Michael White

Chef Michael White reminds us that a beautiful culinary experience is truly a panacea for the soul, and one that should be accessible to all. Despite the pandemic, Chef White has found new ways to explore and develop coastal Italian cooking, and his culinary achievements continue to stand apart.

White’s notoriety is the result of many years of intensive practice, study, and love of food. After attending Kendall Culinary Institute, White secured a position prepping in Chicago’s most famous Italian restaurant, Spiaggia. He spent a year and a half learning from Chef Paul Bartolotta before traveling to Italy and training with venerated Italian Chef Valentino Marcattilii at Ristorante San Domenico in Imola. For the next seven years, White 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, an experience that would come to define his approach to food as a chef and businessman.

White returned to the United States 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).