Our Chef
Totonno's in New York, a century-old institution, felt like my birthright. On days off from The Nomad, I'd go there, ordering a cheese pizza and a Coke in a glass bottle. Imagine savoring food in the very place Brooklyn-style pizza was created, daydreaming of Deniro and Yankee legends. I’d glance out, an hour wait still stretched outside, and "Cookies" would be yelling at someone trying to snap her photo.
My culinary journey began at Root Hill Cafe with my brother, my greatest mentor. The kitchen's intense details and chaos utterly obsessed me. Soon after, I traveled to Madalonni, Italy, apprenticing under Salvatore Cenammo for two years. There, I mastered old-world Neapolitan cuisine, even sourcing San Marzano tomatoes from his personal plot. After Italy, I honed my skills with incredible chefs like Adam Kopels and Jamal Kent, but pizza always remained my true love. My deep belief in its story drove me to earn an Anthropology degree, studying ancient spice routes and food migration. I truly believe pizza, especially the Margherita, is the ultimate definition of "fusion"—buffaloes from Arabs, New World tomatoes, wheat from Mesopotamia, and basil from India, all converging through trade and colonization in Southern Italy.
