Katie Lee Biegel. Getty Images/Bryan Bedder
Food plays an important role in Katie Lee Biegel’s work, from cohosting Food Network’s The Kitchen to hosting her podcast, “All On the Table.” But food has also been a critical part of many important moments in the chef’s personal life, from childhood to today.
Katie Lee, 43, still recalls exactly what she ordered on her first date with her husband, Ryan Biegel, and the meal the couple ate when they got engaged in 2018.
“We met when I was filming Beach Bites and he was my producer, so we had a secret romance,” she reveals exclusively in her My Life in Food feature in the latest issue of Us Weekly, on newsstands now. “We went on our first date in Puerto Rico to this little restaurant that was kind of a hole in the wall. And we had whole fried fish that was so delicious. We still talk about it. So a whole fish is always one of our special meals together. If we see it on a menu, we get it.”
Soon enough, Ryan popped the question during a romantic getaway in Paris, and the meal on their table was a Pommes Bearnaise from Chez l’Ami Louis. The duo tied the knot in September 2018, and welcomed daughter Iris two years later.
While she is a chef, a key aspect of the culinary experience for Katie Lee is the spirits — and she even has her own organic wine company, Kind of Wild, to keep good spirits flowing.
“To me, food and wine is like the hip bone connected to the leg bone,” the Kitchen host told Us at an event celebrating the launch of Purvi Padia’s Revelry Holiday Collection. “I love comfort food. And I kind of put wine in that category. And to be truly comforted by your food or your wine, you need to know where it comes from, how it was raised, how it got to your plate or glass and how you’re going to leave the environment for the future as well.”
Keep scrolling for more fun food-filled stories from Katie Lee:
What special dinner would your parents make for you on your birthday?
I love that question. I ask that on my podcast, actually. I love knowing people’s birthday meals when they were kids. When I was a kid I always wanted my grandma to make pot roast and mashed potatoes on my birthday. That was my favorite. And her homemade rolls.
Do you remember what you ordered on your first date with your partner?
We met when I was filming Beach Bites and he was my producer, so we had a secret romance. And we went on our first date in Puerto Rico to this little restaurant that was kind of a hole in the wall. And we had whole fried fish that was so delicious. We still talk about it. So a whole fish is always one of our special meals together. If we see it on a menu, we get it.
Do you have a snack that you’re obsessed with?
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I’m obsessed with Top Seedz crackers dipped in Bitchin’ sauce. It’s so good. I can’t stop. They have them at Whole Foods and you can also order them online, but I get, like, several at a time because I go through them so quickly. They’re really good.
What would your last meal on Earth be?
I love — it’s actually the restaurant we went to when we got engaged in Paris — Chez l’Ami Louis. Their roast chicken and their potatoes — Pommes Bearnaise — great crispy potato cake with garlic and parsley. And that, to me, is the ultimate comfort meal.
Is there a food you didn’t like as a kid that you do now?
Tomatoes! When I was a kid, if there was a tomato seed on a lettuce leaf, the whole salad had to get thrown out. I could not be anywhere near a tomato. Now, I eat them like crazy.