How does a guy working at a doggy daycare on Manhattan's Upper West Side end up running the kitchen at one of Tampa's most celebrated food-forward hotels? For Chef Jon Atanacio, Executive Chef at the Epicurean Hotel and Élevage Soho Kitchen & Bar, the answer involves allergies, a late-night culinary school commercial, 26 years of hustle, and a French chef who once slapped him across the face.

An Unlikely Origin Story: From NYC Dog Walker to Line Cook

Chef Jon's entry into the culinary world wasn't a childhood dream or family tradition. It was an accident. Working at a doggy daycare in New York City, he discovered he had severe allergies to dogs. Needing a career change fast, he saw a culinary school commercial on TV and thought, "I could do that." Twenty-six years later, he's overseeing one of Tampa's most respected hotel restaurant programs.

His early kitchen days in New York were the stuff of legend, and not the glamorous kind. He worked under demanding French chefs who operated with old-school intensity. One incident stands out: after a particularly grueling shift, a French chef slapped him in the face. The sting was real, but so were the words that followed.

"At the end of the shift he slapped me in the face, like backhanded. I was in shock. It was stinging. And he said, 'One day you'll be a great chef.'"

That brutal encouragement, as Jon tells it, became a turning point. The kitchen culture of 1990s and 2000s New York was unforgiving, but it forged a work ethic and resilience that he carries into every service today, even if he would never replicate those methods with his own team.

Building Kitchen Culture: Hiring for Attitude Over Skill

One of the strongest themes in the episode is how Chef Jon approaches team building. After years in high-pressure New York kitchens, he's consciously built a different kind of culture at Élevage. His philosophy is clear: hire for personality and attitude, then teach the skills. He would rather train someone with drive and a positive attitude than deal with a talented cook who poisons the culture.

He described how he evaluates candidates by looking at how they interact with others during a trial shift, not just whether they can execute technique. He wants people who are genuinely curious about food, who ask questions, who taste everything, who show up wanting to learn rather than prove what they already know.

Sauce Work, Gnocchi, and the Dishes That Fuel Creativity

When asked about the food that gets him most excited, Jon didn't name a flashy protein or trendy technique. He talked about sauce work and gnocchi, the foundational, labor-intensive cooking that most diners never think about. For him, the ability to build a great sauce from scratch is the truest test of a chef's skill, and it's where he finds the most creative satisfaction.

He also discussed his approach to menu development at Élevage, which emphasizes seasonality and local sourcing. He spoke passionately about sourcing rare fish like triple tail, a species most diners haven't heard of but that Tampa Bay's waters produce in abundance. His commitment to local ingredients isn't performative; it's practical, and it gives his menus a distinct sense of place.

"We had such a blast creating the menu and sourcing interior design elements and creating the life and personality of the restaurant. But when it came to staffing. That was definitely our biggest challenge."

How Mole Went from Hated to Hero

In one of the episode's most entertaining segments, Jon told the story of how mole, the complex Mexican sauce that requires dozens of ingredients and hours of preparation, went from being a dish he couldn't get guests to order into one of the most requested items on the menu. The shift came when he stopped presenting it as an exotic unknown and started letting the sauce speak through familiar formats that diners already trusted.

It's a lesson in menu psychology as much as cooking: sometimes the best dishes need the right context to succeed. Jon's ability to read his audience and adapt his presentation without compromising the integrity of the food is part of what makes Élevage a standout in Tampa's competitive dining landscape.

What's Next for Tampa Dining

Chef Jon sees Tampa's food scene in a moment of real growth. He credits the city's diversity and the influx of talented chefs from other major markets for raising the bar. At Élevage, he's planning more pop-up events, collaborative dinners, and seasonal tasting menus that push guests beyond their comfort zones while respecting the approachable, neighborhood-restaurant feel that defines the Epicurean Hotel experience.

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