Marcel Vigneron is an American chef. He is the first place winner of Last Chef Standing and was also the runner-up of the second season of Top Chef, which aired in 2006–2007. From 2011 on, he has had multiple other television appearances and has opened some of LA's hottest hotels and most notable restaurants such as The Bazaar at SLS Beverly Hills, Wolf, The Chateau Marmont, The Beverly Hilton, and Lemon Grove at The Aster. He is now the CEO & Executive Chef of his own event and production company Modern California Cuisine.

Early life

Vigneron is originally from Wichita, Kansas but moved to LA with his family at a young age and went to elementary school in Burbank, California. His family moved to Washington state in 1994 and he attended High School on Bainbridge Island.

Vigneron later went on to college at the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) in New York and achieved his associate degree in Culinary Arts as well as a Bachelors degree in Hospitality Management. There, Vigneron met fellow chef Spike Mendelsohn. The two played a lot of frisbee together and became best friends;{{Cite web|url=http://www.mediaite.com/food/spike-mendelsohn-iron-chef-save-card/|title=Spike Mendelsohn Reveals Existence Of 'Save Card' On The Next Iron Chef|last=Nguyen|first=Tina|date=November 29, 2012|website=Mediaite|access-date=March 30, 2017}} they would later compete together on the 5th and 8th seasons of The Next Iron Chef.The Next Iron Chef Season 5, Episode 4. At the CIA, Vigneron enrolled in the teaching assistant program, where he served as the sous chef to Dwayne Lipuma at the school's Ristorante Caterina de’ Medici.{{cite news |first=Spencer |last=Patterson |title=Now we're cooking |url=http://www.lasvegasweekly.com/news/2008/jun/05/now-were-cooking/ |work=Las Vegas Weekly |publisher=Greenspun Media Group |date=2008-06-05 |accessdate=2008-09-03}}

''Top Chef''

Vigneron appeared in season two of Bravo's reality series Top Chef, which was filmed in 2006, and aired in late 2006 and early 2007. At the time of his appearance on Top Chef, he was a Master Cook at Joël Robuchon in Las Vegas, Nevada.

On the show, he became known for his molecular gastronomy techniques, especially his use of foams.{{cite web |title=As 'Top Chef' approaches, revisiting the myth of Marcel |url=http://www.lasvegassun.com/blogs/kats-report/2009/aug/13/top-chef-approaches-revisiting-myth-marcel/ |publisher=Las Vegas Sun |first=John |last=Katsilometes |date=August 13, 2009}} He was assaulted on the show in an incident in which several of the show's contestants egged on contestant Cliff Crooks to pin down Vigneron while they all tried to shave his head. This led to Cliff being kicked off the show.

Several Top Chef viewers blogged about discrepancies in the sequence of events relating to the hair-shaving incident, including one clip that shows contestant Elia Aboumrad during the shave attempt with all of her hair intact, despite being shown shaving her head earlier in the sequence.{{cite web |title='Top Chef' fails the taste test |url=http://www.today.com/id/16772638/ns/today-today_entertainment/t/top-chef-fails-taste-test/ |publisher=msnbc.com |author=Andy Dehnart |author-link=Andy Dehnart |date=January 25, 2007}} Activity in the blogosphere eventually attracted the attention of entertainment news outlets, some of which commented that the creative editing was done in an attempt to downplay interpersonal conflicts. Vigneron characterized the event as more like a drunken assault,{{cite web |title=Marcel Speaks Up! |url=http://www.lasvegasweekly.com/news/archive/2007/jan/18/marcel-speaks-up/ |publisher=Las Vegas Weekly |first=Michael |last=Toole |date=January 18, 2007}} and confirmed that the attack on him came before the other contestants shaved their heads, contrary to how the footage was edited.{{cite web |title=Marcel Vigneron, Top Chef? |url=http://gothamist.com/2007/01/31/marcel_vigneron.php |publisher=Gothamist |first=Hugh |last=Merwin |date=January 31, 2007 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160530093139/http://gothamist.com/2007/01/31/marcel_vigneron.php |archivedate=May 30, 2016 }}

Vigneron made it to the finals, finishing as runner-up behind the winner Ilan Hall.

Post-''Top Chef''

In 2008, he was an Executive Sous Chef at The Bazaar in the SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills, California.{{Cite news |last=Bonvissuto |first=Danny |title=Grub Street: 'Top Chef': Where Are They Now? | newspaper=New York Magazine |date=November 12, 2008 |url=http://nymag.com/daily/food/2008/11/top_chef_where_are_they_now.html}}

In March 2010 it was announced that Vigneron would star in Marcel's Quantum Kitchen, a reality television show that aired on the Syfy cable network.{{ cite web |author=Forbes, Paula |title=Top Chef's Marcel Vigneron Gets Syfy Show |url=http://www.eatmedaily.com/2010/03/top-chefs-marcel-vigneron-gets-syfy-show/ |work=EatMeDaily.com |date=March 17, 2010 }} In each episode, Marcel and his new catering and event company were hired by a demanding client to produce an extraordinary celebration or event. Marcel dreamed up a theme and cuisine for the event based on the client's requests. The show was a production of Mission Control Media with Executive Producers Michael Agbabian and Dwight Smith.{{cite web |title=Marcel's Quantum Kitchen |url=http://www.syfy.com/marcelsquantumkitchen/ |work=SyFy |access-date=2011-02-25 |archive-date=2013-10-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131012221432/http://www.syfy.com/marcelsquantumkitchen/ |url-status=dead }} The show lasted six episodes.

He returned to the Top Chef series in Top Chef: All-Stars.{{cite web|url=http://www.bravotv.com/blogs/the-dish/top-chef-all-stars-cast-is-announced|title=Top Chef All-Stars Cast Announced!|last=Reyhani|first=Monica A.|date=October 8, 2010|work=Bravotv.com}} On the episode that aired on January 19, 2011, he was eliminated from the competition after the Restaurant Wars challenge. In 2024 Vigneron was the winner of the first season of 24 in 24: Last Chef Standing.

As of 2024, Chef Marcel serves as the executive chef and CEO of his own event production and catering company Modern California Cuisine.

Personal life

As of 2024 Vigneron lives in the Malibu area . He is the owner of the restaurant Wolf on Melrose Ave. His most recent restaurant, Beefsteak, opened in August 2016.{{Cite news|url=https://la.eater.com/2016/8/29/12693108/beefsteak-marcel-vigneron-melrose|title=Vegetable Paradise at the Sunny New Beefsteak on Melrose|last=Elliott|first=Farley|date=August 29, 2016|work=Eater LA|access-date=2017-12-12}} Vigneron closed both restaurants in February 2019 to pursue catering.{{Cite web|url=https://la.eater.com/2019/3/4/18249180/top-chef-marcel-vigneron-closed-melrose-wolf-news|title = Top Chef's Marcel Vigneron has closed both of his Melrose restaurants|date = 4 March 2019}}

He wed entrepreneur Lauren Rae Levy on November 9, 2019, in Santa Susana, California.{{cite web| url = https://people.com/food/top-chef-alum-marcel-vigneron-marries-lauren-rae-levy-wedding-details/| title = Top Chef Alum Marcel Vigneron Marries Lauren Rae Levy {{!}} PEOPLE.com}} They welcomed son Kingston in 2020.{{cite web| url = https://people.com/parents/marcel-vigneron-introduces-son-kingston-photos-exclusive/| title = Chef Marcel Vigneron and Wife Lauren Rae Levy Introduce Son Kingston: 'He Has Truly Been an Angel' {{!}} PEOPLE.com}}

References

Category:Living people

Category:Molecular gastronomy

Category:American chefs

Category:American male chefs

Category:People from Bainbridge Island, Washington

Category:Culinary Institute of America Hyde Park alumni

Category:Year of birth missing (living people)

Category:American gastronomes