It can take years for people to find their own career path, or maybe even lifetimes, but Chef Joe Tartamella found his passion as a child. “All the kids were playing baseball with their dads, and we were connecting through food,” Tartamella says of his father. “That’s where my passion comes from.”

Tartamella’s father was born in Sicily, and his parents owned a bakery growing up. He spent most of his childhood in the kitchen with his father, where he learned how to “love and form a relationship with food.” Last October, Tartamella joined Montclair’s MC Hotel as the executive chef.