Carl Ruiz

A classically trained chef, he graduated from the Institute of Culinary Education in New York City. He was a restaurant owner and famous chef, best known for being a judge on several cooking competition programs on Food Network in the United States.

Ruiz worked as a sous chef at Dish, a restaurant in Clifton, New Jersey, before being hired as executive chef at Sabor in North Bergen around 2002.

He worked as a consultant before turning 30, hired by the new owner of Stephen's Cafe in North Bergen as consulting chef for the relaunching of the operation in July 2002.

Ruiz moved to New York City at the end of the first decade of the 21st century, where he took on the position of executive chef at Son Cubano, a Cuban restaurant that had a short run and was located on West 27th Street in Manhattan.

The restaurant with 80 seats featured live Cuban music and a nightclub atmosphere, with a black checkerboard floor and Louis XVI upholstered chairs.

In 2011, Ruiz had moved to a new position as executive chef at Brick Oven in Morristown, New Jersey.

Together with his wife, Marie Riccio, in 2011, Ruiz opened a delicatessen and Italian café, Marie's Italian Specialties, in the Hickory Square shopping center in Chatham Township, New Jersey. This café was memorably referred to by a food critic as "the kind of delicatessen you might have visited as a child when you visited your grandmother's house, if your grandmother lived in Hoboken or Jersey City in the 1950s".

It was because of this restaurant and its different food that Ruiz met the famous chef Guy Fieri. Fieri filmed an episode of his popular Food Network television program Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives with Marie's Italian Specialties in October 2012, which aired on January 21, 2013. Fieri would eventually feature the restaurant twice on the program, increasing the popularity of the nine-table deli, as well as Ruiz's professionalism.

Later, Ruiz was hired to be a judge on other programs starring Fieri, including Guy's Grocery Games and Guy's Ranch Kitchen.

Ruiz and Riccio later divorced, and Riccio retained Marie's Italian Specialties after the separation.

In June 2019, Ruiz opened a new restaurant specializing in authentic Cuban food, "La Cubana", in the Meatpacking District of New York City where he held the position of Executive Chef.

Through the connection with his high-profile friend Fieri, Ruiz would become a frequent guest on the Sirius XM radio program Opie and Anthony and its successor, The Opie Radio Show, alongside Sherrod Small and Vic Henley. After this program came to an end, Carl would continue to be a regular on the popular podcast Opie Radio until the time of his death.

Ruiz died in his sleep on Saturday, September 21, 2019 from a possible heart attack. He was 44 years old at the time of his death.

Following his death, La Cubana issued a press statement announcing the establishment of the Carl Ruiz Scholarship Foundation, dedicated to providing financial support to aspiring chefs attending culinary school. [13]