Sara’s Weeknight Meals: Season 06

Episode 609: Best of Summer

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Recipes

Giuseppe Fanelli is currently the chef at Tre Dici North, 578 Anderson Hill Road in Purchase, New York. – 914-997-4113

Tre Dici North won Best of Westchester in 2016.

Giuseppe Fanelli’s versatility is no surprise, given his extensive background at the Big Apple’s most celebrated Italian restaurants. He started in high school, waiting tables at Italian restaurants near his home in New York State. After graduating from the New York State Sullivan County College Culinary School, Fanelli took a job aboard the Delta Queen, on the Mississippi River. He moved to Manhattan for the restaurant F.illi Ponte, where he worked his way up to executive chef. Fanelli’s next posts were as sous-chef to Lidia Bastianich at Felidia for two years, and as chef de partie at Union Pacific under Rocco DiSpirito. Fanelli was tapped by Frank Pellegrino, Sr. and Jr., to open their new restaurant, Baldoria, and while waiting for the restaurant to be built, he worked at the ultra-exclusive, über-legendary Rao’s. There he mastered Rao standards like lemon chicken and frutti di mare, which made it onto the Baldoria menu. New York magazine’s Hal Rubenstein had high praise for the new venture. Comparing it to Rao’s, he wrote, “Baldoria is bigger, roomier, friendlier…and to top it off, you’re going to wind up better fed,” thanks to Fanelli’s culinary prowess. Fanelli arrived at Scopa after a stint at Crispo, where he worked under the restaurant’s namesake, Frank Crispo. Finally, he became the chef at a wonderful little restaurant called Tre Dici on 26th street which is where Sara found him and fell in love with his food. That restaurant closed a few years ago but Giuseppe took the concept and the menu with him to Westchester.

Hung Huynh is a Vietnamese-American chef, and in 2007 was the winner of the third season of Top Chef, the reality cooking competition show on Bravo. He was the Executive Chef at Catch, The General, and Catch Miami and is soon to embark on a new venture, a restaurant of his own.

Born in Vietnam, Huynh was raised in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, and began his culinary training as a young boy in his immigrant parents’ Vietnamese restaurant. He has a degree from the Culinary Institute of America and has cooked at restaurants including Per Se and Gilt in NYC, and at the time of season three Top Chef‘s airing, he was the executive sous chef at the Guy Savoy restaurant in Las Vegas.

Huynh also served as a guest judge on episode 12 of season four, and on the quickfire challenge of episode 8 of season five, of Top Chef. Huynh аppeared in September 2010 on the finale of season 7 of Top Chef and assisted Angelo Sosa as his sous chef.

Huynh participated in the 2008 Bocuse d’Or USA culinary contest, competing to represent the U.S. in the 2009 international Bocuse d’Or. Although Huynh won the “Best Fish Award”, the gold