If he wore jeans and a T-shirt instead of chef’s garb, the executive chef of the prestigious Oval Room restaurant might well be mistaken for a guy who’s about to play basketball. But Antonio “Tony” Conte, tall, lean and supercharged with energy, channels his drive into running one of Washington’s most prestigious kitchens just steps away from the real Oval Room.
The Connecticut native, like many of his peers, started his culinary career as a dishwasher. But the owner of the Italian restaurant where he worked must have seen his latent talent because Conte quickly moved up to prepping and making pizzas. Fortunately, several of his career-minded buddies on staff talked about attending The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y., and urged Conte to enroll as well.
