Fishtales Magazine: A Sailfish Point Publication - Magazine - Page 17
A CONVERSATION WITH
CHEF
RON
Sailfish Point's Director of Culinary on the kids'
table in Long Island, a postcard that changed
everything, nearly four decades alongside
Jean-Georges, and why teaching is the work
that matters most now.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Chef Ron Gallo has spent nearly four decades in
professional kitchens, most of them alongside
Jean-Georges Vongerichten in New York City. He
started as a dishwasher on Staten Island as a teenager, talked his way into La Côte Basque straight out
of culinary school in 1985, and went on to earn two
Michelin stars as executive chef of JoJo. This year, he
joined Sailfish Point as Director of Culinary, drawn
by the chance to do the work he says matters most
to him now: teaching. We sat down with him to talk
about family meals on Long Island, the postcard that
opened his first kitchen door, the lessons he carries
from Jean-Georges, and what he hopes to build here.
Heather Tinney: Was there a specific moment when
you realized you wanted to become a chef?
Chef Ron Gallo: It was a long path, but I remember
being a kid—I come from a big Italian family—and
going to my grandparents’ house on Long Island
for the major holidays. Thanksgiving, Christmas,
Fourth of July. I’d sit at the kids’ table and look over
at the adults’ table and realize how much fun they
were having. They were laughing, telling stories,
eating and drinking. I knew very early on, even then
from that stage, that food connected people. I didn’t
fully understand what it meant—it took years to put
two and two together—but something special that I
wanted to be a part of.
