Antonia Lofaso

Antonia Lofaso is an American chef who has appeared on the reality TV shows Top Chef, Chopped, Cutthroat Kitchen and Restaurant Startup, among others. She is co-owner and executive chef at the Los Angeles restaurants Black Market Liquor Bar, Scopa Italian Roots, and DAMA in Los Angeles, California. Lofaso has one daughter, Xea, born in 2000 from her relationship with recording artist Heavy D. She also has a brother. Lofaso has Sicilian, Italian, and Jewish roots. Lofaso attended the French Culinary Institute in New York City; during that time she was also a manager at Sean Combs' restaurant, Justin. She then worked as a chef at the Los Angeles restaurants Spago and Foxtail. In 2008, Lofaso appeared as a contestant on season four of the competition series "Top Chef," also known as "Top Chef: Chicago;" she came in 4th place. She appeared on season eight of Top Chef, known as Top Chef: All-Stars, from 2010 to 2011, coming in 3rd place. In 2014 she appeared on an episode of "Top Chef Duels," competing against Mike Isabella, who had beaten her on "Top Chef: All-Stars;" she won the duel. In 2012, Lofaso appeared on the short-lived Game Show Network show "Beat the Chefs;" she was one of three professional chefs that the amateur chef contestants had to compete against. The show only ran for four episodes. Since 2013, she has been one of a rotating group of judges on the Food Network competition show "Cutthroat Kitchen." She also competed in (and won) Cutthroat's special "Judging Judges" episode, beating fellow regular judges Simon Majumdar and Jet Tila as well as Iron Chef Geoffrey Zakarian. She has since served as the restaurant adviser for seasons 2 and 3 of the CNBC competition/investment show "Restaurant Startup," in 2015 and 2016. She is a judge on Guy's Grocery Games, where she has also competed (and won). In 2020, she appeared on Selena Gomez's cooking show, "Selena + Chef."