The people behind it.

Chef & Partner

Ryan DePersio

Ryan grew up in Nutley, learning to cook from his grandmothers and his mother, the pastry chef Cynthia DePersio. He trained at the New York Restaurant School, then cooked at Bouley Bakery and Judson Grill in New York, at La Braserie in Paris, at Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s Vong and Jean-Georges, and at the two-star Enoteca Pinchiorri in Florence.

At 25 he opened his family’s restaurant, Fascino, in Montclair — “Italian without borders” — which earned three-star reviews and a rating of “Excellent” from the New York Times. He’s a James Beard Foundation semifinalist for Best Mid-Atlantic Chef, and a nominee for Outstanding Chef at the Garden State Culinary Arts Awards.

Today he runs the kitchens at Battello, Ember & Eagle and The Kitchen Step — and now Barchino, on the waterfront.

Partner & Sommelier

Cory Checket

Cory spent more than ten years in Hoboken’s bar and restaurant scene — most of it at the Turtle Club — before crossing to Jersey City to open Battello, which grew into one of the premier dining and banquet rooms in the state.

He’s a certified sommelier, and the drinking end is his: the wine list at Battello runs past 200 labels, alongside a cocktail list built on the classics. With Joe and Ryan he also runs The Kitchen Step, the modern-American bistro that has been a Van Vorst fixture since 2016.

Still very much a hands-on operator — more often in the room than behind a desk.

Partner & Director of Operations

Joe Calafiore

Joe is a northern Jersey native who started out busing tables at his cousin’s deli near Nutley. At eighteen he was tending bar at Milan in Morris County; within months he was managing it. Nine years running Hoboken’s 3Forty Grill followed, and a hand in opening several New Jersey restaurants.

In 2013 his old friend Cory called about a dream of a full-scale restaurant on the Jersey City waterfront. That became Battello. Joe is the reason a room that size eats at the same time — the logistics, the timing, and the hundred small decisions guests never notice and always feel.

Director of Events

Dominique Borzomati