Forrest Pasternack

Pasternack was born and raised in Western Connecticut and grew up in Ridgefield. After the Culinary Institute of America, he cooked in New York — including at Aquavit, then a two-Michelin-star restaurant and a prior workplace whose stars belonged to the restaurant, not to him — and later at Terra and Morello Bistro in Greenwich. Coming back to Ridgefield was a return home. In early 2013 he became Executive Chef at Bailey's Backyard, the New American farm-to-table restaurant at 23 Bailey Avenue, and led that kitchen through 2018.

He has said that after leaving he opened a consulting company and became Corporate Executive Chef for CulinArt Group in Rockville Centre, covering the Long Island and New York region from Norwalk, Connecticut to Montauk. Sourced dates for that CulinArt post are March 2017–June 2019, which overlap the end of the first Bailey's tenure; both are kept as dated. From June 2019 to April 2026 he was Executive Chef at 51 Hospitality Group in Ridgefield.

In August 2023 he returned to Bailey's Backyard as executive chef. That return overlaps the 51 Hospitality dates; both remain dated. He is not the current chef at Bailey's.

He is Associate Director, Executive Chef, Auxiliary & Retail Operations at Yale Hospitality, listed on the official hospitality team page. The work is university Auxiliary & Retail Operations in the New Haven area.

During his Bailey's Backyard years, Total Food Service (February 8, 2024) recorded roasted Hudson Valley chicken under a brick with Nora Mill Granary Speckled Grits, Dijon-chicken jus, and sautéed kale as his signature dish. No current Yale signature dishes are sourced here.