Who

Lomonaco is the chef-owner of Porter House at the Time Warner Center, which is where to go when you want to spend a lot of money on meat in a mall.

Backstory

A native of Bensonhurst, Lomonaco went to New Utrecht High School (Michael Musto was a classmate), attended Brooklyn College, and a made a go as a stage actor, until deciding to pursuing a food career and earning a culinary degree from the New York Technical College. Following early stints at several undistinguished restaurants around town (such as Monte's Venetian Room in Carroll Gardens), Lomonaco landed at Le Cirque—where he worked for Alain Sailhac and Daniel Boulud—and later followed Sailhac to "21." He eventually became 21's executive chef before leaving in 1996 to head up the kitchen at Joe Baum's Windows on the World, the glittery restaurant on the 107th floor of the World Trade Center's north tower. Lomonaco would have probably died on Sept. 11th—like 79 of his fateful employees—if he hadn't stopped to pick up his eyeglasses that morning. Following the attack, Lomonaco took some time off, returning in 2002 to open Noche in Times Square and Guastavino's on the East Side with Windows on the World's former owner, David Emil. He opened the Jeffrey Beers-designed Porter House in the Time Warner Center in 2006.

On screen

Like any big chef, Lomonaco makes the rounds: He's appeared on David Letterman and The Today Show. He also hosted the cooking show Epicurious on the Disney Channel from 2002 to 2004 as well as Michael's Place on the Food Network.

On the side

Lomonaco continues to teach at his alma mater, City University's New York Technical College. He's co-written two books, The "21" Cookbook in 1995 and Nightly Specials: 125 Recipes for Spontaneous, Creative Cooking at Home in 2004.

Personal

Lomonaco lives on East 79th Street with his wife, Diane. He lists one of his favorite dishes as Steak Diane—a thinly sliced filet mignon flambéed in Cognac tableside—which he included in his "21" cookbook.