Harold Dieterle


Harold Dieterle III is an American top chef, best known as the winner of the first season of the Bravo television network's reality television series Top Chef. After winning Top Chef, he owned and ran three restaurants in New York City: Perilla, Kin Shop, and The Marrow. He closed all three in 2014 and 2015.
His signature dish is spicy duck meatballs.

Early life

Dieterle attended West Babylon High School and then studied at the Culinary Institute of America, graduating in 1997.

Career

Dieterle's professional career began at Della Femina in the Hamptons for two years. That was followed by three years at Red Bar and two years at 1770 House, both in New York City. For almost five years, he was a sous-chef at The Harrison restaurant in New York.
In October 2005, Dieterle competed in and won the first season of Top Chef. Following his win on the series, he left The Harrison in early 2006 to plan the opening of his own restaurant. His first restaurant, Perilla, opened in May 2007 in New York City. In 2010 he opened Kin Shop, a Thai restaurant. In a positive 2010 review of Kin Shop in the magazine New York, food critic Adam Platt called Dieterle "the original winner" of Top Chef.
In 2012, he opened The Marrow in New York City, which featured a mashup of Italian and German cuisine that was an ode to Dieterle's German heritage, and his wife's Italian heritage.
The Marrow closed its doors in 2014 after less than two years. In late 2015, Dieterle closed his two remaining restaurants, Kin Shop and Perilla. Dieterle said he was taking a leave from the restaurant and hospitality business.
In 2016 Dieterle served as a consultant for the AMC TV series Feed the Beast, set at a fictional restaurant.

Personal life

On September 4, 2010, Dieterle married Meredith Davies in Atlanta, Georgia. They met at the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen, Colorado, in 2006, the summer after his winning season on Top Chef.