Professional:
Most Recently the Assistant Culinary Director of Aurora Anguilla, opening eight F&B outlets on a 350 acre property. Managing and hiring teams, coordinating training culture, supply chain and vendors, kitchen construction, steps of service, to bring jobs and a re opening of a massive property in the Caribbean.
During quarantine, and the intensifying BLM movement Isaac turned his Brooklyn apartment into a bakery. Able to use his space and purchasing all ingredients from the Family Dollar down the the block, Isaac took orders for Babkas, shipped nation wide. Raising roughly ten thousand dollars in a month, all profits donated to NAACP and ACLU.
Previously the Chef of Culinary Development for Sydell Group, Isaac has been a part of the openings for several Food and Beverage concepts from London, to NYC, Las Vegas, LA and Austin.
Prior, Isaac has reinvigorated the family legacy that is the Isaac Gellis Delicatessen brand by producing and distributing across New York and other parts of the country.
Graduating from Culinary Institute of America and 13 years working in NYC restaurants, including Bouley, Alain Ducasse, The Modern and others, Isaac has accumulated his years of experience into the opening and operations of new food concepts, and project development.
Personal:
Growing up Santa Cruz California, at a young age my parents pressured me into traveling. By the time I was 15 I had already visited Cuba and Venezuela working with local government funded student exchange programs. While also working at a local hotel resort getting my first taste of Chef Life.
Two years later I had driven my Oldsmobile across the country for culinary school, spending my weekends staging in NYC’s most notable kitchens trying to find my feet.
Discovering my family’s heritage through the Eldridge Street Synagogue was a calling and I felt my root grow into the Lower East Side. Working with a small team I found out what it means to establish and market a product, tell a story and make the sale.