Richard Blais is an American chef, restaurateur, television personality, and cookbook author with a net worth of $5 million. Richard Blais is best known for competing in the fourth and

What is Richard Blais’s Net Worth?

eighth seasons of the Bravo reality competition series “Top Chef,” coming in second place in the former and winning the latter. As a restaurateur, his restaurants include Juniper and Ivy in San Diego, Ember & Rye in Carlsbad, and Four Flamingos in Orlando.

Early Life and Education

Richard Blais was born on February 19, 1972 in Uniondale, New York. When he was in the second grade, he was adopted by his stepfather. Blais got his first professional taste of cooking when he worked at a McDonald’s on Long Island. He was educated at the Culinary Institute of America, from which he earned a two-year associate’s degree in the culinary arts. Blais went on to study under renowned chefs at such prestigious restaurants as the French Laundry and Chez Panisse.

Television Appearances

Blais gained fame in 2008 when he appeared on the fourth season of the Bravo reality competition series “Top Chef,” subtitled “Top Chef: Chicago.” He ultimately was the runner-up to winner Stephanie Izard. Blais returned to “Top Chef” in 2010 to compete in its eighth season, “Top Chef: All-Stars,” and won the competition. He later served as a judge on seasons 12, 13, and 18 of “Top Chef.” Blais has appeared on numerous other competition reality shows in recent years. On the Food Network, he has hosted the series “Hungry

Games” and “Halloween Baking Championship,” and he has competed on “Guy’s Grocery Games,” “Tournament of Champions,” and “Cutthroat Kitchen,” on which he also ultimately became a recurring judge. Elsewhere, on Fox, he has been a recurring judge on “MasterChef” and “MasterChef Junior” and a judge on “Next Level Chef.” Blais’s other television hosting work has included HLN’s “Cook Your Ass Off” and the FYI Network series “Man v. Master.” He also has made numerous talk show appearances, including “The Today Show,” “The Chew,” and “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.”

Restaurants

Blais began running his first major restaurant, Fishbone, in Atlanta in 2000. Later in the decade, also in Atlanta, he collaborated with Barry Mills on the menu for the upscale FLIP burger boutique and served as the head chef of the restaurant. Blais founded his flagship restaurant, Juniper and Ivy, in San Diego in 2014. It was a partnership with Michael Rosen. The next year, Blais partnered with Rosen and Jon Sloan to found the Crack Shack, his second San Diego restaurant. Focused on dishes made with chicken and eggs, it later

opened two more locations. Just north of San Diego, in Carlsbad, Blais opened Ember & Rye at the Park Hyatt Aviara Resort. In late 2021, he expanded to the East Coast to open Four Flamingos at Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress in Orlando, Florida. Back in California, Blais opened Kestrel at the Indian Wells Golf Resort in 2024. At the end of that year, he opened two restaurants at the Grand Hyatt Scottsdale Resort in Arizona: the Japanese and Spanish tapas-style restaurant Tiki Taka and the Italian-American eatery La Zozzona.

Cookbooks In 2011, Blais inked a cookbook deal with Clarkson Potter of Random House. He wrote his first cookbook, “Try This at Home: Recipes from My Head to Your Plate,” which came out early in 2012 and went on to be nominated for an award from the James Beard Foundation. He wrote his second cookbook, “So Good: 100 Recipes from My Kitchen to Yours,” in 2017. In 2023, he and his wife Jazmin co-authored the plant-based diet cookbook entitled “Plant Forward: 100 Bold Recipes for a Mostly Healthy Lifestyle.” Podcasts In 2017, Blais launched “Starving for Attention,” a weekly podcast about the

culinary world. A couple of years later, he teamed up with iHeartRadio on the game show podcast “Food Court with Richard Blais,” in which celebrity chefs, actors, comedians, and many more go head-to-head over classic food arguments. Marathons In late 2011, Blais ran the ING New York City Marathon to support Alliance for a Healthier Generation. His first marathon, he completed it with a time of 4:31:54. Since then, Blais has run multiple other marathons in New York. Personal Life Blais and his wife Jazmin have two daughters named Riley and Embry. He and his wife operate the culinary consulting group Trail Blais, which designs, advises and opens eateries around the United States.