Chef Alex Guarnaschelli '87 Receives 2023 Alumni Association Award for Distinguished Achievement

The 2023 Horace Mann School Alumni Association Award for Distinguished Achievement was presented to Chef Alex Guarnaschelli '87 before hundreds of alumni and parents at a celebration at Tavern on the Green on Monday, May 8th. 

The recipient of the Award for Distinguished Achievement is selected annually by the Alumni Council on behalf of the Alumni Association. First presented in 1939, the award recognizes a Horace Mann School graduate who exemplifies distinguished achievement in their chosen profession or field of talent. Past winners include Pulitzer Prize winners, artists, poets, writers, scientists, entertainers, doctors, inventors, lawyers, judges, and other notables. The annual event has become a well-recognized and highly anticipated affair.

There are few American chefs, much less female chefs, who can boast staying power in Michelin-starred restaurants. Chef Alexandra Guarnaschelli can boast indeed — she embarked on a culinary journey in France and ended up working in some of the country’s top restaurants including esteemed chef Guy Savoy’s eponymous three-star kitchen.

Not surprising for the daughter of esteemed cookbook editor Maria Guarnaschelli, who spent her childhood surrounded by food. Guarnaschelli learned to eat according to whatever book her mother was working on at the time: one year was devoted to Indian with Classic Indian Cooking by Julie Sahni; another year was devoted to Italian with The Splendid Table by Lynne Rossetto Kasper.

“My mother was always coaxing me from my ‘Barbie land’ under the dining room table to peel potatoes, knead bread or assemble a trifle,” says Guarnaschelli, who jokingly continues, "What else could a seven-year-old have wanted from life?"

This early emphasis on her palate truly shaped her future in food. On the day of Guarnaschelli’s graduation from Barnard College in 1991, she decided to explore her culinary interests and began working under the tutelage of the acclaimed American chef and restaurateur Larry Forgione. Forgione encouraged Guarnaschelli to travel and expand her skill set, so she obligingly moved to France to do a work-study at La Varenne Culinary School in Burgundy. After school and traveling throughout France, she moved to Paris to begin a four-day stage at the Michelin three-star restaurant Guy Savoy. Four days turned into four years with Guarnaschelli rapidly being promoted to sous chef at La Butte Chaillot, another Savoy establishment. “The first three months were terrifying — imagine being a young American woman in charge of a French kitchen with 10 young, male cooks under you. Professionally, it was a life-changing experience,” she says.

After seven successful years in France, Guarnaschelli returned stateside. Though she left the country, she maintained her connection with the cuisine, joining the venerable Daniel Boulud at Daniel, where she quickly rose through the ranks to become sous chef at the Manhattan standard. Always looking to expand her culinary knowledge, Guarnaschelli moved to Los Angeles for two years to join Joachim Splichal’s Patina Group, where she worked at the acclaimed Patina restaurant in West Hollywood before moving to New York to open Splichal's first New York City venture.

In 2003, Guarnaschelli was given the opportunity to expand her repertoire and become the executive chef at Butter Restaurant, where she would create her own eclectic American and green market-inspired menu. In addition to her restaurant work, Guarnaschelli inspires budding chefs as a Chef-Instructor at New York City’s Institute of Culinary Education. She also helmed the kitchen of the NYC modern dining and cabaret concept, The Darby. In the fall of 2015, Chef Guarnaschelli opened Driftwood Room at Nautilus South Beach in Miami, Florida. Als0 in fall 2015, she premiered her one-woman live comedy show, Busting My Chops at Carolines on Broadway. She continued her comedy career with an appearance in East Hampton at Carolines @ The Beach in August 2016. Most recently, Guarnaschelli was named the Head of Twitter’s Food Council, a group of leading culinary figures who regularly join the Twitter conversation on all things food and food culture.

Guarnaschelli has appeared on Late Night with Seth Meyers, TODAY, The View, The Kelly Clarkson Show, Good Morning America, and Live! with Kelly and Ryan. She has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Food & Wine, Food Network Magazine, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, and People Magazine. Chef Guarnaschelli also hosts the award-winning digital series, Fix Me a Plate, and is the author of the cookbooks “Old-School Comfort Food: The Way I Learned to Cook” (2013), “The Home Cook:  Recipes to Know by Heart” (2017), and most recently “Cook With Me:  150 Recipes for the Home Cook” (2020). Her next cookbook, “Cook It Up:  Bold Moves for Family Foods:  A Cookbook”, which she authored with her daughter, Ava Clark, will be released on September 5, 2023. Chef Guarnaschelli is also co-hosting Food Network’s newest show, Ciao House, an all-new culinary competition that takes place in Tuscany, Italy, which premiered in April 2023 on Food Network.

To view photos from the event, click here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/141038450@N03/albums/72177720308693114

To see a list of past Award for Distinguished Achievement recipients, visit our website here.

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