Ryan Costanza (32)

Executive Chef Of Freedman’s

Los Angeles, CA

·       Ryan is the Executive Chef of Freedman's, “a neighborhood restaurant and bar in Silver Lake inspired by Jewish American cooking,” the restaurant is influenced and informed by traditional Ashkenazi cuisine

·       Ryan helped to develop a waffle-iron based potato latke with smoked fish, an Asian influenced, wine-soaked brisket as well as Jewish inspired desserts such as rugelach and cheesecake

·       Ryan has cooked in Japan, Korea, Bali, Mexico and the United States; he’s a partner at restaurants in Singapore, San Diego and Los Angeles

·       Ryan’s culinary inspiration is derived from different cultures, countries and traditions; he’s passionate about delving deep into a culture’s culinary tradition, conducting his own in-depth research to thoroughly understand the processes, techniques, how’s and why’s before he feigns mastery of any type of global cooking

·       Ryan spent countless hours researching, studying and learning about Jewish cuisine before developing the menu at Freedman’s

·       As a non-Jewish chef, Ryan feels a particular obligation to understand the cuisine and culture that he is working-in, he feels that perhaps not being Jewish brings a fresh and unbiased perspective wherein he is able to break rules, improvise and guiltlessly deviate from Jewish culinary tradition

·       Ryan was born and raised in New York City. His family had a pizzeria, so he grew up in the kitchen watching his grandmother make dishes inspired by their roots in Sicily and Naples

·       Ryan boasts an impressive culinary career of 14 years including working with Govind Armstrong and Dominique Creen acting as the Director for Crenn Dining Group

·       Ryan’s restaurant, Dija Mara in San Diego won Best Restaurant of the Year by Eater Magazine; it is classified as modern Southeast Asian Cuisine inspired by Ryan’s time in Bali and Asia

·       Because Ryan has worked in demanding Michelin star restaurants his personal standards have always been extremely high, therefore Ryan has always been motivated to “be the best” in whatever he does… needless to say competition comes naturally