Kitchen confidential: My assignment is to go behind the scenes with Chef John Piombo, following him for a couple hours while he prepares for a busy night inside Nonna’s at The Homestead. Truthfully, to make that happen, I would have to tether myself to one of his black chef Crocs, given that he is darting between the front of the house—where gleaming silverware and stoneware plates catch the reflection of fire crackling in the two-sided stone fireplace—and the back of the house where his staff is preparing the line for a busy night.

Since keeping up with Chef isn’t a possibility, I’ve installed myself in a corner of Nonna’s kitchen to take in the scene. Stainless steel countertops glisten below fleets of ladles and tongs. Sauté pans blackened from years of use hang over two massive gas stoves outfitted with 12 burners.