Whatcha Got Cookin'?
with Chef Don Antinore
Saturday Mornings at 8:30AM
This week (Feb 18) , Chef Don takes us to Germany and a sample of Germanic Cuisine.
You are always welcome to send your comments, questions and suggestion to Chef Don:
About Chef Don Antinore
Chef Don was born to immigrant parents of Italian heritage at St. Jerome’s Hospital in Batavia, August 1940! The family moved to LeRoy where Don learned the values of life and the work ethic of a hard working family. The Chef Don history then began to unfold.
“Funny how life, like the earth, is an almost perfect sphere - that is, it somehow makes a full circle over time. The seed was planted in Batavia many years ago (1956) when I took the dishwasher’s job at “The Caravan” restaurant owned by Cal Gaeta and John Orzak was the chef. I often sat on a plastic pail and peeled what seemed like a million pounds of shrimp between doing dishes and pots! But, I kept a close eye on the chef as he went about his tasks preparing for the evening’s business. I had a thousand questions, which Chef Orzak answered reluctantly. I was terrified of him, but intruded into his world as often as I got up the nerve.”
“Upon graduation from LeRoy High School I attended Buffalo State Teachers College. Ironically, I got a job in an up-scale Restaurant in Buffalo. Having some background, the chef there used me in many “stations” in his kitchen, and I continued to learn, because I was somehow very interested in life in the commercial kitchen.
In 1960 I transferred to Columbia University in New York City, and needing money for both college and life’s expenses, I took another job in a fine French Restaurant in Lower Manhattan. Wow, was that a trip! The chef was a tyrant, the wait staff was haughty and arrogant, so I learned to cope and assume the attitude that prevailed in that environment.”
“Some years later and feeling really unhappy in the class room I decided to take a one semester leave and become a “chef.” I remained at the Restaurant “Le Petite Chambre de Paris.” As luck would have it, the Chef abruptly retired, and I was asked to take the lead position in the kitchen and the rest has become my history.
I joined the American Culinary Federation and was soon in the thick of competitions and preparing to be certified as an Executive Chef. Slowly I ascended the stairway to be come certified as Executive Chef, certified Culinary Educator and certified Culinary Administrator…..and over time was inducted into the American Academy of Chefs, the Honor Society of American Chefs! I returned to the Rochester Area in 1973 to take on the Chef’s position at Monroe Golf Club in Pittsford, NY where I spent 18 wonderful years cooking!”
“I am thrilled to come back to Batavia, and WBTA to talk with my friends and neighbors in my hometown.”