ate. She hosts Alex"s Day Office and The Cooking Loft on Food Network and Cooking Channel. In 2012, she was crowned America"s Next Iron Chef on Iron Chef America, currently the only woman with that distinction and only the second female ever to obtain that television honor.
In 2013, Guarnaschelli"s first cookbook was published.
Old-School Comfort Food: The Way I Learned to Cook. mixes autobiographical details with recipes that she has loved during her life as a cook adapted for the home. Guarnaschelli is the daughter of cookbook editor Maria Guarnaschelli and John Guarnaschelli.
Her culinary experience started while watching her mother test numerous recipes at home while editing cookbooks. She worked under Larry Forgione, and then at a number of restaurants in France, New York and Los Angeles, including Guy Savoy"s Louisiana Butte Chaillot.
She also worked at Daniel Boulud"s eponymous restaurant and Joachim Splichal"s Patina before becoming the executive chef at Butter.
Guarnaschelli has since appeared as a judge on the program In 2011, she competed in the fourth season of The Next Iron Chef, where she placed as the third runner-up. She also competed on the Food Network Challenge Ultimate Thanksgiving Feast episode and lost the competition.
After competing in the fourth season of The Next Iron Chef, Guarnaschelli became a sous chef to Iron Chef Geoffrey Zakarian.
In 2008, she became the host of The Food Network"s The Cooking Loft with Alex Guarnaschelli, in which the chef teaches a small group of students how to construct new variations of classic dishes. Guarnaschelli has been a judge on Food Network"s competition show Food Network Challenge, and frequently appears as a judge on Food Network"s cooking competition show Chopped and on Food Network"s series The Best Thing I Ever Ate.
She competed in season 5 of The Next Iron Chef: Redemption. Her debut challenge as an Iron Chef on Iron Chef America aired on December 30, 2012.
She made a special guest appearance on Nickelodeon television Show Nicky, Ricky, Dicky & Dawn in their one-hour special "Go Hollywood" on November 25, 2015.
Alex"s Day Office
Guarnaschelli stars in her own Food Network television show, Alex’s Day Office, which premiered in October 2009 and airs regularly Saturday mornings. The show currently airs on Australia"s Foxtel Food Network.