Gordon Naccarato

Gordon Naccarato

Gordon Naccarato in 2008
Born Tacoma, Washington
Education Stadium High School, University of Washington, Loyola Law School
Home town Tacoma, Washington
Website www.pacificgrilltacoma.com

Culinary career

Gordon Naccarato is an award winning chef and restaurateur from Tacoma, Washington.

Education and early life

Naccarato was born in Tacoma,[1] and grew up in the Tacoma area. He is the son of Stan Naccarato, a vice-president of the Tacoma Stars soccer team, and a restaurant owner.[2][3]

He graduated from Stadium High School in 1972,[3] and then attended the University of Washington. He met his wife Rebecca, also from Washington, while living in Washington.[4][5] After UW, he attended Loyola Law School at Loyola Marymount University for two years, then dropped out in 1977.[3][4][5]

Restaurant career

Naccarato started working for Michael's in Santa Monica in 1979.[6] While there, he received Food & Wine Best New Chef award in 1988.[7]

Gordon Naccarato and his wife Rebecca Naccarato opened Gordon's Restaurant and Rebecca's Bakery in Aspen, Colorado in 1984.[5][8][9]

Naccarato and his wife were divorced; she worked at a grill in Kirkland and opened a Seattle restaurant with brother Tim Towner in 1990;[10] and he moved back to Tacoma in July 2001,[1][11] after working in various places including Campanile, Monkey Bar and Le Colonial in Los Angeles in the 1990s.[12][13][14] He started the Beach House restaurant in Purdy in 2002.[3]

In Tacoma, Naccarato is president of Naccarato Restaurant Group, which operates Pacific Grill.[15] He opened Smoke + Cedar restaurant in 2014.[3][16] The Classics Cafe at America's Car Museum is owned by Naccarato.[17] His brother Steve opened Shake Shake Shake in Tacoma.[1][18]

Awards and recognition

In addition to the Best New Chef 1988 award noted above, Naccarato was named by Aspen Magazine in 2014 as one of 40 individuals creating modern Aspen, a former "culinary wasteland".[19]

Other chefs have noted the influence Naccarato had on their expression.[20]

Personal life

Naccarato was profiled as a prominent openly gay businessperson by The Advocate in 2013.[15]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Starting a Successful Restaurant in Tacoma with Chef Gordon Naccarato", Move to Tacoma (podcast), March 25, 2015, Episode 004
  2. ↑ Sandra McKee (January 28, 1992), "Naccarato takes on Foreman, getting lukewarm support at best", The Baltimore Sun
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "Chef profile: Gordon Naccarato and his new Tacoma restaurant, Smoke & Cedar", The News Tribune, Tacoma, Washington, March 7, 2014
  4. 1 2 Colman Andrews (September 27, 1987), "Where Aspen's Elite Meet", The Los Angeles Times
  5. 1 2 3 Marian Burros (March 2, 1988), "One the road a restaurant's staff finds culinary inspiration", The New York Times
  6. ↑ Angela Jossy (May 10, 2007), "Pacific Grill: Chef to the stars brings expertise to Tacoma", Northwest Military, Lakewood, Washington
  7. ↑ Frank Guanco (Apr 2, 2015), "The Food & Wine Best New Chefs Of Seattle", Seattle Refined, KOMO News
  8. ↑ Marian Burros (June 12, 1987), "Visiting chefs do the town", The New York Times
  9. ↑ Gael Greene (27 July 1987). True West. New York Magazine. New York Media, LLC. pp. 46–48. ISSN 0028-7369.
  10. ↑ Larry Brown (September 11, 1991), "Sister-Brother Entrepreneurs", The Seattle Times
  11. ↑ "Q&A: Gordon Naccarato of Pacific Grill", The News Tribune, Tacoma, Washington, November 30, 2012
  12. ↑ "Tacoma's most sexy chef: Gordon Naccarato", The Weekly Volcano, Lakewood, Washington, March 2010 – via Northwest Military
  13. ↑ "Six degrees of Campanile chefs", The Los Angeles Times, September 29, 2012
  14. ↑ "Lettuce Cups", The Los Angeles Times, May 27, 1999
  15. 1 2 Neal Broverman (January 9, 2013), "What makes Tacoma rock: The out executive chef of one of Tacoma's best restaurants tells us why his city is indeed the gayest in the nation", The Advocate
  16. ↑ Ron Swarner (March 1, 2014), "A taste of Smoke + Cedar in Tacoma", Northwest Military, Lakewood, Washington
  17. ↑ "Classics cafe now open at LeMay Museum", The News Tribune, Tacoma, Washington, June 6, 2012
  18. ↑ Sue Kidd (August 29, 2014), "Brown cow, anyone? South Sound soda counters with fountain desserts of yesteryear", The News Tribune
  19. ↑ Linda Hayes; Kelly J. Hayes (2014), "Pantheon: 40 names and lives that left their mark in making Aspen the iconic ski and cultural resort town we know today", Aspen Magazine, p. 79
  20. ↑ Stewart Oksenhorn (February 28, 2008), "Syzygy: from imitation to invention", The Aspen Times
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/27/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.