By Shelley Levitt

These celebrity chefs sizzle, both in the kitchen and in other culinary conquests

You've seen them on The Early Show, read their cookbooks and perhaps even dined at their restaurants. Now, here's a closer look at seven of today's most acclaimed celebrity chefs.

Beginnings: At 10 years old, Jersey-born Colicchio worked at the open-air market where his uncle sold vegetables. Skipping formal training, he taught himself to cook by working his way through the French manuals of legendary chef Jacques Pepin.

Philosophy: "If you try to learn cooking through recipes, you'll just end up with a collection of recipes. The way to become a cook is to master techniques like braising, roasting and sautéing."

Innovation: Colicchio introduced haute cuisine without haughtiness by preparing unfussy dishes with pristine ingredients.

Turning Point: Colicchio opened New York's acclaimed Gramercy Tavern with partner Danny Meyer in 1994.

Signature Dish: Braised pork cheeks

Celebrity Fans: Katie Holmes, Jessica Alba, Hilary Swank, Warren Beatty

Empire: Colicchio has staked his claim to 20 Craft, Craftsteak, Craftbar and 'wichcraft restaurants. He also has a starring role as head judge on the Bravo Network's reality series Top Chef, as well as two cookbooks, including Think Like a Chef (Clarkson Potter).

Next Venture: A sandwich cookbook, inspired by the 'wichcraft restaurants

Beginnings: Born in Amarillo, Texas, English realized he wanted to be a chef when he was 9 years old and his mother bought him an ice-cream maker.

Philosophy: "I like to use common ingredients in uncommon ways."

Innovation: Layering rustic, Mediterranean flavors

Turning Point: English opened the first 50-seat Olives, in Charleston, Mass. Restaurants in New York; Las Vegas; Washington, D.C.; Aspen; and Biloxi, Miss., followed.

Signature Dish: Tortelli of butternut squash with brown butter

Celebrity Fans: Avril Lavigne, Eva Longoria, Ben Affleck, Tom Brady

Empire: English has 18 restaurants, including one on the luxury liner Queen Mary 2; three cookbooks, including The Olives Dessert Table (Simon & Schuster); and a product line sold on HSN.

Next Venture: A 2008 holiday cookbook and restaurants at New York and Las Vegas airports

Beginnings: A high school drop-out, Flay took a job working in the pantry, and then as a cook, at Joe Allen's, a celebrated restaurant in New York's theater district.

Philosophy: "Create food that is delicious and creative, while embracing great colors and textures."

Innovation: Using indigenous Southwestern ingredients, such as chilies, blue and yellow corn and tomatillos, accented with layers of spices and herbs

Turning Point: Flay opened his first restaurant, Mesa Grill, in New York in 1991.

Signature Dish: Chili-rubbed short ribs with creamy polenta and Cojita cheese

Celebrity Fans: Stephanie March (his wife), Bette Midler, Sugar Ray Leonard, Gene Simmons

Empire: Flay can boast five restaurants, six cookbooks, three TV shows—Throwdown With Bobby Flay, Boy Meets Grill and Iron Chef America—and a product line of sauces and rubs.

Next Venture: His seventh cookbook, Bobby Flay's Grill It! (Clarkson Potter) hit bookshelves in May.

Beginnings: Born in Saitama, Japan, Matsuhisa took a live-in job at a Tokyo sushi restaurant after graduating from high school.

Philosophy: "Food is imbued with the feelings, personality and kokoro, or heart, of the cook."

Innovation: Combining Japanese flavors with South American spices and salsas in dishes such as yellowtail sashimi with sliced jalapeños

Turning Point: The chef opened Matsuhisa in Beverly Hills, which became a favorite of Hollywood stars, including his future business partner, Robert De Niro.

Signature Dish: Black cod in miso sauce

Celebrity Fans: Lindsay Lohan, Hugh Grant, Clint Eastwood, Mary-Kate Olsen, Al Pacino

Empire: Matsuhisa has 21 restaurants around the world; four cook-books, including Nobu West (Andrews McMeel); Nobu dinnerware, beer and sake; and cameo roles in several movies, including Austin Powers in Goldmember.

Next Venture: The chef will open a new Nobu Los Angeles in the space that housed the celebrated L'Orangerie restaurant.

Beginnings: Palmer developed his passion for farm-fresh food while working in his family's vegetable garden in upstate New York.

Philosophy: "At this point in my career, I find that food is about purity. How you treat the ingredients should be the focus of the cuisine."

Innovation: Creating "progressive American cuisine," a robust style that reinterprets classic French cooking using American artisanal products, intense flavors and unexpected combinations

Turning Point: Palmer opened his first restaurant, Aureole, off Manhattan's Madison Avenue, in 1988.

Signature Dish: Butter-poached Maine lobster with fresh pasta

Celebrity Fans: Pierce Brosnan, Sheryl Crow and countless carnivorous CBS celebs

Empire: Palmer's résumé includes 10 restaurants; Hotel Healdsburg in northern California's wine country; a Dallas wine shop; and four cookbooks, including Charlie Palmer's Practical Guide to the New American Kitchen (Melcher Media).

Next Venture: A second retail wine shop, outside Los Angeles, and the Charlie Palmer Hotel, a boutique property in downtown Las Vegas, are set to break ground in 2009.

Beginnings: The Austrian-born Puck was inspired by his mother, a hotel chef. He began his formal culinary training at 14, sharpening his skills while working at Maxim's in Paris.

Philosophy: "Eat, love and live well."

Innovation: Demonstrating, with dishes like designer pizza, that fine dining can be fun

Turning Point: Puck opened Spago, a 90-seat pizza restaurant, on West Hollywood's Sunset Strip in 1982.

Signature Dish: Pizza with smoked salmon and caviar

Celebrity Fans: Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes, David and Victoria Beckham, Jennifer Aniston, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie

Empire: Puck is the patriarch of more than 100 restaurants, cafes and Wolfgang Puck Express fast-food eateries; an extensive catering business that includes a regular gig feeding stars at the post-Oscars Governor's Ball; and six cookbooks, including Wolfgang Puck Makes It Easy (Rutledge Hall Press).

Next Venture: Puck will implement his commitment to cruelty-free cooking at all Wolfgang Puck locations by sourcing organic ingredients, purchasing only humanely raised meat and poultry and sustainable seafood, and replacing plastic to-go bags with recycled paper.

Beginnings: Growing up in the French countryside, Tourondel spent hours alongside his grandmother, scooping snails out of their shells, baking cakes and learning how to prepare cocottes of braised rabbit.

Philosophy: "I believe in using the best products and keeping it simple."

Innovation: Merging classic French technique with American comfort food

Turning Point: In 1999, the restaurant Cello—the first kitchen Tourondel ran—received a three-star review from the New York Times.

Signature Dish: Double-cut sirloin with tomato and garlic confit sauce

Celebrity Fans: Beyoncé, Jay-Z, Jack Nicholson, Tom Hanks, Sean Connery

Empire: There are a dozen BLT restaurants across the United States and Puerto Rico, and Tourondel has authored two cookbooks, including Bistro Laurent Tourondel (Wiley).

Next Venture: More BLTs are slated for Las Vegas; Dallas; Washington, D.C.; Puerto Rico; and New York.