Meet Chef Ben
How did you get started in the food business?
I started cooking with my Grandmother Peggy when I was very young on the weekends, about 9 or 10 years old. She had no issues with child labor in her kitchen on the weekends. So I would help make pasta or eggs, quiches. She loved Italian and French food a lot. My dad when he wasn’t working was also very good for a home cook. When I was 14 or 15, my mom said I needed a job (haha) and she also recognized how interested I was with food in general so she suggested I go somewhere in the food service industry. So I got a job at a sandwich shop. When that got boring I then went to work at Ruth’s Chris Steak house, and after a while that was ok, but the Chef at the time said I should go to the CIA (Culinary Institute of America). Soon after in 2007 I started, in 2009 I graduated, and then worked at places such as, Joel Robuchon & Rick Moonen in Las Vegas, Dovetail, STK. I was at the new Pastis here in New York City before the pandemic and now I’m currently in my new home in the kitchen of Fresco by Scotto.
Who was your biggest influence in your family to encourage you to cook?
Peggy my grandmother and my father Thomas were my biggest early influences.
What was the craziest night you ever had in the kitchen?
Daily service isn’t that difficult in the places I’ve worked. It’s busy, but that’s what we signed up for. You shouldn’t run into regular issues if you plan well, so I can’t think of one bad night specifically that stands out, it’s just you have to channel a marathon mentality. Though, back when I started cooking it wasn’t uncommon to have the chef yelling at you and throwing things at people, but since it was so regular it really wasn’t considered “crazy” then, just another day. BUT, I can remember a pretty difficult block of time. The holiday season in 2017 at Rock Center Café. A regular day or two would be: breakfast with Santa for 200 people with another 150 person a la carte breakfast. After that we would go into a 500 plus cover lunch straight into a 650 cover dinner. Regularly we would end up staying late to prep a 400 person buy out, then coming in early to help do the same breakfast with Santa and breakfast a la carte, get all of the lunch party set up and done, then break that down and re-set for dinner service for another 500/600 covers.
Honestly, I’ve never had more fun in my life.
If you have nothing in the refrigerator, what is your go to meal?
My fridge doesn’t have much at any given time… right now, just some champagne and watermelon, but if that’s not laying around I love charcuterie, meats, cheeses, pickled vegetables. If that’s not around, noodles in anyway, Japanese ramen, hot pot soups, that kind of stuff. You can never go wrong with simple comfort food, soups with noodles are that for me.
What do you like to do besides cooking?
I like to paint in my free time, it’s a good way to help decompress after a long day, and really anything that involves critical thinking, imagination and my hands is fun. Crosswords don’t count.
