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Encore Exclusive interview with John Tsakinis of Aqualis Grille
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The road to John Tsakinis’ tenure at Aqualis Grill in Fort Greene, Brooklyn includes summers in Greece and a multiple-decade study of New York’s best restaurants. These varied influences have led the Greek-American chef to his current position as the captain at the helm of one of the freshest, most authentic Greek restaurants New York has to offer.
What led you to a career as a chef?
I learned to cook as a child because I was always hungry. My mom showed me how to cook a couple dishes and when I was hungry after I got home from school I would just cook them myself. I learned more through the cooking program at my high school Fort Green in Brooklyn and it made me want to learn more.
Can you describe your professional experience leading up to Aqualis?
I studied Hotel Restaurant Management at Neotech in Downtown Brooklyn. After graduation, I started working and had my first professional job at Petrossian. I’ve spent the past twenty years cooking with professionals and learning from those around me at everything from Bistros to barbeque. I wanted to learn more about the food that I had grown up with so I found Greek chefs and worked with them before Aqualis.
Can you describe the food at Aqualis?
The food is basic Mediterranean. Traditional, fun, straight-forward. All of our ingredients are prepared in-house; nothing is canned. I try to make food the way that my aunts and uncles would make food. It’s very important to me that the food is as fresh as possible. Every morning we bake our own bread, make our own yogurt. When I was a kid and I would visit my family in Greece, if we were hungry we went down to the boat and caught a fish. That’s the kind of freshness that I want to present to my customers.
What’s the best compliment a customer could give you?
I’m pretty shy about compliments actually, but I think the best compliment I’ve ever received was that a woman who had tried octopus all over the world said that my octopus was the best she’d ever had. I get a lot of compliments comparing my food to chefs from Europe—Albania, Italy, Greece. That’s really the best compliment.
Aqualis Grill is located at 773 Fulton Street (between Portland Ave & Oxford St) in Fort Greene, Brooklyn.