Anthony Ricco

Coming Up

Training at Institute of Culinary Education set the frame for the kind of kitchen work Anthony Ricco would go on to do: disciplined, repeatable, and exacting. At China Grill, where he worked as a Prep Cook until 2001, the job would have turned on pace, order, and the habits that make service hold. By the time he moved to Spice Market in New York, NY as Head Chef, remaining there until 2016, the role had shifted from execution to direction. The progression shows a cook shaped by repetition first, then by the added demands of managing a kitchen at scale. Today, Anthony Ricco is Executive Chef of Leuca, and the title reflects the same throughline rather than a break from it. The move from Prep Cook to Head Chef to Executive Chef marks a career built on accumulation: technique, judgment, and the ability to keep standards steady under pressure.

Where They Are Now

At Leuca, Anthony Ricco’s work sits on the familiar trade ground where pace, control, and detail have to stay aligned. The background that runs through Institute of Culinary Education, China Grill, and Spice Market in New York, NY shows up here as a practice grounded in repetition and clarity. His own benchmark remains the same: quality delivered consistently, without drift.

Signature

Anthony Ricco's signature dishes include Malfadine pasta with rapini pesto and sweet and sour peppers, whipped ricotta with hot honey, crispy garlic, herbs, and crispy pork belly with tamarind herb salad and Thai chili sugar. The list points to a cook working in contrast: creamy against crisp, sweet against sharp, bright flavors against richer ones. The structure is doing the work here, with seasoning and texture carrying the plate rather than excess.

In Their Words “The most important aspect of cooking is quality and consistency.”

Honors

The record here is less about trophies than about standards held over time. In Anthony Ricco’s case, the professional recognition comes through the sequence itself — training, prep, leadership, and the stated discipline of quality and consistency. It reads as a career defined by reliability, with the work standing on its own.