New Kid in Town

Chef Brian Molino and Marché

by Robin Catalano and photographs by Jennifer May, November 30, 2007

Try as he might, Brian Molino cannot seem to unleash his inner chef-diva. Despite having inherited the mantle of executive chef at Marché at 74 State—one of the Capital Region’s most buzzed-about new restaurants, and serving food that actually lives up to the hype—Molino is polite, diplomatic, and possesses a disarming “aw-shucks” demeanor that would send Gordon Ramsay into a fork-flinging rage. Considering that Molino’s food is some of the best to be found in the tri-state area, it’s amazing he hasn’t yet found a larger audience. “We’re taking off slowly,” he says. “It’s increasingly getting busier, so we’re expanding at a pace that’s been nice.”

“Nice” is precisely the word to describe the knowledgeable, yet soft-spoken Molino, who grew up outside Philadelphia and moved to Albany during high school. After training at the Culinary Institute of America, he got the ultimate first job, working the vegetable station at New York City’s Craft, the premier restaurant of celebrity chef and restaurant impresario Tom Colicchio. Within nine months, Molino was promoted to sous chef. “Craft was a great fit,” he says. “Tom was excellent to work for, and the philosophy they have—local and seasonal as much as possible—is very similar to what we do here. The biggest difference is that they do incredibly high volume and still have to maintain the quality. It was important for me to learn that standard, even if the volume isn’t as high in this area.”

Molino tired of the New York City pace, and three years later moved back north. He was hired earlier this year as second-in-command to Eric Masson, a Parisian chef who had been brought on board at 74 State to develop the new hotel’s entire food service program—breakfast, lunch, dinner, and room service, as well as the lighter-bites menu served at the hotel’s upstairs bar, and to oversee Marché. Masson’s reputation for gastronomic finesse preceded him, but just five days after the restaurant opened, he was gone, with the management citing “philosophical differences.”