Alfred Portale

Alfred Portale (born July 5, 1954), in Buffalo, New York, is an American chef, author, and restaurateur,^[1] is widely recognized as a pioneering figure in the New American cuisine movement.

Alfred Portale
Alfred Portale at Tutto Italia in NYC 2007
Born	(1954-07-05) July 5, 1954 (age 71) Buffalo, New York, U.S.
Education	Culinary Institute of America
Culinary career
Cooking style	New American cuisine
Rating(s) 3 Stars New York Times, 1 Michelin Star, 27 Food Ranking in Zagat.
Current restaurant(s) Portale Restaurant, Zero Bond, Sartiano's
Previous restaurant(s) Gotham Bar & Grill
Television show Top Chef (season 3)
Award(s) won 2006 James Beard Award for Best Chef, 2002 James Beard Award for Most Outstanding Restaurant, 1993 James Beard Award Best Chef: New York City
Website	http://www.portalerestaurant.com

Gotham Bar & Grill

^[2] After graduating (first in his class) from the Culinary Institute of America, Portale embarked on an intensive apprenticeship in France, where he refined his skills under the guidance of chefs such as Michel Guerard, Jean Troisgros, and Jacques Maximin.

Restaurants

In 1984, shortly after he returned to the United States, Portale was appointed Executive Chef and Partner at Gotham Bar and Grill. Open only a year and already moribund, Portale quickly revitalized the restaurant with his meticulous attention to detail, commitment to high-quality, seasonal ingredients, and visually stunning plating.^[3] It was at Gotham that Portale completely revolutionized modern food presentation by founding the architectural-food trend of the eighties, vertical plating.

Alfred Portale won multiple nominations and three ^[4] James Beard Award wins for Outstanding Chef (2006), Outstanding Restaurant (2002) and Best Chef: New York City (1993).^[5]

^[6] Alfred Portale left Gotham Bar and Grill in July 2019 to open his namesake in November 2019.

^[7]

Publishing and television

Portale is the author of three cookbooks in collaboration with others and alone: Gotham Bar and Grill Cookbook (1997), and Twelve Seasons Cookbook: A Month-by-Month Guide to the Best There is to Eat (2000), and Simple Pleasures: Home Cooking from the Gotham Bar and Grill's Acclaimed Chef (2004).

He has also made television appearances, most notably as a guest judge on the episode of Top Chef originally broadcast on June 27, 2007, and as a featured chef with Julia Child in her PBS series “In Julia's Kitchen with Master Chefs” on December 16, 1995.^[8]

Cookbooks

• Alfred Portale Simple Pleasures: Home Cooking from the Gotham Bar and Grill's Acclaimed Chef (2004) ISBN 0-06-053502-4
• Alfred Portale's Gotham Bar and Grill Cookbook (1997) ISBN 0-385-48210-8
• Alfred Portale's Twelve Seasons Cookbook: A Month-by-Month Guide to the Best There is to Eat (2000) ISBN 0-7679-0606-3
• Cooking by the Book – Alfred Portale