Professional Chef
Michael Izzard
Greenville, SC
Michael Izzard was born in the Philippines and raised in Arizona before spending his early twenties living and traveling between Switzerland and Morocco. He began his professional culinary career in San Francisco, where his cooking style took shape through more than a decade working at the two- and three-Michelin-star level in Northern California. Michael’s cuisine is a distillation of the food he grew up eating, expressed through refined techniques learned in some of the country’s most exacting kitchens. His work balances precision with instinct, tradition with restraint. Now based in Greenville, South Carolina, Michael is the founder of LolaCeli and Muni Muni, two distinct culinary concepts rooted in Filipino identity. LolaCeli is an elevated, multi-course dining experience that showcases his Michelin-trained technique and refined approach to flavor, while Muni Muni is intentionally and unapologetically Filipino. Muni Muni centers around classic ihawan, or Filipino grilled fare, cooked over live coals and inspired by the street-side grills found throughout Southeast Asia.
