I expect most of you know Rolando, our Executive Chef. Rolando was my first hire at Clover back in 2008. And that experience set the tone for the adventure ahead. A couple months before I hired Rolando I was certain I was going to outsource the menu development to a well known chef. Fast forward a few months and I’d abandoned that path in favor of hiring somebody who could breath life into our menu day-in and day-out.

Rolando and I met almost by accident. I called him asking if he had any former students who may be interested in what I was taking on (he was a professor at Johnson and Wales University at the time). He said “I’d be interested,” and we had coffee the next day and hit it off immediately.

Rolando has been commuting to Boston from Providence for the better part of the past 4 years. He asked me the other day whether we could arrange something that would have him working here part time for a bit so that he can be closer to his family the rest of the week. I think we’ll all be less for not getting to work with him daily, but it just means we’ll have to get a lot out of the days he is here. He’s going to be working a second job in Providence to make this work. We’re hoping it’s a short term arrangement.