Tyler Florence

About
Tyler Florence (born Kevin Tyler Florence on March 3, 1971) is a chef and television host of several Food Network shows. He graduated from the College of Culinary Arts at the Charleston, South Carolina campus of Johnson & Wales University in 1991. He was later given an honorary doctorate from the university for his culinary success.

Television
Florence hosted Food 911 and How to Boil Water, and currently hosts Tyler's Ultimate and The Great Food Truck Race on the Food Network. He was featured on the ABC TV show Shaq's Big Challenge, which aired on July 17, 2007 and Momma's Boys, a reality show produced by Ryan Seacrest. He has also appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show in a nationwide Sandwich Showdown. He has appeared a number of times on The Today Show, and was featured on The View in 2008. Florence serves on the board of the national nonprofit Afterschool Alliance, an organization that works to promote and to support quality after-school programs. In 2007, Florence and fellow chef Joey Altman co-hosted a celebrity chef cook-off to benefit Afterschool Alliance. In 2008, Florence was named the Dean of Culinary Education at COPIA: The American Center for Wine, Food and the Arts.

Restaurants
Florence at one time considered opening a restaurant in New York City. In 2008, he developed a plan to open Bar Florence, in the Hotel Vertigo in San Francisco, California. In 2009 he opened a small chain of luxury kitchen supply stores in Northern California and developed three new restaurant concepts for the area: Wayfare Tavern in downtown San Francisco (formerly, Rubicon restaurant); Rotisserie & Wine, a fast food restaurant in downtown Napa, California; and with Sammy Hagar, El Paseo in downtown Mill Valley, California, an American tavern featuring ingredients only from Marin County.

Personal life
With his wife Tolan Clark, Florence has a son Hayden, (b. 2007), and a daughter Dorothy Tyler (b. 2008). Florence also has a son, Miles (b. 1996), from his previous wife, Kristi Lear. In 2007 The couple moved from New York City to Mill Valley, north of San Francisco where in July 2008 Florence opened an eponymously-named retail kitchen store.

Books
Family Meal, 2010 Dinner at My Place, 2008 Stirring the Pot, 2008 Tyler's Ultimate: Brilliant Simple Food to Make Any Time, 2006 Eat This Book: Cooking With Global Fresh Flavors, 2005 Real Kitchen, 2003