Amanda Freitag (born May 11, 1972) is a New York chef and frequent guest on Food Network television programs. Originally from Cedar Grove, NJ, she is also a judge on the TV cooking competition Chopped and co-host, with Ty Pennington, of American Diner Revival.[1]
Following graduation from the Culinary Institute of America in 1989, Freitag took a position at Vong New York working under chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten. In 1994, she left Vong to cook at Verbena, under chef Diane Forley. After Verbena, Freitag traveled to France and Italy, working for a short while at L'Arpège restaurant under chef Alain Passard in 1999.[4]
Freitag was chef de cuisine at Cesca, before moving to an executive chef position at The Harrison.[5][6] On September 3, 2010, The New York Times reported that Freitag would be leaving the Harrison, and the restaurant's owner, Jimmy Bradley, will return as chef.
Freitag is a frequent judge on the culinary game show Chopped. She battled Bobby FlayonIron Chef America in “Battle: King Crab”. She narrowly lost, with a score of 49 against Flay's 50 points. The judging was evenly matched, with the exception of Freitag having earned one point fewer in the "taste" category.[4][7]
On October 16, 2009, Freitag appeared on The Martha Stewart Show and demonstrated recipes for yogurt panna cotta and celery root and ginger gold apple soup.[8]
Freitag competed in The Next Iron Chef Season 2, finishing in fourth place. Freitag stated she would continue as a judge on Chopped for the 2010 season[9] and she returned for the season four episode "Against the Tide".[10]
On the April 15, 2012 episode of Iron Chef America, Freitag appeared alongside Chopped Grand Champion Madison Cowan in Battle Kale,[11] acting as Cowan's sous chef.
On August 7, 2012, it was announced that Freitag would make another appearance as a contestant on season five of The Next Iron Chef. She lost to Alexandra Guarnaschelli in the finale on December 23.
On January, 2014, Freitag took over as executive chef of the Empire Diner in Manhattan, New York. She left in July 2015.[12]
On May 22, 2015, she and Ty Pennington began hosting the new Food Network series American Diner Revival, on which they make over diners' menus and interiors.[1]
^Hyman, Vicki. "Umami, shmumami: 'Next Iron Chef' says goodbye to Amanda Freitag", The Star-Ledger, November 8, 2009. Accessed April 29, 2013. "Amanda Freitag apparently didn't have the umami (Japanese for deliciousness) to continue in 'The Next Iron Chef.' The Cedar Grove-raised chef, who also appears a judge on the Food Network's 'Chopped,' had made it all the way to the final four."
^Rosenblum, Dan. "What's Amanda Freitag's secret ingredient? A dash of Cedar Grove", Verona-Cedar Grove Times, May 25, 2013. Accessed September 22, 2013. "However, her first taste in the cooking profession happened at Memorial High School (now Cedar Grove High School), when Freitag's home economics teacher told her about the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y."
