Joe Bastianich

Bastianich was a judge on the American MasterChef series broadcast by Fox until it took too much of his time, and MasterChef Junior until he was replaced on both series by Christina Tosi in the spring of 2015 after he exited the franchise in November 2014. However, he eventually returned to temporarily judge Season 6 of MasterChef Junior on March 2, 2018 and has returned to the judging panel as a full-time judge on MasterChef since season 9, which debuted in June 2018. He was also a judge on the Italian version of the program. MasterChef Italia shown on Sky Uno for its first 8 seasons. In May 2019, Bastianich announced his departure from MasterChef Italia in order to dedicate himself to his passion for music. In mid-September of the same year, Bastianich released his first album, titled "Aka Joe". In late January 2020, he will star in a musical concert tour around Italy, featuring his "New York Stories" album.

In an episode of MasterChef Italia which came to the attention of the U.S. media in January 2018, Bastianich makes several racist remarks about Chinese men while making sexually suggestive comments to women giving him a manicure and pedicure at a beauty salon in Milan's Chinatown. He asks the women if they have ever had Italian boyfriends and remarks that Chinese men are "inadequate" in certain situations. When asked by the blog Grub Street for comment, Bastianich issued an apology:

He received the America Award of the Italy-USA Foundation in 2018.

Bastianich also made a special appearance in the 2015 television film An American Girl: Grace Stirs Up Success as a judge in a fictional season of MasterChef Junior. From March 22, 2016, he presented, with Guido Meda and Davide Valsecchi, the first edition of Top Gear Italia. He will also serve as a judge on the judging panel of Italia's Got Talent and Family Food Fight Italia, airing on Sky Uno in the spring of 2020.

Bastianich has co-authored two award-winning books on Italian wine, and his memoir, Restaurant Man, became a New York Times Best Seller within a week of its release in May 2012.

In 2008, he and Mario Batali won the Outstanding Restaurateur Award by the James Beard Foundation.

After spending a year on Wall Street as a bond trader, he gave up his newly launched career and ventured into the food industry. He took an extended trip to Italy. In 1993, he opened Becco (Italian for "peck, nibble, savor"), an Italian restaurant with his mother, Lidia Bastianich. He then partnered with Mario Batali to open Babbo Ristorante e Enoteca, an Italian restaurant that gained the prestigious three stars from The New York Times, the first Italian restaurant to gain the award in 40 years. Babbo also has earned one Michelin star. Together they opened seven more restaurants in New York: Lupa, Esca, Casa Mono, Bar Jamon, Otto, Del Posto, and Eataly (an Italian marketplace). In 2010, Del Posto received a four star review from The New York Times, one of only five restaurants in New York to win that award. Their culinary empire has expanded to 10 restaurants in New York, 4 restaurants in Las Vegas, 3 restaurants in Los Angeles, 2 restaurants in Singapore, 1 Italian market in Chicago, 1 Italian market in Boston, and two restaurants in Hong Kong.

Joseph Bastianich (born September 17, 1968) is an American restaurateur, winemaker, vineyard owner, author, showman, television personality, guitarist, and musician of Italian descent. He, along with his mother and business partner Lidia Bastianich, co-owns thirty restaurants in four countries, including Babbo (1 Michelin star) and Del Posto (1 Michelin star) in New York; Carnevino in Las Vegas; Osteria Mozza in Singapore; and the Pizzeria eateries in Los Angeles, which the owners expanded in 2010. Earlier that same year, they teamed up with Italian retail businessman Oscar Farinetti to bring Eataly, an upscale food and wine market, to Boston, Chicago, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and New York City.

Joseph Bastianich was born in Astoria, Queens in 1968, to Italian immigrants Felice and Lidia Bastianich. His parents were born in Pola (now in Croatia) and moved to the United States in 1958 during the large Istrian exodus. Raised working in his parents' Italian restaurant Felidia in Manhattan, he attended Fordham Preparatory School before attending Boston College, where he studied finance. Bastianich lives in New York City, with his wife, Deanna, and their children, Olivia, Ethan, and Miles.