Ice sculpture, teaching, fine food, motorcycles, cars ... GTCC culinary instructor Chef Al Romano is up to the task

“I tell students they have to find their niche in culinary," said Chef Al Romano, "whether it be baking, garde manger, wine, sales, marketing. There are so many different facets. Mine was ice at the time. A lot of chefs don’t do ice. It was something different, my niche.”

Chef Al Romano, long-time culinary instructor at GTCC, has tackled many challenges in his life. During high school, he worked as a dishwasher at a restaurant. By the time he finished community college, the restaurant's owner had full faith in his abilities to perform any task needed in the front or back of the house.

He then attended and graduated from the Culinary Institute of America (CIA), which led him to the Olympics, to become a corporate chef for Citibank, to start an ice-carving business, and to feed the likes of Bob Hope, Yogi Berra, and Oprah Winfrey.

Romano has led training at the Pentagon and Homeland Security in Washington, D.C., restored a 1975 Corvette, had a cameo in a Hollywood movie, retained his lifelong love of motorcycles, and more. Find out more about his interesting life.

This feature was originally published at Cuvée.

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