There’s a certain kind of chef who thrives on the daily churn of restaurant life—the repetition, overseeing the kitchen staff, the constant calibration between creativity and crowd-pleasing. And then there’s Rich Reeve, who, after four decades on the line and at the helm, has decided he’d rather just cook dinner.
Beginning April 19, Reeve will step into a new role as chef-in-residence at Gigi Trattoria in Rhinebeck, launching At the Table with Rich Reeve, a Sunday night dinner series that trades the fixed identity of a restaurant for something more fluid, more personal, and, in his words, more connected. The series, held in the back room of the restaurant, opens with “Bella Roma” dinners on April 19 and 26, a four-course Roman-inspired menu. Future installments will travel across the Mediterranean—from Provence to Spain to North Africa.
For anyone who followed Reeve’s career at Elephant in Kingston or, more recently, Bia in Rhinebeck (which closed earlier this year), the move reads less like a pivot than a distillation. “I’ve been an executive chef since I was 24 years old,” Reeve says. “Forty years. It got old… I just didn’t want to be in charge of everything anymore. I just wanted to make dinner for people.”
That deceptively simple ambition—make dinner, bring people together—forms the backbone of the series. But the structure is anything but casual. Each evening is conceived as a kind of culinary travelogue, anchored in a specific place and moment, shaped by seasonality, and paired with wines that extend the narrative beyond the plate. It’s a format that allows Reeve to escape one of the fundamental constraints of running a restaurant: the need to be everything to everyone.
“When you’re making a menu, it’s your biggest advertisement,” he says. “You’re trying to have something for everybody—the adventurous eater, the light eater, the 28-year-old couple, the 60-year-old who’s been everywhere.” The result, inevitably, is compromise. The Sunday suppers eliminate that calculus. “I’m going to make a menu,” he says, “and this is what we got. Come on and have it.”
That freedom extends to geography. Rather than being tethered to a single cuisine or concept, Reeve can move from Rome to the Riviera to Tunisia, following both his own curiosity and the rhythms of the seasons. “I wanted to be able to vary my cooking,” he says. “Not be stuck in the same country forever.”
The collaboration with Gigi Trattoria’s chef-owner, Laura Pensiero, emerged organically. The two had worked together in the past and reconnected as he began sketching out what his next act might look like. What started as a conversation over a glass of wine evolved into a partnership. “It kind of just kept growing,” Reeve says.
Pensiero, a registered dietitian as well as a longtime restaurateur, brings a complementary sensibility to the project—one that emphasizes not just flavor, but the broader experience of dining. “These evenings are about more than a meal,” she says. “They’re about slowing down, sharing stories, and experiencing food and wine as connectors—across cultures, ideas, and people.”
That ethos will be evident from the outset with the “Bella Roma” dinners. Antipasti includes whipped ricotta cacio e pepe, warm baby artichokes with mint and pecorino Romano, and tuna crudo. Primi feature hand-rolled strozzapreti all’Amatriciana with guanciale with tomoato, peperoncino, and pecorino Romano. The secondi course is anchored by slow-roasted spring lamb with roasted potatoes. Dessert centers around maritozzo, traditional Roman sweet buns stuffed with pistachio cream and carmelized pear.
The service style splits the difference between communal and composed. Dishes will be designed for sharing within each party, presented in a way that encourages interaction without devolving into the chaos of family-style platters. “Communal for each individual party,” as Reeve puts it—an approach that mirrors the broader goal of the series: intimacy without informality, structure without rigidity.
The setting will follow suit. Reeve describes the vibe as rustic but transportive—“a small bistro or osteria on a side street,” or even “a ski hut in the Dolomites.” It’s less about theatrical immersion than about subtle cues: the pacing of the meal, the interplay of food and wine.
For Pensiero, whose Gigi Trattoria has long been a fixture in Rhinebeck’s dining scene, the series represents an expansion rather than a departure. It’s an opportunity to reimagine what a restaurant can be—not just a place to eat, but a platform for curated experiences that evolve over time. “They’ll be immersive culinary experiences,” she says. “Travel through food and wine, and community through conversation.”
For Reeve, it’s something closer to a return. Not to a specific place or menu, but to a way of cooking that prioritizes connection over scale, curiosity over consistency. After years of running kitchens, he’s stepping back—not to slow down, exactly, but to refocus. Or, as he puts it more plainly: Make dinner, and see who shows up.
At the Table with Rich Reeve kicks off on April 19 at 4pm at Gigi Trattoria in Rhinebeck. Tickets are $95, wine, tax, and gratuity not included.
I’m definitely interested in this dining series
Love the concept
Oooh. Thats the pasta Etta loved so much the last two times we went. Yum