All About Alex Guarnaschelli's Daughter Ava Clark

Chef Alex Guarnaschelli shares her daughter Ava with her ex-husband Brandon Clark

Alex Guarnaschelli's daughter, Ava Clark, is following in her mother's culinary footsteps.

The Alex’s Day Off host welcomed her daughter in 2007 with her ex-husband, lawyer Brandon Clark. Guarnaschelli has opened up about the pressures of being a single mom — particularly when it comes to her child's well-being.

"Ava was running a really high fever and she was little," Guarnaschelli told E! News in 2020. "I was just standing in my apartment and I'm like ... 'How do I win here? How can I be a better parent?' "

From an early age, Guarnaschelli wanted to ensure she was teaching Ava strong values and steering her in the right direction. She did this in a creative way, using her favorite childhood movies — Beauty and the Beast, Ratatouille and The Wizard of Oz — as metaphors.

"I found Beauty & the Beast very helpful, like, what is beauty on the inside? On the outside? What does that look like?" Guarnaschelli said. "For cooking and food, Ratatouille and the idea that if you work hard at something and you practice, even if you are a rat or you don't look the part, you can do anything."

The celebrity chef said looking for these lessons helped her be present with Ava. "I find the good in every day with her. I look for it," she explained.

Here’s everything to know about Alex Guarnaschelli's daughter, Ava Clark.

She was born in 2007

Guarnaschelli and her ex-husband Clark welcomed Ava on July 12, 2007.

In 2023, to celebrate Ava’s 16th birthday, Guarnaschelli shared a sweet Instagram tribute to her daughter with a throwback photo. In the image, Ava leans against a colorful post with a sign that says “art work in progress.”

“I took this picture 6-7 years ago in Venice Beach. You really are 'art work in progress', and I've loved watching every single day as you grow up," the Food Network host wrote. "You simply make my life worth it, kid."

She added, “Today you turn 16 and continue to astound me every day. Happy birthday Ava.”

She loves to cook

Ava has followed in her mom’s footsteps from a young age and enjoys working in the kitchen.

"She's a really, really, fundamentally good cook. And she got there really on her own," Guarnaschelli told E! News of Ava in 2020. "Like, people will say to me, 'How do I get my kids to cook?' And I'm just like, 'If you're just in there doing it and they watch you, they're going to engage in it.' "

Whether Ava will have a career in the culinary world is still being determined. “She changes professions once a month these days,” Guarnaschelli quipped.

She and her mom released a cookbook

In 2023, Ava and her mom released their first co-authored cookbook, Cook It Up. Guarnaschelli announced the book in March of that year with an Instagram post, sharing the front cover design.

“My daughter @avasimclark is 15 and even though she thinks I'm kinda embarrassing sometimes, she agreed to do a cookbook with me !!!!!” she wrote in the caption.

In October 2023, Ava and Guarnaschelli shared a recipe for a shallot garlic bread with “great texture” and “extra flavor" from their cookbook.

“Shallots are naturally sweet, so they balance the bitterness of the garlic beautifully," Clark said. "Plus, the shallot rounds add great texture."

She has a dog

Ava adopted a mini Australian Shepherd in March 2022 — Guarnaschelli revealed in an Instagram post that her daughter named the pup León Duval Le Chiffre Guarnaschelli.

“Such a good boy,” the Iron Chef America alum wrote in the caption. “We are not worthy.”

León also has his own Instagram account with nearly 14,000 followers.

“My name is León aka "DELELE" (duh-le-Le),” the account biography reads. “Welcome to life through the eyes of me.”

Her mom’s packed lunches helped the back-to-school blues

When Ava was younger, transitioning from summer vacation to the school year was sometimes difficult, but her mom's kitchen expertise helped ease her back in.

“My daughter currently seems to waver between wanting to see her friends again and never wanting to see another math equation as long as she lives,” Guarnaschelli told PEOPLE in 2015. “I get it — I remember that pit in my stomach as I walked to school that first day.”

To make the school day a little brighter, she cooked up some delicious meals to fuel her daughter, including homemade pizza pockets.

“I used whole-wheat pita bread as the base for a pizza, stuffing the pocket with delicious mozzarella cheese and tomato sauce,” she said. “Those two lunches went well."

She is proud of her mom

Ava is her mom’s biggest fan and celebrates everything she has achieved throughout her career. At the 2023 South Beach Wine & Food Festival, the teenager paid tribute to her mom in a heartfelt speech.

“We gather here tonight to celebrate who people see as Alex, who I really just see as mom,” she said. “I've always been proud of my mom because deep down I know that my mom is such a dedicated person to everything she does, whether it's shucking a hundred oysters or writing an essay on the French Revolution."

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