Chef of the Month: Sam Gnasso of In Napoli in Fort Lee

At just 15-years-old, chef Sam Gnasso of In Napoli in Fort Lee had a kismet moment that would shape the rest of his life. One Friday night, a neighbor who was a bartender at the Clam Casino, a local restaurant from back in the day, called and said a dishwasher hadn’t shown up for his shift.

“I got to work in the kitchen and I loved it,” Gnasso says. “It was one of the most exciting things I’d seen -- food running in and out and flames and broilers and sauté pans running, and yelling chefs and screaming waiters.”

Some of Gnasso’s earliest influences include The Galloping Gourmet and Paul Prudhomme, the chef who invented blackening.

After graduating from the Culinary Institute of America in 1979, Gnasso was plucked from a CIA job fair by the owners of Lüchow’s on 14th St. in Manhattan to work at their restaurant.

They also owned American Charcuterie, an eatery in the basement of the CBS Building, New York Steak House, Charley O's in Madison Square Garden and Rockefeller Center. 

Gnasso gained valuable hands-on experience in the span of just three years. 

“I went from place to place to place,” he says. “I worked in the kitchens, the dining room, managed, helped behind the bar, the sandwich counters – did a little of everything and decided, ‘I hate the city.’”

Gnasso was ready to open his own restaurant and it was a homecoming for the chef from Fort Lee. He converted his grandmother’s four-family house at 116 Main St. into a popular place to eat.  

“Main Street’s a very busy area in a very busy town,” he says.  “(It’s) a prime location; a block from the George Washington Bridge, so we get a lot of Manhattan traffic.”

It’s the chef’s third restaurant on that site. The first was Memories, a mainstay for 15 years, and then briefly the Hollyrock Café.  He returned to his Italian roots 10 years ago when he opened In Napoli.

This is Gnasso’s signature dish that he says people flock from miles around to enjoy:

Veal Chop Voldostano

1 large veal chop with the bone attached and frenched 

Stuffing: 

• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1 cup shredded Swiss cheese
• 1/2 cup shredded ham
• 1/2 cup shredded prosciutto          
• 1 cup breadcrumbs
• Salt and pepper to taste with some fresh chopped parsley

Cut a pocket into the veal chop, and fill with the stuffing mixture. Bread the stuffed chop with standard breading—flour, egg wash and breadcrumbs. Sauté the chop on both sides in hot olive oil, then transfer to a baking dish and bake in a 350-degree oven for 20 minutes.

Top with a quick Marsala sauce made of sautéed mushrooms, a splash of Marsala, let reduce and finish with your favorite brown gravy or sauce. Pour over cooked, stuffed veal chop. If you do not want to go through all this work, come and see Sam at In Napoli and he will make it for you.

MEET THE CHEF

NAME:  Sam Gnasso

PLACE OF BIRTH:  Englewood, NJ

FIRST RESTAURANT JOB:  Dishwasher and busboy at The Squeeze Box, Ft. Lee    

MOVIES:  Pulp Fiction 

FAV GETAWAY:  “My little house on the lagoon down in Brick, love it—a little boat, a little jet ski, a little fishing in the backyard!”

MUSIC:  60s rock and roll/Beatles, Stones, Zeppelin                  

WHAT YOU DO ON YOUR DAY OFF:  Fish

YOUR JOB IF YOU WEREN’T A CHEF?  “I’d probably gravitate to this business and really nothing else.”     

FAV DISH TO COOK:  “Supa de pesce with super fresh ingredients or a
blackened Chilean sea bass.”

CAN'T GET ENOUGH OF:  Benny, his cat

WHO YOU MOST LIKE TO COOK FOR:  Family and friends

FAV COOKBOOK:  “I used to watch my grandmother cook and write all the recipes down.  I refer to that a lot and (CIA’s) Pro Chef.”

DOWN THE ROAD:  “I came up with this salad dressing – it’s our house basil vinaigrette about 15, 18 years ago and it was a big hit.  I found a company to bottle it and we’re going to have a bottle on each table.”

REWARDS OF BEING A CHEF:  “Going in the dining room and have people applaud and say how great things are.  Amazing self satisfaction and it’s instant.”