CIA Alumni Bio
What is your favorite dish to create?
My favorite dish is a one pot meal.
Describe a day in your life at your job/business.
Coach + Teacher + Cook + Businessman = A day in my life
Tell us about a few highlights of your career.
I loved being part of two great opening teams for two great Roman-style trattorias within the Union Square Hospitality Group family—Maialino and Marta. I have also had the privilege of cooking at the James Beard House and at our company’s investor retreat in Pebble Beach, which turned into playing golf a Pebble Beach. Check that box!
Do you have any advice for future or current CIA students?
Always surround yourself with great people and cook from the heart.
What’s your best memory at the CIA?
I loved learning and developing relationships with such a culturally diverse, however very like-minded group of people, many of whom I still consider friends today.
Chef Joe Tarasco majored in culinary arts at The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park. He is the director of operations as Marta, Caffe Marchio, Vini e Fruitti, and Maialino in New York City.