Peter Bond via Wikimedia Commons
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A chef whose restaurants helped shaped the Upper West Side dining scene for more than two decades died on Wednesday. Tom Valenti was 67.
Valenti was best known for his salmon gravlax and slow-cooked meats, particularly braised lamb shanks — a style rooted in the Italian cooking he learned as a child. He was born in Ithaca, New York, and was raised by his mother and Italian immigrant grandparents. It was in his grandmother Nonni’s kitchen, after school, that he first learned to cook traditional Italian dishes.
His path to the Upper West Side ran through some of New York’s most storied kitchens. After graduating from high school, he served as a private chef before beginning his long association with restaurateur Guy Savoy, first as a pastry chef and then as chef tournant at Savoy’s Paris restaurant. Back in New York, he became Alfred Portale’s first sous chef at the famed Gotham Bar and Grill before eventually striking out on his own.
In the spring of 2001, Valenti opened his signature restaurant Ouest on the corner of Broadway and 84th Street. The New York Times awarded Ouest two stars, saying that the “main courses drift toward the comfort zone.” New York magazine, in a three-star review, declared that “Valenti has honed the menu to the point where almost every dish resonates with love-it-in-an-instant flavors.”
In 2003, he opened ‘Cesca, a menu tribute to his grandmother’s cooking, focusing on Italian dishes. In 2008, he returned to the neighborhood again with West Branch on 77th and Broadway, a 170-seat venue. Ouest closed its doors on June 13, 2015. In March 2018, Valenti opened Oxbow Tavern on Columbus Avenue at 71st Street.
Beyond his restaurants, Valenti was known for his response to the September 11 attacks. He set up Windows of Hope, an organization dedicated to supporting the families of Windows on the World employees who had been killed in the attacks, enlisting Bobby Flay and Mario Batali to join the project. In total, over $23 million was raised to help the families.
He is the author of three cookbooks: Welcome to My Kitchen; Soups, Stews and One Pot Meals; and You Don’t Have to Be Diabetic to Love This Cookbook.
A cause of death has not been reported as of this writing.
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Dining and Cooking