Chef Rich Torrisi’s restaurants with partners Mario Carbone and Jeff Zalaznick—Carbone, Torrisi, the Grill, the swanky private club ZZ’s, and 41 others—may span the globe, but they’re all notoriously difficult to get into. Diners can’t seem to get enough of their maximalist dedication to excess. It’s no accident that their enterprise is called the Major Food Group. As The New York Times food critic Pete Wells wrote in his review of Torrisi in 2023, “This company has never seen a top it couldn’t go over.” But Torrisi, the man, doesn’t seem to be swaggering through life. He is thoughtful and eager to learn new skills beyond the kitchen, expanding his mind and his repertoire. That includes a carefully packed schedule and a deep affection for an ice-cold plunge and gin martini.
MORNING ROUTINE:
I wake up at 6 or 6:15. My 7 A.M. is a training session of either boxing or Brazilian jiu-jitsu. After a tiny break, I play piano for about an hour.
WORKOUT:
I decided a while ago that if I’m going to work out, why not learn something while doing it? I started doing martial arts to learn skills and meet the awesome badass people that are in that world. Being in a martial-arts camp is very much like being in another family. It’s honestly like the cooking scene in that it’s cultish because you become part of a crew.
PIANO:
About five years ago, I decided to take back the morning for myself. I’d been working 12-to-14-hour days for over a decade, and my mind and body were a mess. I needed something meditative and calming, but I still wanted to learn something. I had been flirting with the idea of an instrument and decided it was time to commit. I started taking piano lessons and fell in love with the instrument and the classical composers. It brings me joy and calmness, and the music stays with me throughout the day. Learning music forges new brain pathways and forces your brain to think differently. It’s made it easier for me to be creative and keep my brain fresh.
VITAMINS & SUPPLEMENTS:
I get bloodwork every few months to see what I need to be eating more or less of. I like to get the nutrients I need from actual food rather than from supplements, but if the doctor thinks I need some iron or something, I’ll take it.
GO-TO SNACK:
It sounds crazy, but I eat steamed greens. My refrigerator is packed with whatever is fresh from the market, and I chomp through that during the week. I love eating hyperseasonally because it helps my brain stay on target for the things I want to cook next.
YOU’RE SURROUNDED BY TEMPTATIONS ALL DAY. HOW DO YOU MAINTAIN YOUR WEIGHT?
I eat really healthy all day and then have a binge meal at night. It’s not the smartest thing to do. I skip breakfast. I eat greens and fruit during the day, and then at night I just cheat.
ENERGY BOOST:
The cold plunge after my workout.
FAVORITE APPS:
I’m like an 89-year-old man with that stuff. I don’t watch much TV or have many apps on my phone.
COCKTAIL:
I am a huge wine connoisseur, so that’s all over the place depending on my mood. For cocktails, I err toward a strong, gin-based, wet (meaning extra vermouth, but the vermouth should be dry) martini with a twist. Gin is considered the best mixing spirit because the botanicals are very nuanced and subtle. Vodka tastes like rubbing alcohol and has no flavor.
FAVORITE MEAL TO COOK FOR FRIENDS:
I have an outdoor kitchen where I love cooking American barbecue for a group. I smoke food over hickory or cherrywood in a black, Texas cast-iron smoker. The amount of pleasure I get from cooking over a slow-burning fire really does it for me.
ADVICE FOR HOME COOKS:
Just choose one recipe that you truly love and practice the fucking shit out of it. The questions about how to make that recipe great will be answered by the doing part, not the asking part. If you master one recipe, there will be so many skills you learn that can be applied to other recipes.
SPICES OF LIFE:
I’m big on always having a jar of Calabrian chilis in the fridge because you can always go spicy in the best way. A great spice rack is critical, and I get all of mine from SOS in the East Village. You need to go beyond supermarkets to find someone who is really serious about spices. The difference when you use Costa Rican pepper that was dried and picked a few months ago, for example, is astounding. The impact on your food is enormous.
WHAT FOOD WOULD PEOPLE BE SURPRISED TO HEAR YOU ACTUALLY LIKE?
Sour Power Straws and Warheads from when I was a kid. If somebody has those, I’ll eat them!
SELF-CARE RITUALS:
I have a massage once a week at home. I also take a cold plunge every day after I work out. I’m in for three minutes and get a big hit of dopamine after getting out of that fucking 40-degree water. It really sucks getting into that thing, but the results are real. I wake up with way less soreness in my legs and arms, and I sleep better after I’ve used it.
MOOD LIFTER:
Tea! Sebastian at In Pursuit of Tea carries the highest-level teas and teaches our team how to use them. I make matcha with the Japanese wooden whisk and light a stick of Japanese incense. It kind of stinks (it really pisses my fiancé off), but I love the smell, and it gets me in a meditative mood.
GUILTY PLEASURE:
Cheap Chinese food.
FOOD MENTORS:
Chefs Daniel Boulud and Andrew Carmellini. My grandmother was the start for me of noticing at a young age that what I was eating and what she was cooking was very different from what my friends were experiencing. Eating her food drew me into her world!
SKIN-CARE M.V.P.s:
I have them, but I don’t know what they are. I do what my fiancé and aesthetician at UnionDerm tell me to do.
HAIR CARE:
I use whatever is in the house.
SCENT:
I usually don’t wear scent, because it throws my nose off, and I need my nose.
UNIFORM:
I designed a hybrid chef’s coat/jacket and tie that I wear when I come to the restaurant.
YOUR LAST MEAL:
A sushi omakase from whoever at that moment is my favorite sushi chef.
PIECE OF ADVICE YOU WOULD GIVE YOUR YOUNGER SELF:
I’d fucking write him a book! But really, the answers I’ve given you here are a product of me growing and realizing what’s important. I don’t know if I would tell myself to do anything differently, because it’s the reason I got to where I am now. I’m so happy where I am that I really wouldn’t change a thing.
BEST THING ABOUT GROWING OLDER:
Having the self-awareness to enjoy life in new, meaningful, and dynamic ways.
WHEN ARE YOU HAPPIEST?
When I’m “in flow” and everything in my mind disappears and I’m doing what I love to do, and it feels natural and beautiful.
Holly Parmelee, formerly an associate publisher at Little, Brown and Company, is an editor and writer at Serendipity magazine
