Anthony Pino
Chef - The Dining Room at Anthony David's
Grand Tasting, Saturday March 16, 2013

After graduating from Johnson & Wales University, Chef Pino immediately immersed himself in the New York food scene and found a home in the kitchen at BR Guest’s Park Avalon. His next opportunity came with the high-volume eatery The Garage in the East Village of Manhattan. It was there that Chef Pino began putting his training to work, blending Italian flavors with a mix of modern American and classic French sensibilities. He developed several menu items for the restaurant, and in his first endeavor in entrepreneurship, pitched the idea of supplying his own crab cakes to gourmet food shops. Using a friend’s kitchen, he presented the idea to Balducci’s. The next day, the famed shop placed an order for 200.

Chef Francesco’s culinary interest was sparked at an early age by his Soon, Chef Pino took a leap of faith off the beaten path and opened his own Gourmet Shoppe and home catering business in Hoboken, New Jersey. Quickly, he became the preferred supplier of prepared foods in Hoboken. Not long after, Chef Pino began offering a modest brunch on weekends. When the café became a brunch favorite, selling out virtually every weekend of the year, Chef Pino set his sights on offering more...a full service restaurant. His dream became a reality with the opening in September 2002 of The Dining Room at Anthony David’s, a restaurant that features two intimate dining areas and a wrap-around outdoor area.

In October of 2004, Chef Pino had the honor of cooking at the legendary Beard House, the center of the James Beard Foundation. This venerable culinary institution celebrates chefs from all over the country, and he was invited back for an encore date in 2009.

In November 2008, Chef Pino opened BIN 14, Hoboken’s first and only wine bar. Blending his signature Italian style with the small plates concept, the restaurant became an instant hit, and garnered an “Excellent” review from The New York Times. The success of the restaurant earned him the reprise visit at the James Beard House – cooking at the Beard House as the Executive Chef of a second restaurant is an honor very few Chefs can claim.

Since the shoppe’s opening in 1997 and the restaurant’s debut in 2002, Chef Pino has been featured in Gourmet Magazine, New Jersey Monthly and The Discovery Channel, and written about and reviewed in The New York Times, Zagat, Paper magazine, Citispots Magazine, The Star-Ledger, The Bergen Record, the Spotlight magazine of the Ledger newspapers, an online column called Table Hopping with Rosie, and broadcast appearances on HGTV, Bravo and Channel 12 News.

Chef Pino is currently considering authoring his first cookbook. He is also engaged in creating a chef association in Hoboken.