Celina Tio facts for kids
| Born | 1970/1971 (age 54–55) |
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| Education | Drexel University |
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Current restaurant(s)
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Previous restaurant(s)
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Television show(s)
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Award(s) won
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Meet Celina Tio, an amazing American chef! She has appeared on several popular cooking shows on the Food Network. Celina Tio also owns her own restaurant called The Belfry in Kansas City.
Contents
Celina Tio's Cooking Journey
Celina Tio learned to cook at Drexel University. Her very first cooking job was at a restaurant called Bennigan's. She even convinced the manager to hire her!
Early Career and Big Hotels
After that, she started working at the fancy Ritz-Carlton Philadelphia hotel. By the time she was only 23, she became an executive chef there. This means she was in charge of the whole kitchen!
Later, Celina moved to Florida. She helped open three different restaurants for Walt Disney World. These included Spoodles (Mediterranean food), Citricos (French food), and Palo (Northern Italian food).
Awards and Own Restaurants
Next, Celina moved to Missouri. She became the executive chef at The American Restaurant in Kansas City. While working there, she won some big awards! Chef magazine named her "Best Chef" in 2005. She also won the famous James Beard Foundation Award for "Best Mid-West Chef" in 2007. This award is like an Oscar for chefs!
In 2009, Celina opened her own restaurant called Julian. It was in Brookside, Kansas City. Julian had a more relaxed menu than her previous fine dining restaurants.
TV Appearances and New Places
While running Julian, Celina Tio appeared on many TV cooking shows. You might have seen her on Top Chef Masters, Iron Chef America, and The Next Iron Chef.
She opened a second restaurant called Collection in 2013. The next year, she opened another one called The Belfry.
After eight years, Celina decided to close Julian in 2017. She said she felt it was time to try something new. She wanted to give another local chef a chance to open a restaurant in that spot.
About Celina's Life
Celina Tio has shared that she is "half-Chinese".
