Friday, August 18, 12:00 noon
Members $60, guests $75

Though it seems as if an Italian restaurant opens in New York City every minute, Robert Passon’s Venetian eatery in Hell’s Kitchen has managed to set itself apart from the pack. As Gael Greene wrote in New York magazine, Passon’s “unabashed ambition” has made his eatery the antidote to the boredom generated by “all those copycat trattorias.” Time Out New York agreed, writing that Passon’s “cooking has elevated this pan-Italian spot from generic neighborhood joint to bona fide dining destination.”

The menu at Roberto Passon reflects its chef’s international background and experience. Born in Italy’s Friuli region, Passon studied at the Italian Culinary Institute in Venice, worked at hotels and restaurants throughout Italy and Switzerland, and was a cook in the Italian army while stationed in Argentina. When he returned to Europe, he furthered his culinary studies in Switzerland, stage-ing throughout the country at the Dolder Grand Hotel, the Hotel zum Storchen, and Badrutt’s Palace Hotel in St. Moritz, where he stayed on for three years.

At the age of 23, Passon returned to Italy to work at Venice’s famed Hotel Cipriani before becoming the executive chef of the city’s Hotel Sirmione. In 1996 New York chef and restaurateur Francesco Antonucci made Passon the sous-chef of his New York City restaurant, Remi. The collaboration between Antonucci and Passon resulted in a number of other projects, including the cookbook Venetian Taste, the opening of Le Zie in Chelsea, where Passon drew raves for his selection of cicchetti (the Venetian take on tapas), and the popular restaurant Le Zoccole, where the chefs turned “seemingly generic pastas...into signature dishes,” according to New York magazine’s Robin Raisfeld. Passon went on to helm Puttanesca, owned by the New York City Restaurant Group, and in April 2005, in collaboration with the same company, Passon opened his eponymous eatery, where he continues to reinvigorate the city’s Italian dining scene, one delicious bite at a time.