Michael White (chef)

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Michael White is an American chef known for Italian cooking. He was born Michael John White in Beloit, Wisconsin, and trained at Kendall Culinary Institute before spending seven years in Italy at Ristorante San Domenico in Imola under Valentino Marcattilii, with additional study in Paris and the South of France.

In 2002 White became Executive Chef of Fiamma Osteria, which later earned a Michelin star. He published a cookbook in 2006, Fiamma: The Essence of Contemporary Italian Cooking. In 2007 he opened Due Terre with Ahmass Fakahany, and later Due Mari in New Jersey, both of which earned awards. He then led L'Impero and Alto in Midtown Manhattan; L'Impero was later rebranded as Convivo, and both restaurants earned Michelin stars.

White became the head of the Altamarea Group, a collection of restaurants that included Marea (New York), Ai Fiori, Vaucluse, Osteria Morini, Nicoletta, Costata, and The Butterfly in New York, plus Osteria Morini and Due Mari in New Jersey and Al Molo in Hong Kong. Marea earned two Michelin stars (downgraded to one in 2019) and Ai Fiori also earned a Michelin star.

In 2021 White left the Altamarea Group and moved permanently to the Hamptons during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2024 he opened his first standalone restaurant in Miami, MIKA, at The Plaza Coral Gables. In 2023 he opened Paranza at Atlantis Paradise Island in the Bahamas, named after the Italian term for a small fishing boat; Paranza is one of Atlantis’s three standalone Michelin chef experiences and is considered one of his most important openings since Marea.

Personal life: he is married to Giovanna White and has a daughter named Francesca. Culinary style: Italian.