John Peter Corso is from a neighborhood called Canarsie, which he calls “a special part of Brooklyn.” His childhood memories include lots of good food, and that put him on the path to becoming a chef.
“Canarsie has a little bit of everything—some of the best pizza, Italian ices, Italian bakeries, German bakeries, great Chinese food. There was a pier where I would go crabbing.” Culinary inspiration was everywhere—at least in retrospect.
However, before he thought about becoming a chef himself, Corso got into motorcycle racing, learned how to build motorcycles, and worked as a Honda technician. Eventually, however, he got a job at the Friar Tuck Inn in the Catskills, and that was what gave him the inspiration and the skills to make culinary arts his career. He recalls, “We served breakfast, lunch, dinner, and coffee, and I worked all of them sometimes. That’s where I really learned to cook.”…