Gordon and Grub

I’m a little late with this, but it’s still awesome. A few years ago I was a student at Ital.cook, it’s a Slow Food sponsored school based in the city of Jesi in the Le Marche region of Italy.  To put this in perspective, when I applied for my student visa for Italy, the nice man behind the counter at the Italian consulate declared that I was too old to be a student. I had to show him all the school papers before he would believe me.
Gordon Finn was a fellow classmate, a young, eager, talented chef, recent CIA graduate and just raring to go. We had a large group of Japanese classmates, who either spoke very little English or bad Italian like the rest of us. Gordon decided that he would learn Japanese and at first he tormented us by constantly reading aloud an English-Japanese dictionary, then his enthusiasm took over and we all started picking up some Japanese. He would amaze me during wine classes with his palate, this guy ‘remembers’ flavors, and that’s a gift. Gordon and his friend Roz graduated from Ital.cook and then went on to stage at two restaurants in Italy. They were serious and determined to make good food and restaurants their life.

Fast forward to today, Gordon is working his way up the ladder at Alto in NYC, and Grub Street decided to profile him. Personally, I agree, Gordon Finn is someone to watch (and if you know his history of practical joking, then you also know you need to watch out for him!). Bravo Gordon!

p.s. and thanks to  Dario for this  very special, all Gordon  photo.