TONIANN SALVATO
OUR CHEF
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I have the best job in the world. I get to play with food.
I thrive on flavor combinations that make you think of your childhood, a comfortable place or a special holiday.
As a child, I wished I had a family member who was a baker - so, they could teach me their trade and I might carry out their legacy. Today, I am working toward building my own legacy that might inspire someone younger to one day carry on.
Brooklyn, N.Y. born and raised - I have always viewed the world through a different lens.
I come from a long line of home grown artists - a family of seamstresses, woodworkers, potters, photographers, musicians and storytellers.
Growing up in an environment that overflowed with creativity, I acquired an intrinsic passion to design, re-design, create and re-create. This passion is a driving force in my daily life.
Trained to have a great respect for the use of line, perspective, light and shadow, I constantly play with composition and how the world fills my frame. Understanding and adapting to many different mediums has placed me in a unique position where my art has no boundaries.
Picasso said, "Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once (s)he grows up."
I received my Associates Degree in Fine Arts from Kingsborough Community College. I continued to pursue my Bachelors Degree in the Fine Arts at Brooklyn College until I realized art was only half my life's passion.
I decided to combine my intense love of creating art with my love for food and began my career in the Pastry Arts. With hard work and determination, I graduated from The French Culinary Institute of New York.
After working as a Head Baker at Amai Tea and Bake House in NYC - followed by some freelance baking gigs throughout the city, I decided to focus my energy on my own dream, Brooklyn Treat Shoppe.
There is something very special about the power of food and how it makes people feel. A small taste or even just the smell can bring us back to a defined moment in our past that will usually make us smile. I feel a great deal of satisfaction when one of my culinary creations brings a smile to someone’s face.
Our concept is something near and dear to my heart.....home. I want everything I do to make my customers feel at home.