Neil, Recipe Developer

Neil's passion for food and cooking began at an early age. Some of his fondest memories are standing on crates washing dishes at his family's restaurant.

His love for cooking led him to open his own restaurant at 22. He then moved to the Twin Cities and worked in fine dining before venturing to Brooklyn, where he ran a 35-seat farm-to-table restaurant. He immersed himself in recipe writing while he was in New York. “We worked with three different farms and created menus around what was available each week. We were constantly writing new recipes,” he says. “At this point, I’ve written what feels like thousands of recipes.”

Today, as a Chef/Recipe Author, he loves translating his knowledge into recipes for home cooks. “I’m always asking myself, ‘How can I take my skills and ideas and adapt them for home cooks?’”

Because he’s never content to rest on what he already knows, he keeps a close eye on cooking trends and tries out a lot of new things. At the same time, he draws inspiration from his roots — when it comes to his time in the kitchen, it’s a full-circle moment. “I got really into molecular gastronomy a few years ago, but I also love trying to remember the techniques my grandma used in the kitchen,” he says. “I’m Italian, and sometimes I just want to make bread and pasta and comfort food. I want to feel good when I eat.”