Chef in the Making
Jeff Mallegni Finds His Passion

Jeff Mallegni once thought he wanted to be a history teacher. He was serious enough about it that he invested two years in history studies. As time passed, however, he gradually realized that his true calling lay closer to his roots, in the kitchen. Now he is a chef in training at Milwaukee Area Technical College and a cook at one of Milwaukee’s fine restaurants.

“Teaching history was something I knew I would like, but not something I felt passionate about,” Mallegni says. “So I did some reflecting and figured out that I love food. Sitting down, enjoying a meal from start to finish and relaxing with someone is one of the most satisfying experiences you can have. There’s a sense of community whether you’re eating with one other person or ten other people. That’s probably the part I value the most – how food brings people together.” He adds with a smile: “Plus, I love to eat.”

There were clues early in life. Mallegni came from a close, extended family in which food was a common thread. One of his grandfathers owned a grocery store for 10 years in Neillsville. His father was an assistant manager for Heinemann’s Restaurants. He got Mallegni his first job washing dishes for a Heinemann’s when he was a sophomore at Pius XI High School.

Quest to Find His Passion

After several months, he moved up to toast cook. (“They have a pretty busy breakfast business and needed one guy strictly to make toast on Saturday and Sunday mornings.”) By the time Mallegni graduated from Pius and started college, he had worked his way up to prep cook and grill cook.

The next two years were a quest to find his passion. Mallegni enrolled as a freshman at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. For his sophomore year, he transferred to California State-Northridge in the San Fernando Valley. He excelled at his history studies, making the dean’s list both years. “But I just didn’t have my heart in it – hitting the books every night, studying,” Mallegni says. “Finally I decided I didn’t want to do this anymore, so I didn’t.” Returning to Milwaukee, he enrolled in the Culinary Arts Program at MATC.

He had a friend in high school whose brother had started the program, dropped out, but really liked it. Also in high school, a classmate had been a culinary apprentice and urged him to give the program a try. “I just heard so many good things from people I knew around town,” Mallegni says.

Job Leads Galore
                                                                  
According to Mallegni, the program turned out to be a great way to find restaurant jobs. “If you get to know the other students, if you get to know the instructors, there’s always something coming up.”

Mallegni found several cooking jobs that led to his current job at Tess, 2499 N. Bartlett Ave., where he is now the lead line cook. Tess is owned by Joe Volpe, who took cooking classes at MATC early in his career and has earned a reputation as one of the city’s most creative young chefs. “A lot of my staff comes from MATC,” he says. “I have a good relationship with the faculty, and they help us find talent. Jeff is a good example. He has just been a pleasure to work with. He’s eager, hard working and extremely flexible.”

Says Mallegni: “Joe is a great guy to work for. He’s very good about cutting a little slack for students who have to work around their class schedule.”

At school, Mallegni has worked as a student chef in the kitchen of Cuisine, MATC’s culinary learning laboratory. Operated by students, Cuisine functions as a fine-dining restaurant, serving lunch three days a week during fall and spring semesters. Mallegni’s job changed weekly, under the supervision of lead instructor John Reiss. “What I like is that Chef Reiss really lets you do things on your own and is always there to answer questions. I’ve been very impressed with the kitchen. It’s way more organized than most of the restaurant kitchens I’ve been in.”

Mallegni is on track to graduate in December, then hopes to transfer his MATC credits to the University of Nevada-Las Vegas and start a bachelor’s degree in hotel/hospitality management. Restaurants are his immediate future, but he has a gleam in his eye for starting a catering business that would specialize in corporate events. While his true passion led him away from teaching history, he sees teaching as very much a part of his chosen profession.

“Not only do I like cooking food and making people happy with food, but I enjoy teaching people about it just as much. In the Cuisine dining room, I enjoy telling customers what cooking methods were used, where a particular kind of rice comes from, for example. I think I’ve learned just as much from teaching people as I have from going to school and going to work. Teaching is part of being a chef.”

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