Rob Gentile is about to open the “most exciting” new Italian restaurant in West Hollywood.
Construction is almost complete. The menu is being created. In the space that used to house old-school Italian restaurant Madeo, Gentile will serve Italian food with an emphasis on local ingredients, including specialties like Sicilian su filindeu pasta, with his business partner, Janet Zuccarini, a Canadian restaurateur.
But amid announcements of its planned opening in early 2024, the latest in a wave of flashy Italian restaurants in Los Angeles, The Times obtained internal investigative documents from King Street Food Company, the Canadian restaurant group where Gentile used to work. showing the head chef. She was found to have contributed to a hostile workplace at an upscale Toronto restaurant.
The documents, along with interviews, revealed that the celebrity chef was fired from his last job as head chef at Toronto restaurant Buca and that, separately, an outside lawyer hired by the company found that he had engaged in workplace harassment and had made sexually and racially degrading comments. about staff members.
Stella's sign went up this month in the space that used to house Madeo.
(Michael Blackshire / Los Angeles Times)
“As a partner in the business, [Gentile’s] Their role was to act as a role model and curb disrespectful and harassing behavior,” independent researcher Lauren Bernardi wrote in a summary of her findings. “Instead, he dedicated himself to it. “The impact on individual recipients and the workplace culture as a whole cannot be underestimated.”
The allegations against Gentile are just the latest to surface in the Los Angeles dining scene. Last year, modern American restaurant Horses was hit by allegations of animal abuse and cat killing by one of its head chefs, Will Aghajanian.
Other restaurants like Jon & Vinny's have been accused of withholding tips from employees, while Silver Lake's Café Tropical closed amid a fierce family legal battle over money.
The allegations against Gentile did not appear to be serious enough to prompt his partner Zuccarini to delay the restaurant's opening or consider another chef. Gentile admitted to some of the offensive texts he sent that emerged in the investigation, but denied that they were representative of his character or his style of running a kitchen.
“That's not who I am,” Gentile said in an interview with The Times. “Janet knows me. “I was as sincere and honest as I could be.”
Gentile had not shared information about his abrupt expulsion from Buca with Zuccarini, he told The Times. Gentile was fired from the group during the pandemic after his partners realized he was doing outside catering work despite his contract, he told The Times.
Still, Zuccarini said he believed in giving people second chances and that he trusts Gentile to lead Stella.
“I own a group of restaurants. I have been in the industry for 28 years. I think you have to protect your reputation with your life,” she said. “I understand the culture in kitchens. Especially with men, and it can be very toxic. As the owner, I have zero tolerance for all of this.”
Zuccarini added that Stella's head chef is a woman.
King Street Food Company declined to comment on the investigation or Gentile's dismissal from the group. Zuccarini said he spoke with the company and was informed that the investigation was not just about Gentile, but was a broader investigation into workplace culture following a sexual harassment allegation against another chef.
A Toronto Life article had cited serious financial and labor problems at Buca, but most of the allegations in the article did not concern Gentile, although it was reported that he demanded excellence without hiring enough cooks to do the job. Gentile also admitted that she had learned a lot about being a kitchen leader since he started at Buca and that his management style had changed.
Gentile has worked in restaurants since he was a child, starting as a dishwasher at a restaurant in Ontario, Canada, when he was 13 years old. He went to culinary school and worked at several Toronto restaurants before becoming chef at Buca in 2009. Buca was frequently featured on lists of Canada's best restaurants.
Zuccarini also opened Felix Trattoria in Venice, which is one of the 101 best restaurants in Los Angeles according to The Times.
Allegations detailed in documents reviewed by The Times also described Gentile as rude, sending sexually and racially disrespectful messages to co-workers and to group chats that included co-workers.
Sarah Fiore, who will be Stella's chef de cuisine, said she started working with Rob Gentile in high school, that he has always been a mentor to younger chefs and that she feels no problem reuniting with her former boss.
(Michael Blackshire / Los Angeles Times)
In an Instagram “chefs” group chat, Gentile messaged staff members who told him about a photo of a tattooed woman in a bikini, according to investigative documents. Gentile speculated that the woman was “drunk and high on coke” and made a crude reference to the woman having sexual relations with multiple black male partners, according to the messages.
In another case, Gentile allegedly threatened one of his workers with crucifixion.
“If you don't do this, I'm going to put you on a crucifix with nails in your hands. “I'm going to crucify her and hang her there for everyone to see,” Gentile wrote, according to the investigator.
Gentile denied sending the message and said the researcher's recitation was “embellished.”
In other messages reviewed by The Times, Gentile threatened to strangle and beat employees, which he initially denied to the independent investigator, according to his report.
Sarah Fiore, who will be Stella's chef de cuisine, said she started working with Gentile in high school and that he has always been a mentor to younger chefs. She then worked with Gentile at Buca in Toronto before opening his own restaurant.
Despite the allegations in the investigation, Fiore said he has no hesitation in meeting with his former boss.
“Rob was not a chef who promoted toxic behavior at all. He didn't allow it. He is not a malicious person. “He always wants to help other chefs in the industry, not just those who work with him,” Fiore told The Times. “Rob has told me about the messages… He has regretted it and I don't think they are a reflection of him at all. “I’ve seen him grow and change.”
Still, the investigator found that even during his interview with Gentile, the chef was not entirely forthcoming.
“Rob initially denied making the above comments, including claiming that allegations that he wanted to hit someone were false and denying the Instagram posts even though such allegations were easily demonstrable,” the investigator wrote.
When the investigator confronted him with the messages, Gentile admitted to sending them.
“It's not acceptable, I'll give you that,” he told her, according to his report. “I don't even realize right now that I'm writing this stuff to be honest with you. Looking back, it is obviously unacceptable. Not well. “It’s my vocabulary and the way he expresses it, it’s not right.”
