"Working in my family's restaurants was the greatest training that i could have received. I started washing the floors and over time my family gave me more and more responsibility. it was exciting to work in such a fast paced environment. My family's restaurants were always busy, and being able to see how to work under the stress and pace of a busy restaurant was great."

Chef + Owner Steven Gallo of Galli.

"When I was around 18-20 years old I thought about going to Wall Street but deep down I always knew I would be back in the kitchen. "

"My inspiration is to create food that people don't want to enjoy just once a month, but food that they can enjoy five times a week."

"Our buffalo mozzarella gets flown in from Napoli every few days. Our organic Dan Marzano tomatoes also come from Naples. Our meats come from everywhere - from upstate New York to Nebraska."

"We had an a-list celebrity athlete come into the restaurant last week. He told me he had a passion for cooking so we suited him up in the chef's attire and had him cook up pasta bolognese...the funny part was he was so tall that his head kept bumping into the sautee pans hanging from the kitchen hood! "

"One thing customers don't know about what happens in the kitchen is that there are probably 3-5 people that all have to work in sync for the dish to arrive at their table."