Tom Fosnot Chef

Like many people in the restaurant world, I never really imagined that the jobs I had in restaurants during high school in my home town of Ossining, NY (TGI Fridays and scooping ice cream at Ben and Jerry’s), and then those that followed during college on Nantucket (Easy Street Lobster House, Sankaty Country Club, Sconset Café), would serve as much more than ways to pay for movies on the weekend and college tuition. But, after graduating from Washington and Lee University with a degree in Environmental Studies-Geology and spending the better part of a year at Olympic National Park over the winter living alone in the National Park Housing (well, there was the spotted owl expert there too but most of the time he/she was in the woods observing the spotted owl), I entertained myself by making elaborate meals and dining alone. I would periodically go into Port Townsend or Seattle and shop at their farmer’s markets, then spend the evening concocting something from what I found in the market. I was pretty lonely, but I discovered that I loved cooking.

So at the end of my stint, rather than apply for another job with the Park Service, I returned to Nantucket and worked with the incredibly talented owners of the Sconset Café, Rolf and Cindy Nelson. It wasn’t long before I made the decision to return to school. I graduated from the Culinary Institute of America in 1999. I did my externship under Ken Oringer at Clio and then returned later to work the line. The next kitchen in my culinary education was at Rialto under Jody Adams where I worked my way up from Garde Manger to Executive Sous Chef over four years. The Sapphire Restaurant Group hired me to take over the Executive Chef position at blu in 2005.

In February, 2007, I joined Michela, Gary and Karen to open Rocca Kitchen & Bar. My first task was to travel to Italy, take in all its flavors and come back and put together a menu fit for a Ligurian. When I hear from a guest that my trofie with pesto tastes just like what they had in Genoa, I can’t keep myself from grinning.

I know that rock trumps paper, but for me, herbs ended up trumping rock.