Hailing from Cleveland, Carmellini approached a career in food in the traditional manner. He enrolled at the Culinary Institute of America after spending his high school years working in a variety of establishments, from the local pizza joint to a fine-dining French restaurant. Upon graduating from the CIA, Carmellini took a position as a line cook at San Domenico, one of Manhattan’s pioneering Italian upscale restaurants. Inspired by Italian foods, Carmellini moved on to Valentino Mercatile’s two-star Michelin restaurant San Domenico in Emilio-Romagna. While in Italy he soaked in the local food culture hunting truffles and learning the crafts of making wine, pasta, cheese and prosciutto. In 1993 Carmellini returned stateside to work at Lespinasse under Gray Kunz for three years. He again felt the draw of Europe’s culinary scene and left for France and England to hone his cooking skills. Carmellini returned to New York City as sous chef at the recently reopened Le Cirque in 1996. Following Le Cirque, Carmellini took over the stoves as chef de cuisine under Daniel Boulud at Café Boulud. Six years, two James Beard Foundation Awards, and one three-star New York Times review later, Carmellini opened A Voce as Executive Chef in 2006. For Carmellini it would be a year of firsts earning a Michelin star and releasing Urban Italian: True Stories and Simple recipes from a Life In Food (Fall 2008, Bloomsbury), his first cookbook. In 2009, Carmellini was approached by the owners of The Greenwich Hotel to reconcept the hotel’s restaurant into Locanda Verde, which has since become wildly popular imbuing the corner of Greenwich and North Moore Street with the Italian spirit of casual, convivial dining since opening in May 2009.

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