Brian Limitone

Brian Limitone was born in the Bronx in 1956 and moved to northern Westchester in 1970 to attend John F. Kennedy High School in Somers, NY. After graduating in 1974, the restaurant business captured his heart while working in a small health club under the tutelage of Executive Chef Jean-Jacques Gabrillarques. Within two years, Brian was in a position running a 600-seat seafood restaurant. Just before entering the Culinary Institute of America, he joined the Conte family seafood restaurant, The Fishmarket Inn, as the head chef.

After graduating from the CIA in May 1979, Brian went to work at the Sleepy Hollow Country Club as a Garde Manger. By 1985, he moved to the Field Club in Greenwich, CT, where he had the opportunity to implement a menu of upscale continental cuisine, create elaborate buffets and sculpt seasonal ice carvings. Brian moved on to a catering beach club in New Rochelle in 1988, and for four years, he cooked for mostly large wedding banquets.

As the grind of the repetitive catering life started to chisel away his enthusiasm for cooking, he took a job as a cook in an upscale authentic Italian restaurant, under the guidance of Chef Mark Straussman. Mark preached that to fully understand Italian cuisine, you have to make the journey to Italy to experience there freshness and simplicity firsthand. After taking Mark's advice, Brian traveled to Italy and returned to cooking with more focus and attention.

With a recommendation from Chef Straussman, Brian went to work at Tuscan Oven in 1994. Within 6 months, he was appointed to Executive Chef of two restaurants. In January 1995, his dream of a trip to Italy was fulfilled as he spent two months at the Italian Culinary Institute in Torino.

Brian plans on returning to Italy in March 2002 to visit Tuscan Oven's sister restaurant in Umbria.

Chef's Recipes :

Braised Lamb with Rosemary & Capers

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