Spike Mendelsohn

Celebrity chef speaker Spike Mendelsohn is a Culinary Institute of America graduate, a television personality, and a cookbook author. Raised by a family who worked in the culinary industry, Chef Mendelsohn was destined to become a celebrity chef.

Chef Spike got his start as a television personality when he competed in season four of Bravo’s hit reality cooking series, Top Chef. Mendelsohn cooked against other talented chefs including Nikki Cascone, Richard Blais, Lisa Fernandes, and the season four winner, Chef Stephanie Izard. Spike was eliminated in the 12^th episode called High Steaks where the chefs were made to cook an appetizer and entrée on the line at acclaimed Chef Rick Tramonto’s Steak and Seafood restaurant. The judges of the show, Celebrity Chefs Tom Colicchio, Padma Lakshmi, Gail Simmons, and Ted Allen, along with the guest judges for the episode, Chef Tramonto, Harold Dieterle, Ilan Hall and Hung Huynh, were the deciding factors in the elimination. Since then, Chef Mendelsohn has appeared on several other television programs including the Rachael Ray Show, The Nate Berkus Show, Unique Sweets, Recipe Rehab, and more. He also competed on Food Network’s The Next Iron Chef where he battled notable chefs Robert Irvine, Geoffrey Zakarian, Marcus Samuelsson, Elizabeth Galkner, and Iron Chef Guranaschelli.

In 2010, Chef Mendelsohn published his first cookbook called The Good Stuff Cookbook. The cookbook includes 120 recipes targeted towards home cooks who aim to cook American comfort food favorites. Chef Spike received rave reviews for the book from fellow chefs Rachael Ray, TLC’s Comfort Food’s Chef Art Smith, and Top Chef judge Tom Colicchio. Spike Mendelsohn is the owner of multiple restaurants in the Washington D.C. area and he also serves as the Chairman of the D.C. Food Policy Council, Chef Ambassador to CARE International and Chef Contributor to DC Central Kitchen.