Marcel Vigneron

Los Angeles, CA

What's the first dish you learned to make really well?

My mother taught me to make pumpkin pie when I was about 8 years old.

All About Chef Vigneron

Season 5 Rival Chefs

Get to know the 10 chefs competing for the ultimate culinary title.

Chef Vigneron's Videos

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Chef Vigneron: Knife Kit 01:44

Favorite Iron Chef Moments 02:18

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Chef Marcel Vigneron

A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, Chef Marcel Vigneron is the owner of the catering company Modern Global Tasting. He was the seventh chef sent home from The Next Iron Chef: Redemption, just one week short of the finale.

In Marcel's Words

Each rival was given a journal to use during his or her road to redemption, and Chef Vigneron filled his with notes about challenges, feel-good reminders to cook at his highest level and go-to recipes and ingredient lists.

Competitor on a Plate

To represent Chef Guarnaschelli on a plate in the test of simplicity, Chef Vigneron imagined several key moments of her life into a one-bite truffled egg. "As an homage to Chef Guarnaschelli, I think it works really well," Simon said. Despite his dish's success, however, Chef Vigneron was ultimately outcooked by his rival and forced to face off in a three-way Secret Ingredient Showdown.

Heart and Soul

No matter the Secret Ingredient or challenge, Chef Vigneron made sure to "Cook from the heart" throughout the competition. He penned reminders like this one on several pages of his journal.

Showdown Rookie

Although Chef Vigneron's first Showdown — Battle Breakfast Cereal — was a doozy, he managed to prepare coconut ice cream and a treat made with Kellogg's Rice Krispies and Raisin Bran that allowed him to advance to week four of the competition.

Solid Advice

All of the Redemption rivals could have stood to heed Chef Vigneron's instruction to himself: "Make delicious dishes that represent your style [of] food and are indicative of Iron Chef quality."

Salty Situation

Chef Vigneron took an Italian approach to his canned clams by serving an acqua pazza, which means crazy water in Italian. Ultimately the broth proved to be far too salty for the judges and he faced a head-to-head Secret Ingredient Showdown against best friend and fellow rival Chef Spike Mendelsohn.

A Next Iron Chef First

In an unprecedented Showdown, Chefs Vigneron and Mendelsohn made their friendly alliance official by plating their lobster-based dishes and presenting to the judges as a team. Although they weren't impressed with the chefs' antics and lack of respect for the rules, the judges eliminated only Chef Mendelsohn, and Chef Vigneron was pardoned to cook another day.

A Fine Line

Before the Chairman's test of risk began, Chef Vigneron made sure to consider what's "stupid vs. risky." Some of his fellow rivals found out the hard way that taking too much risk and experimenting with unusual cooking techniques and ingredients could ultimately do them in, but Chef Vigneron's beef cheeks and tongue was named the best dish of the day.

Head First

This is Chef Vigneron's winning plate of Braised Beef Tongue and Cheek made with the calves' heads that he won in the Chairman's ingredient auction with a cooking time of 50 minutes. Simon complimented him on preparing "a terrific dish" with a pressure cooker, a notoriously difficult machine to master.

Advantage: Vigneron

Not shy about putting his advantage to work, Chef Vigneron chose for himself the most complementary ingredient marriage — that of peanut butter and blue cheese — before the test of fusion. "I feel like my ingredients were the easiest to combine," he said, "which is precisely why I chose them." His strategy paid off as his dessert of blue cheese ice cream and peanut butter brittle was one of the top two dishes of the day.

Familiar Partners

In what would be his final Chairman's Challenge of the competition, Chef Vigneron was once again paired with Chef Guarnaschelli. This time they worked as a team against Chefs Nate Appleman and Amanda Freitag to prepare a five-course Las Vegas-style buffet with bacon.

Menu Mise en Place

Chef Vigneron jotted down his team's French-inspired menu of the day to make sure that he remained organized and efficient while cooking with Chef Guarnaschelli in the Las Vegas buffet challenge.

Friends Then Foes

Chefs Vigneron and Guarnaschelli's partnership turned to a fierce rivalry when they found out that their buffet offerings were less successful that their competitors' and that they would have to face off for survival in a Hershey's Chocolate Showdown.

Head Held High

Despite serving a white chocolate-curry risotto that earned rave reviews from the judges, Chef Vigneron is ultimately sent home after seven hard-fought weeks in the competition. After his elimination, he reflected, "I proved that I matured as a chef, as a person and that I can cook some pretty delicious dishes."