John Labarbera

Background

About John Labarbera

My interest in food started when I was 14 years old. I lived in Toronto, Ontario for 3 years and the diversity of the city allowed me to sample various international cuisines such as Indian,Chinese,Korean, Greek and of course Canadian this quickly formed a love and admiration that was fundamental in developing my palette and I knew I wanted to become a chef. After moving back to my hometown of Buffalo, NY at age 17 I quickly got a job at a local restaurant as a dishwasher just to get a taste of the hospitality industry it was long hard work lots of manual labor and I was often looked down on for my position. I spent 2.5 years washing dishes and helping with “prep” before I parted ways with that establishment. I ingrained in myself that I would never look down on anyone no matter there position in the workplace everyone is a team member and we are only as strong as our weakest link. Moving forward I got my first “cooking” job after at the cafe within Buffalos fine art museum the Al-Bright Knox where I worked pantry station and also attended culinary school. I very quickly moved up the ranks there and with a years time I was the second man in the kitchen “sous chef” for me this was a great accomplishment at the time but after attaining years of experience I realized it was my boss giving me a confidence boost and the small scale of the operation didn’t lead to many other choices this humbled me a lot and I dove head first into trying to learn as much as possible and lead me to develop a thirst for knowledge and development I spent 2 years at the art gallery then decided to set off on my own working at some the cities premiere “Brewpubs” and Local Restaurants but something always felt amiss and that’s when I heard about “seasonal work” from one of bosses I had worked under previously and they recommended me to the Devon Yacht Club in Amagansett, New York which is a prestigious suburb on Long Island eagled between the “Hamptons” here I got a taste of working and a country club environment and the professionalism and level of food production was so far ahead of anything I was doing in Buffalo at the time so I continued down the road of working seasonally at country clubs and landed at the 6th ranked country club in the country Johns Island Club where I honed my abilities and received priceless mentorship that developed me into the chef I had envisioned for so many years. I have since then brought that level of standards and food execution and professionalism to every club I have worked at since my departure from J.I.C.