James Briscione grew up with the foods of the South. Learning to cook as a teenager on Pensacola Beach, James then moved to Birmingham, AL for a B.S. in Nutrition/Dietetics from Samford University. While in Birmingham, James couldn’t stay out of the kitchen and wound up behind the stove with James Beard award winner Frank Stitt. Under Stitt’s tutilege, James learned to create refined Southern cuisine by selecting only the freshest local ingredients and worked to become Chef de Cuisine at the famed Highlands Bar and Grill
A move to New York City and to Restaurant Daniel came next. As a sous chef in the private dining room, James cooked for the international elite executing dinner parties to French, 4-star standards. James currently works as a chef-instructor at The Institute of Culinary Education.
Briscione and his wife, Brooke Parkhurst, who both hail from Pensacola, Florida, now write and cook together from their West Village apartment in New York City. Their first cookbook Just Married and Cooking (Scribner ’11) will act as a cooking and lifestyle entertaining guide for the uninitiated, the newly married and kitchen challenged. He appeared on the first season of Food Network’s Chopped and walked away the champion. He will return to Chopped this fall to compete in the champions tournament. James has also been featured in on-line cooking segments for ABC News Now, delish.com and Conde Nast, as well as Martha Stewart Radio on Sirius.
- What do you cook when home alone?
- Mexican
- Your most treasured kitchen possession:
- Grandma's pasta roller and my sausage grinder
- The ideal number of guests for a dinner party is:
- 10
