Chef Nick Marchesano

"It's always that chase. It's always like, hey, maybe this isn't right. I have to go find and work for somebody that does understand what is right and wrong. Because there are a lot of people that do this for a living, and not all of them are able to do it at that level. I think it's just finding those people to work with and work for, which we did a good job. We moved around a lot trying to chase that."

"Like every other decision I make, I try to take a really large swatch of things. I try a bunch of stuff until I find the one thing I really like. In my heart, I know I really like cooking, so that's what I decided to chase and go after. Once I went after it, I think it's more important to find other people who are like-minded and can push you in the right direction."

"All the most fun times of the year were the Italian family gatherings centered around food. My father in the parish men's club, my grandma cooking. Spaghetti dinner, and I think that all of those large moments where everybody was together, it was always a very holiday-esque type thing, and it was always centered around food. I had a really natural connection to food from childhood that became the foundation for everything."

"We are big on mentorship, we're big on having a learning environment. We moved here with six employees from our previous job, and the majority of them were apprentices, people that were in an apprenticeship program I was overseeing. Trying to continue that and keep that momentum rolling, where we continuously create an environment where people can learn and be pushed into situations where they're a little uncomfortable and out of their comfort zone, is important. That way, they're growing constantly. We just sent one of our sous chefs to his first ever ACF competition, and he placed bronze in his first go out of about 12 people. Little moments like that show that something is working."

"We are big on mentorship, we're big on having a learning environment. I think it's really hard to find those learning environments. We're trying our best to create the best example of internal promotion and making sure people are constantly learning. It's more important to find other people who are like-minded and can push you in the right direction. For me, true north is based on people who are doing all the things I place importance on, like taking care of the people around them and making sure the culture is evolving."

"My family is primarily Italian, and we grew up with Grandma and Dad cooking in the house a lot. My father was also involved in the parish men's club, and there was a small community of other Italians who did the crab feast and other events. A lot of people didn't cook for a living. My dad didn't cook for a living, but when it came to cooking, they all decided they were going to do this for about a week straight leading up to an event. A lot of guys who had no business being in the kitchen did this twice or three times a year to raise money for the church. It was more or less that group of people, the gathering, and everything centered around food."

"When I think back, all the most fun times of the year and the times I looked forward to were the same excitement that surrounded Christmas or any other holiday. It was more those times of the year that seemed the most exciting. My dad cooked a lot at home, my grandma cooked a lot at home, so it was a really natural thing when I thought, oh man, I have to figure out what I'm going to do. I could go work on cars because I really liked automotive stuff, or I could go cook, and I decided to go cook. The passion hasn't dimmed at all. In fact, it's getting better and more powerful with me."