Amanda Freitag is one of New York City’s most celebrated chefs. A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY, Freitag’s first position in a New York City kitchen was as rotissier and garde manger at Vong in 1993, under the guidance of Jean-Georges Vongerichten. In 1994, Freitag started working with her mentor and friend Diane Forley at Verbena, where she rose quickly through the ranks to become the chef de cuisine. In January 2008, Freitag took over as the executive chef at The Harrison in Tribeca. Over the next three years The Harrison received numerous accolades from local and national media, including a two-star review from The New York Times. Freitag has battled Bobby Flay on Iron Chef America and has a recurring role as a judge on the new Food Network series, Chopped. In the fall of 2009 she graced the Food Network stage again and competed for the title of America’s Next Iron Chef. You can also find her as a contributing chef on Unique Eats, a weekly program on The Cooking Channel. Now after almost 20 years of being a groundbreaking, highly acclaimed female chef in New York City, Freitag is proud to be working on her passion project and lifelong dream, a restaurant of her own. Freitag is reopening Chelsea’s iconic Empire Diner space.