Ilan Hall is one of the most innovative young chefs of our time. Best known for winning Season 2 of Bravo’s "Top Chef," he is also owner of The Gorbals in downtown Los Angeles. Now, he’s the host of "Knife Fight," a gritty new cooking competition show on the Esquire Network, featuring after-hours cooking bouts between Ilan’s chef friends in The Gorbals kitchen.

Ilan’s culinary influences are as varied and far-reaching as the obscure ingredients the contestants on his show are cooking with. The child of Scottish and Israeli immigrants with roots in Eastern Europe, Ilan was exposed at an early age to foods in Europe and the Middle East, as well as South America and Asia. At seventeen, Ilan studied in Florence at the famed Apicius culinary program and Lorenzo de Medici. Then, he returned to the U.S. to receive his degree at the Culinary Institute of America as well as his certification in baking and pastry arts at the CIA’s Greystone campus in Napa, California. He got his first job working for Charlie Palmer at Aureole. He then worked for Tom Colicchio at Craft, where he was fired after only six months before moving on to Mario Batali and Joe Bastianich’s tribute to Spain, Casa Mono.

Ilan has cooked at a variety of events around the nation including the Wine & Food Festivals in South Beach and Scottsdale, the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen, and the Sundance Film Festival. He has appeared on numerous television shows, including the "Today Show." He has been on NPR and featured in Food & Wine, The New York Times, Newsday, Daily News, Los Angeles Times, LA Weekly, Los Angeles Magazine, breakingkosher.com, jewishjournal.com, bacontoday.com, heebmagazine.com and unvegan.com.

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