Growing up in Naples, Italy, Francesco Russo had a passion for food at an early age. He would watch as his family made meals, such as gnocchi, from scratch. “My mother used to make the sauce, and my father made the gnocchi,” he said.

Russo and his family left Italy and moved to New York when he was 9 years old. At age 16 he started working in restaurants in Little Italy in Lower Manhattan. This ignited his 43-year-long career as a chef and afforded him opportunities such as cooking for President Ronald Reagan. “I worked with a lot of great chefs,” Russo said. “That’s where I got a lot of my expertise and inspiration.”