Outstanding Orlando Chef Kevin Fonzo Selected as Final Table Judge

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Posted Oct 9, 2015

Outstanding Orlando Chef Kevin Fonzo Selected as Final Table Judge

Chef Kevin Fonzo, owner of K Restaurant in Orlando, Fla., rounds out the slate of Final Table judges for the 2015 World Food Championships.

"We are thrilled to have Chef Fonzo on our Final Table,” said World Food Championships CEO Mike McCloud. “As a highly respected local restaurateur with national accolades, he's extremely qualified to help us judge the final dishes and crown our next World Champion."

Chef Kevin said he is “beyond excited” about being asked to be a Final Table judge.

“I truly am honored that my palate and my experience in the food service industry has brought me to this level,” he said. “I am looking forward to seeing what the best has to offer as well as share my knowledge and opinions with everyone.”

He also emphasized how pleased he is that the World Food Championships are being held in Central Florida.

“We are a force to be reckoned with when it comes to our Culinary/Hospitality scene,” he said, proudly. “Nowhere else can you find the level of incredible hotels, resorts, restaurants and theme parks than what we have here! I am proud to call Central Florida home!”

A native of New York City, Chef Kevin Fonzo began his culinary training at age 15 while working in a country inn in upstate New York. He furthered his education at “The Culinary Institute of America” in Hyde Park, New York, graduating with honors, then interning in Hilton Head Island, S.C. at the site of the Heritage Golf Classic.

Following graduation, Chef Kevin landed a job as part of the opening team at “The Peabody Hotel” in Orlando, Fla. At 21 years of age, Kevin became one of the youngest managers to run his own outlet in Peabody history. He quickly was promoted to Chef of the Italian restaurant, “Capriccio,” where he earned the “Best Brunch in Orlando” award from Glamour Magazine and was featured on Orlando’s “Noon Day News.”

After a six-year tenure at Peabody Orlando, Fonzo was scouted by the Peasant Restaurant Group in Atlanta, Ga., to bring the “Chef” title back to their restaurants. During his stay with the Peasant, Fonzo appeared in Cobb Magazine and on “Atlanta Live! At Noon.” While in Atlanta, Kevin worked Bistango and Ciboulette, coveting the title “Best Restaurant in Atlanta” from Gourmet Magazine. The Chef then moved on to menu designer/kitchen developer for the Phoenix Brewing Company, where he was featured in Brew Magazine, Brewpub, Nations Restaurant News, Southern Living, Atlanta Magazine and The Atlanta Constitution.

In his spare time, The Chef volunteered his time for the Local Food Bank and Share our Strength for the Taste of the NFL held in every Super Bowl city. He worked side by side with such great culinarians as Susan Spicer, Emeril Lagasse, Bobby Flay and Alan Susser.

Knowing Orlando was “home” for Kevin, he returned after seven years in Atlanta. He quickly found employment in a little restaurant called Café Allegre in Orlando’s College Park neighborhood. Falling in love with the restaurant and area, Chef Kevin bought Allegre in 2001 and changed the name to K Restaurant and Wine Bar. It became one of Orlando’s first Chef-owned-and-operated restaurants. K was the one of the first establishments to showcase local ingredients, have a menu that changed daily to reflect the seasons and offer a full cheese list.

As the owner of K for the past 14 years, Chef Kevin has won almost every award in Orlando from “Neighborhood Gem” to “Best Restaurant in Orlando.” As one of “America’s Top Restaurants” in Zagat, his restaurant has been featured in Bon Appétit Magazine, Nation’s Restaurant News, Orlando Leisure, Florida Trend, The Orlando Sentinel.

Fonzo was added into “Orlando’s Dining Hall of Fame” from Orlando Magazine and was honored by The James Beard Foundation in 2010 by being nominated for “Best Chef Southeast.” He’s has been invited three times to cook at the prestigious James Beard House in New York City. He was invited to the James Beard Foundation’s Boot Camp on Food Policy this past June making him one of only 90 chefs nationwide to have been invited.

A fervent supporter of the local community as well as local ingredients, Chef Kevin has generously donated time and money to such organizations as March of Dimes, Hope and Help, The American Cancer Foundation, Share Our Strength and Second Harvest Food Bank among many others. He started his own foundation, The Kevin Fonzo Foundation, that promotes school gardening, healthy school cooking and a nutritional school lunch program. His work with schoolchildren at The Orlando Junior Academy, where he assisted starting The Edible Schoolyard, garnered him an invitation to meet Michelle Obama and tour the White House gardens as part of the Chef’s Move to School program.

In 2013, Chef Emeril Lagasse visited K Restaurant as part of his “Emeril’s Florida” TV show focusing on Florida restaurants and chefs. Hearing about what Chef Kevin was doing at The Edible Schoolyard at O.J.A, he visited the school the very next day. Impressed with the program Kevinhad initiated, The Emeril Lagasse Foundation partnered with him in building a new kitchen house/classroom.

Fonzo admits he loves food, and his life reflects that – even his vacations. He’s just returned from a couple of weeks of cooking in Tuscany.

“I’ve just started back at the gym,” he laughed, “just so I can eat my own cooking!”

by Claudia Johnson, World Food Championships

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Outstanding Orlando Chef Kevin Fonzo Selected as Final Table Judge

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