Beginnings Iuzzini's first restaurant job was after school as a part-time dishwasher at the local golf club. At the time, he was enrolled in his high school's voc-tech culinary program. Iuzzini garnered his first cooking award by finishing second in a New York City culinary competition. In 1998, Iuzzini studied pastry technique while
staging at several of the country's finest patisseries. After eight months around the world, he returned to New York to work for
Daniel Boulud, opening
Café Boulud and the new Daniel as Executive Sous Chef. In 2001, Boulud promoted the 26-year-old Iuzzini to Executive Pastry Chef. In May 2002,
Jean-Georges Vongerichten selected Iuzzini for Executive Pastry Chef at Restaurant Jean Georges. Iuzzini was named the “Best Pastry Chef” by New York Magazine in 2002, nominated for “Outstanding Pastry Chef of the Year” nomination by the
James Beard Foundation in 2003, and named one of the “Ten Best Pastry Chefs in America” by Pastry Art and Design Magazine in 2003 and 2004. In 2006, Iuzzini was awarded
Outstanding Pastry Chef of the Year by the James Beard Foundation. 2007 landed him among the honorees of the title of “10 Most Influential Chefs in America” from Forbes, as one of the “Tastemaking Chefs”.
Pastry and culinary arts consulting In 2011 Iuzzini started a pastry and culinary arts consulting company, Sugar Fueled, Inc, performing demonstrations of pastry techniques to live audiences. In 2014, he entered a partnership with
Le Méridien Hotels & Resorts.
Television In September 2010, Iuzzini was cast for two seasons as head judge on the American
reality competition show
Top Chef: Just Desserts on the
Bravo cable television network. In 2011, the show received the
GLAAD Media Award nomination for
Outstanding Reality Program. On October 23, 2014, he appeared as a competitor in the "Superstar Sabotage" tournament of
Cutthroat Kitchen. ==Sexual harassment allegations==