When Vail Mansion, an abandoned Renaissance-style palazzo became one of New Jersey’s hottest fine dining restaurants, AJ Sankofa applied. He knew the grounds well, having skateboarded there as a kid. In just three months, the high schooler, who was already taking college classes, was promoted from busboy to captain’s assistant.
“It was kinda crazy,” Sankofa says, noting that the marks from his skateboard on the patio can still be seen with a discerning eye. “The place that was my childhood hangout was the place that changed my life.”
Taken under the wing of Kevin Sippel, then Executive Chef at Jockey Hollow Bar & Kitchen, Sankofa threw himself into the rush of restaurant work, eager to learn everything. He felt inspired by the high-profile team, led by owner Chris Cannon, the well-known restaurateur helped launch award-winning Italian restaurants like Marea and Alto in New York City. When Sankofa became interested in the Italian Culinary Institute for Foreigners in Piedmont, Italy, he learned that Chef Sippel had attended the same school in the 1990s. Sankofa put his college studies aside and packed his bags for Costigliole d’Asti, a small town in the hills of Monferrato, where the school is based.
Chef AJ Sankofa prepares many dishes inspired by the time he spent studying Italian cuisine in Northern Italy. There, he deepened his understanding of the craft and the importance of using the freshest ingredients that “tell a story.”
With over nine kitchen experiences on his résumé, including a full-time position as the Chef de Partie at La Rossa, a Michelin-starred restaurant in Turin, Italy, Chef Sankofa is now living the dream of an artisan pasta-maker in the US. Last summer, he and his team, Isaiah Findley-Pennock and Joel Camarillo-Diaz, and now fiancée, Kristina Gambarian, founded ESO Artisanal, a pasta shop in downtown Morristown, where they sell handmade pasta, sauces, and Italian food imports.
Orders have taken off and word has caught on. TV news stations keep coming back. The ESO Artisanal team offers dinner service, private events, takeout, virtual classes, and chef dinners with other top talent. But this business may never have happened without the pandemic.
Last March, Legacy Records, one of New York City’s hippest Italian restaurants, closed during lockdown, leaving Sankofa and Gambarian furloughed. No longer would they be needed to crank out nine different pastas on a typical night of 300 covers. That energy could now be given to a different culinary outlet: a pasta pop-up of their own.
(From left): Kristina Gambarian, AJ Sankofa, and Isaiah Findley-Pennock share artisanal pasta at a Black Lives Matter event this past summer.
Using the techniques acquired in Italy and the production skills of New York City kitchens, Sankofa and Gambarian made pasta by hand, selling their initial batches at Black Lives Matter events across New Jersey and New York City.
Two weeks before they planned on launching a pasta-delivery business, Sankofa was invited to share a brick and mortar shop with the former pastry chef at Jockey Hollow, Andrea Lekberg. Together, they have operated in the downtown space ever since.
Chef AJ Sankofa rotates a seasonal menu of fresh pasta and sells Italian imports, like black truffle.
Aside from perfect pasta and balanced recipes, Chef Sankofa’s other best quality is restraint. His simple menus shine with seasonal ingredients of black truffle, squid ink, and butternut squash, leaving diners eager for the next seasonal surprise. What he learned in the kitchens of Northern Italy, in Asti, Alba and Trentino, can be felt and tasted in his exquisite creations.
Here, Sankofa tells La Cucina Italiana about his work at Black Lives Matter events, what he learned in Italy, and more.
Tell me about how your business got started at Black Lives Matter events around Morristown?
We attended every BLM event last summer. There were two in Morristown, and I believe there were a total of 10 that we attended. We only took pre-orders, because we didn’t have the licensing to sell food products at an event like that. So, we did pre-orders and spread the word. We wanted to showcase ourselves as a Black and Latino-owned business and give inspiration to the youth. We wanted them to know that this is possible and they can do it. This is a big thing for me. I wish I had seen someone doing these things, because I could have been working towards something greater. Luckily, I caught on in the later years of high school. I really want to be a positive figure in my community.
ESO Artisanal Pasta on Cattano Ave. in Morristown, New Jersey, now offers takeout, a dine-in menu, and special dinners.
After you started working in kitchens in New Jersey, what made you decide to study cooking in Italy?
I’m the kind of person where if I’m not submerged in what I’m doing, I can’t give it my all. I was working full-time–my work was over 120 hours a week–and I was having a lot more fun at the restaurant than at college, for lack of a better way of saying it. I was at an Italian restaurant with big New York City restaurateurs and chefs, and I was like, “Italy, Italy, Italy! I gotta get to Italy.” I got to get to where the origin of all this knowledge comes from!
How did your family feel about you leaving college to pursue a culinary degree in Italy?
My parents didn't know. I didn't tell them that I dropped out. They found out from a friend’s mom that I was leaving for Italy.
Most people don't view restaurants as a career or anything more than a way to make money when you're young. My mom used to say, “You want to be a waiter for the rest of your life?” They couldn’t understand why I would leave college to work in a restaurant.
There was a clear disconnect. I felt there was no way for me to convince them, so I had to do it and put my money where my mouth was, which is what I’ve been doing since I made that decision.
Chef AJ Sankofa uses flour from Italy and sources many ingredients from the surrounding farms in New Jersey.
Some say Michelin-starred restaurants in Europe are not quite the same as in the US. In your opinion, what are the main differences between kitchens in Italy and the US?
When I was in Italy, I almost never used my knives, because in Italy, when you're a cook, you do everything. In Italy, I made all the pasta fresh, and I cooked the pasta that night. I made the bread, and all the desserts. You're really treated as a cook at that point, not just a body, or a line cook, which is kind of like a term for someone who comes in the afternoon, does the mise en place and cooks all night. In Italy, every single thing that went out from my station I took from start to finish. That’s one of the major differences, and it makes for a way different cook.
By comparison, at Legacy Records and Jackie Hollow, there was too much work for one person to do, because the kitchens are too big, and they require too much manpower. There’s no way around it. In Italy, working at a place that has 30 seats, we couldn’t afford that many people in the kitchen.
Also, the dishes you see can be different. A dish in an Italian restaurant will have three ingredients and one in America will have nine. In America, you chop onions, cut mint, and there’s so many more ingredients. It's clouded, muddied and not so refined, because it's not relying on star ingredients to show themselves and tell their stories. It’s more of an approach that’s something like, “Let’s combine all these different things we like individually.” It’s different. I think in Italy it’s a lot cooler and takes more skill and finesse.
Kristina Gambarian and AJ Sankofa began making pasta together at Legacy Records in New York City, before a pandemic-related furlough.
What were some other differences between the kitchens in Italy versus the US that you worked in? For example, how did you choose ingredients?
In New York, food comes in on the truckload. In Italy, we went to the market as a team or to the docks and cut fish. I’m sure Chef Dan Barber is doing similar stuff, but the one guy here is more like every guy there. It’s the reality. Here, revenue is everything. It’s not so much about the craft, but more about, “Does it make money?” If not, it doesn’t make sense.
Everything has its own beauty, and I love everything about both places. They are just two different parts of the world. I wouldn't say I prefer one over the other. There's a time and place for everything.