Chris Santos

Chris Santos is a New York City chef and the former executive chef and owner of The Stanton Social on New York's Lower East Side. In late 2010, he opened Beauty & Essex, a 250-seat, restaurant in the heart of the lower east side. He is a recurring guest judge on the Food Network show Chopped, and is developing a show of his own. Biography Santos was born in Fall River, Massachusetts. His mother was of Irish descent and his father was of Portuguese ancestry. The youngest of four children, he has two brothers and one sister. Professional career At age 13, Santos's first job in the kitchen was washing pots at a small local restaurant in his hometown of Bristol, Rhode Island. Eventually the chef moved him from the sink to the stove where he started learning how to cook in his early teens. He attended Bristol High School in Bristol, Rhode Island, graduating in 1989. Upon graduation, Santos studied culinary arts at Johnson & Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island, initially planning on attending for only two years. However, after the school awarded him a fellowship, he remained for two more years studying restaurant and hotel management, graduating in 1993 with honors.