Gordon Naccarato

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Gordon Naccarato
Gordon220Reduced Size.jpg
Gordon Naccarato in 2008
Born1954 (age 70–71) [1]
Tacoma, Washington
Education Stadium High School, University of Washington, Loyola Law School
Culinary career
Previous restaurant(s)
    • Michael's (Santa Monica), 1979–c. 1984
    • Gordon's Restaurant (Aspen), 1984–c. 1990
    • Campanile (LA)
    • Monkey Bar (LA)
    • Le Colonial (LA), c. 1999
    • Beach House (Purdy), 2002–c. 2005
    • Smoke + Cedar (Tacoma), 2014–2015
    • Classics Cafe at LeMay - America's Car Museum (Tacoma), 2012–2020
    • Hot Shop Cafe at Museum of Glass (Tacoma), 2020–2020
    • Pacific Grill (Tacoma), 2005–2020
Award(s) won
    • Food and Wine Best New Chef, 1988
    • Aspen Magazine Pantheon, 2014
Website www.pacificgrilltacoma.com

Gordon Naccarato (born 1954) is a chef and restaurateur from Tacoma, Washington.

Contents

Education and early life

Naccarato was born in Tacoma, [2] and grew up in the Tacoma area. He is the son of Stan Naccarato, a vice-president of the Tacoma Stars soccer team, and a restaurant owner. [3] [4]

He graduated from Stadium High School in 1972, [4] and then attended the University of Washington. He met his wife Rebecca, also from Washington, while living in Washington. [5] [6] After UW, he attended Loyola Law School at Loyola Marymount University for two years, then dropped out in 1977. [4] [5] [6]

Restaurant career

Naccarato started his restaurateur career as a chef working for Michael's in Santa Monica in 1979. [7] While there, he received Food & Wine Best New Chef award in 1988. [8]

Gordon Naccarato and his wife Rebecca opened Gordon's Restaurant and Rebecca's Bakery in Aspen, Colorado in 1984. [6] [9] [10]

Naccarato and his wife were granted a divorce, with Rebecca employed at a grill in Kirkland and later opening a Seattle restaurant with brother Tim Towner in 1990. [11]

Gordon moved back to Tacoma in July 2001 [2] [12] after working under Mark Peel of Campanile and in other Los Angeles restaurants, including Monkey Bar and Le Colonial, in the 1990s. [13] [14] [15] He started the Beach House restaurant in Purdy in 2002. [4]

In Tacoma, Naccarato is president of Naccarato Restaurant Group, which operates Pacific Grill. [16] He opened Smoke + Cedar restaurant in 2014. [4] [17] The Classics Cafe at America's Car Museum is owned by Naccarato. [18] His brother Steve opened Shake Shake Shake in Tacoma. [2] [19]

In September 2020, Naccarato announced the closure of the Naccarato Restaurant Group, permanently closing Pacific Grill restaurant and Pacific Grill Events & Catering, due to the ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on business. [20]

Awards and recognition

In addition to the Best New Chef 1988 award noted above, Naccarato was named by Aspen Magazine in 2014 as one of 40 individuals creating modern Aspen, a former "culinary wasteland". [21]

Other chefs have noted the influence Naccarato had on their expression. [22]

Personal life

Naccarato was profiled as a prominent openly gay businessperson by The Advocate in 2013. [16]

References

  1. ↑ "Gordon Naccarato & Pacific Grill".
  2. 1 2 3 "Starting a Successful Restaurant in Tacoma with Chef Gordon Naccarato", Move to Tacoma (podcast), March 25, 2015, Episode 004
  3. ↑ Sandra McKee (January 28, 1992), "Naccarato takes on Foreman, getting lukewarm support at best", The Baltimore Sun
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 "Chef profile: Gordon Naccarato and his new Tacoma restaurant, Smoke & Cedar", The News Tribune, Tacoma, Washington, March 7, 2014
  5. 1 2 Colman Andrews (September 27, 1987), "Where Aspen's Elite Meet", The Los Angeles Times
  6. 1 2 3 Marian Burros (March 2, 1988), "One the road a restaurant's staff finds culinary inspiration", The New York Times
  7. ↑ Angela Jossy (May 10, 2007), "Pacific Grill: Chef to the stars brings expertise to Tacoma", Northwest Military, Lakewood, Washington
  8. ↑ Frank Guanco (Apr 2, 2015), "The Food & Wine Best New Chefs Of Seattle", Seattle Refined, KOMO News
  9. ↑ Marian Burros (June 12, 1987), "Visiting chefs do the town", The New York Times
  10. ↑ Gael Greene (27 July 1987). "True West". New York Magazine. New York Media, LLC. pp. 46–48. ISSN   0028-7369.
  11. ↑ Larry Brown (September 11, 1991), "Sister-Brother Entrepreneurs", The Seattle Times
  12. ↑ "Q&A: Gordon Naccarato of Pacific Grill", The News Tribune, Tacoma, Washington, November 30, 2012
  13. ↑ "Tacoma's most sexy chef: Gordon Naccarato", The Weekly Volcano, Lakewood, Washington, March 2010 – via Northwest Military
  14. ↑ "Six degrees of Campanile chefs", The Los Angeles Times, September 29, 2012
  15. ↑ "Lettuce Cups", The Los Angeles Times, May 27, 1999
  16. 1 2 Neal Broverman (January 9, 2013), "What makes Tacoma rock: The out executive chef of one of Tacoma's best restaurants tells us why his city is indeed the gayest in the nation", The Advocate
  17. ↑ Ron Swarner (March 1, 2014), "A taste of Smoke + Cedar in Tacoma", Northwest Military, Lakewood, Washington
  18. ↑ "Classics cafe now open at LeMay Museum", The News Tribune, Tacoma, Washington, June 6, 2012, archived from the original on June 12, 2015, retrieved May 13, 2015
  19. ↑ Sue Kidd (August 29, 2014), "Brown cow, anyone? South Sound soda counters with fountain desserts of yesteryear", The News Tribune
  20. ↑ Misciagna, Vanessa (September 14, 2020), Two of Tacoma's flagship restaurants are closing because of the pandemic, owners say: Pacific Grill and The Swiss are closing for good after years as staples in the community., Seattle: KING-TV
  21. ↑ Linda Hayes; Kelly J. Hayes (2014), "Pantheon: 40 names and lives that left their mark in making Aspen the iconic ski and cultural resort town we know today", Aspen Magazine , p. 79
  22. ↑ Stewart Oksenhorn (February 28, 2008), "Syzygy: from imitation to invention", The Aspen Times
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