His rise to fame began as the chef at the legendary New York eatery, La Caravelle. At the time Ruggerio was only twenty-five years old and garnished rave reviews. He went on to take command of Pierre Cardin's New York outpost of Maxim's de Paris where he garnished three stars from the New York Times. He then took his talents to the iconic Park Avenue restaurant, Le Chantilly. Here he gained national acclaim by again receiving three stars from the New York Times and being lauded over in an article by legendary writer Gael Greene entitled "Miracle on 57th Street".
Media personality
Ruggerio is also a cookbook author, in his books, Ruggerio draws a distinction between the cooking of Naples and that of Sicily. He was honored in 1995 by noted vintnerRobert Mondavi as a Rising Star Chef, in the first year of this national awards program. He went on to star in his own PBS cooking series entitled, "Little Italy with David Ruggerio." He later went on to star in his own series on Food Network entitled, "Ruggerio to Go." Ruggerio’s first novel, "A Wistful Tale of Gods, Men and Monsters," won the Maxy Award 2019 for Best Horror Novel, and Pencraft Awards - Best Fiction Horror 2019
Awards
During the 1990s, was known as one of the best chef in America. In 1995, vintner Robert Mondavi chose him as one of the 13 best young chefs in America.
Featured publications
David Ruggerio has been featured in several national publications:
In 1996 Ruggerio was hailed as “Everywhere Man” in NY Magazine.
In February 2012, David was featured in a recipe of Food & Wine making Spiced Pear and Rum Risotto.
David was mentioned in the book by Andrew F. Smith detailing the creation of contemporary American cuisine.
Legal history
On November 3, 1998 David Ruggerio was charged with stealing $190,000 from a credit card company by falsifying credit card receipts for payment, in one case by as much as $30,000. He falsified credit card payments by inflating the gratuities left by 26 customers at his restaurant. On March 12, 1999 he admitted to the charges and paid more than $100,000 in restitution to a credit card company, spent five years on probation and performed 500 hours of community service. Ruggerio spent five years on probation and performed 500 hours of community service, due to this Food Network debated keeping his show on the air but eventually decided against cancelling it. The network had produced dozens of episodes and spent a small fortune to market it. Ruggerio subsequently attempted to work in the culinary industry again.
