Michael Voltaggio

Who is Michael Voltaggio?

Michael Voltaggio is an American chef residing in Pasadena, California. Voltaggio is the winner of the sixth season of Top Chef, Bravo's cooking competition reality show, where he competed with his brother, Bryan Voltaggio. The two ended in the finale, alongside Kevin Gillespie, with Michael winning the contest. Top Chef Head Judge Tom Colicchio said of Voltaggio, “Out of all the cooks that have come through the show, Michael is the most talented—both from a sensibility and technical standpoint. He has the chops to pull off what he’s trying to do.”

Voltaggio did not have the money to attend culinary school, so he did a long apprenticeship at Holiday Hotel resort in Tampa, FL under master chef Yuet Lo. He later held jobs at the Ritz Carlton Hotel Napel, Florida under chef Peter Timmins and Charlie Palmer's Dry Creek Kitchen in Healdsburg. During his tenure as Chef de Cuisine at The Bazaar by Jose Andres, the restaurant was nominated for the James Beard Foundation Award for Best New Restaurant in 2008.