I was a chef to the stars — but then I felt called to the priesthood
He received a calling — to the kitchen.
As pastor at Williamsburg’s Our Lady of Mount Carmel – Annunciation Parish, a chaplain to the FDNY and chairman of Emmaus Center, a Catholic arts organization, Jamie Gigantiello is one Monsignor with a whole lot on his plate.
And when he’s not feeding his flock spiritually, he’s whipping up a heavenly pasta primavera and regularly hosting friends at his Williamsburg home — with past guests ranging from Rosanna Scotto to late hockey legend Rod “Mr. Ranger” Gilbert to Mayor Eric Adams to former Police Commissioner Ray Kelly.
But for Gigantiello, cooking is no mere holy hobby. Before answering a call to the church decades ago, the 59-year-old graduated from the country’s top cooking school.
He then toiled in the kitchens and dining rooms of some of New York’s most elite restaurants and hotels, where he brushed up against Hollywood royalty like Jimmy Cagney and Paul Newman.
And now, the clergy member is adding “cookbook author” to his already impressive resume.
“The dinner table, and food, has always been a source of unity,” Gigantiello told The Post. “These are life’s most important ingredients: faith, family, friends and food. That’s what I want to stress in my ministry as a priest.”
It’s in that spirit he’s written “Breaking Bread,” a charity cookbook out now from Emmaus Press.
Featured in its pages are the Monsignor’s personal recipes — apple-ricotta pancakes being one of his favorites — as well as famed dishes from around New York City.
Among these: fusilli with sausage and cabbage à la East Harlem institution Rao’s; brick-oven pizza courtesy of Grimaldi’s; and strawberry scones in the style of legendary Bensonhurst bakery Villabate Alba.
The idea for the book came from the many people who have asked for recipes after seeing Gigantiello’s handiwork on his cooking show of the same name, which airs on both YouTube and Net TV, the local Catholic television station. (A fresh batch of 14 episodes is set to premiere shortly.)
“They were revamping the channel, because all you used to see were praying hands, and asked me if I’d be willing to do a cooking show where I’d visit different parishes and the people in them,” Gigantiello said of the show’s origins.
Throughout eight seasons, episodes have featured the likes of late Rao’s legend Frank Pellegrino, Rossella Rago of “Cooking With Nonna” fame and chef Lidia Bastianich, who penned the foreword for “Breaking Bread.”
For Gigantiello, the love of cooking came early.
Growing up in Long Island City, he has vivid memories of life revolving around Italian food.
“My mother cooked, my father cooked and we liked to eat,” he said.
In high school, he got a job with a caterer who lived across the street — and the gig led to him attending the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York.
After graduation, he joined the kitchen team at the Carlyle, ultimately working at the iconic Upper East Side hotel for four years in the early 1980s.
“One night they asked if I could help in the dining room, and from there I went from the back of the house to the front of the Café Carlyle,” he said. “I guess my serving was better than my cooking skills.”
Along the way, he wound up serving a who’s who of stars — from an elderly James Cagney, who’d come in with his nurse, to Pearl Bailey, who one night belted a verse from “Hello Dolly” on her way to her room.
Gigantiello’s favorite story involves Paul Newman.
“He’d come in every Sunday and always wanted a salad first,” said the Monsignor. “But he’d also request ingredients like mustard, olive oil and capers, which I’d prepare table-side for him every week — he’d tell me what to do.”
After a couple of weeks, Gigantiello was curious about Newman’s homemade dressing, long before Newman’s Own became a household name.
“I said, ‘Can I taste it?’ and he agreed and asked what I thought. I said, ‘I think you better stick to acting,’” Gigantiello said, wise-cracking.
Following another job as a restaurant manager and maître d’ at the InterContinental, the Monsignor’s other interest — the church — eventually won out.
He officially traded pots and pans for pastoral life upon entering the seminary in 1990.
“I have a unique ability to open a fridge, see what’s there and create something,” he said.
“But mostly I enjoy bringing people together.”
