Kristen Kish

Kristen Kish was born in South Korea and adopted into a family in Kentwood, MI. She showed an affinity for cooking at a young age. Her mother suggested she go to culinary school and since attending Le Cordon Bleu in Chicago, Kish has never looked back.

After moving to Boston, Kish worked in many high-profile restaurants including Michelin-star Chef Guy Martin’s Sensing and Barbara Lynch’s Stir as Chef de Cuisine, overseeing all back of house operations, including the design and execution of nightly menus and demonstration dinners for 10 guests.Kish competed on Bravo’s Top Chef Season 10 where she won the coveted title. She went on to become Chef de Cuisine of Menton, Chef Barbara Lynch’s fine dining restaurant. She left this position in 2014 to travel the world and write a cookbook. 

Kish was co-host of “36 Hours,” a Travel Channel show that partnered with The New York Times to bring the hit newspaper column to television. In October 2017, Kish launched her first cookbook – Kristen Kish Cooking.

Kish partnered with LINE Hotels in 2018 to launch her first restaurant, Arlo Grey. The restaurant reflects Kristen’s playful yet refined cuisine pulling inspiration from a French and Italian cooking background paired with a nostalgia of dishes from her upbringing to her love of travel that helped her gain an outlook on how people cook to tell their story.   

Kish recently co-hosted “Fast Foodies” –on TruTV as well as co-hosted Netflix’s “Iron Chef.”  She was also announced as host of National Geographic’s new series ‘Restaurants At The End Of The World,’ which will showcase Kish traveling the world in search of the people, places, cultures and traditions behind the world’s most remote restaurants.

Kish also focuses on brand partnerships and charitable work.