Our site’s original content featuring Michael WhitePosition: Executive Chef and Co-Owner of the Altamarea Group.
Website: Altamarea Group
Education: Kendall Culinary Institute
Awards：James Beard Award for Best New Restaurant
About Michael White:
Although Michael White’s soulful, flavorful interpretations of Italian cuisine indicate otherwise, Michael is in fact a Midwesterner who spent his childhood in Beloit, Wisconsin. By whim or intuition, White decided to enroll in Kendall Culinary Institute and then secured a position in Chicago’s Spiaggia. He studied for seven years at acclaimed San Domenico in Imola before returning to the United Stares. In 2007, White partnered with Ahmass Fakahany, to open Due Terre in New Jersey. In 2008, White opened Due Mari. One year later, Fakahany and White officially formed the Altamarea Group to open Marea, which gained three-stars from The New York Times, and now holds two Michelin Stars, a Best New Restaurant Award by GQ magazine and Relais & Chateaux inclusion. 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 the James Beard award for Best New Restaurant in the country for Marea.
Just a year later, in October 2010, the Altamarea Group opened Osteria Morini in downtown Manhattan and Ai Fiori in midtown, which received 3 Stars from the New York Times as well as a Michelin Star.
In May 2011, Michael and the Altamarea Group opened Al Molo in Hong Kong. By virtue of greatness, many awards have been granted upon Altamarea Group properties including Marea’s 2012 ZAGAT #1 Italian Restaurant NY Award, Ai Fiori’s Best New Restaurant in Esquire Magazine 2011 and ZAGAT 2012 #1 New Restaurant NYC.
Altamarea Group opened Nicoletta Pizzeria in New York City’s East Village in June 2012. In May 2013, Chef White received his fourth nomination for James Beard Best Chef: New York and the Altamarea Group opened their fifth Manhattan location, Costata in Soho, followed shortly thereafter by a sixth location, The Butterfly Cocktail Bar and Supper Club in Tribeca. Michael recently released his second cookbook, “Classico e Moderno,” written with Andrew Friedman, with a foreward by Thomas Keller.
In September of 2013, the Altamarea Group opened Chop Shop, its first London location in Haymarket, followed by its first Istanbul location called Morini in October. In November 2013, it opened Osteria Morini in Washington D.C., and opened Ristorante Morini on Manhattan’s Upper East Side in December. [display-posts tag=”michael-white” include_excerpt=”true”]
Michael White Books
