Friday, July 31 , 2004 - Edition

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At Your Leisure

'Chef Gazpacho' pursues his dream

Argentina-born Gonzalo Gagliardi is also known by one

of his professions, and it was the sous chef at The

Ritz-Carlton, Amelia Island who conferred on him the alias

of "Chef Gazpacho" when he worked at that five-star hotel.
He is no longer at The Ritz because he took time off to work

on his TV production demo.
"I was laid off when I went to Argentina to edit my

demo. At the same time I had been scheduled to do some

banquets," he says.

"So, I took 10 months off to work on my demo. But,

after a year, the director of creative development for the

production company left, and everything he was working on

fell through”,says Gagliardi .

But he came back to Amelia Island, bought a

house,is doing freelance TV production for Telemundo,

the Spanish language TV network, "and I'm still trying to sell Gonzalo Gagliardi

my own production," he adds. And he still hasn't quite gotten

over his love of cooking.

"My favorite dishes are adaptations of traditional dishes - 'nouveau cuisine' and 'nouveau Latino,' "he explains. "I'm an artistic chef who works with props for food presentations."

Most recently, he helped the owner of Bright Mornings to open the new restaurant, and he is currently helping the Florida House Inn with banquets and fine dining.

Next to TV production and cooking, Gagliardi says he loves the ocean and surfing, and he tells that he was one of a small group of pioneers "in remote Costa Rica who started a community that has grown and is still there," he says.

Married and divorced from his wife, whom he met in Costa Rica, they came here where their son, Sebastian, was born. The three still live in Fernandina, and he and his former wife have shared custody of their son. "We try to work together, and we find that Fernandina is family-oriented - a really great place to raise a kid," he says.

In the meantime, while he's waiting for a break in the field he wants to break into, Chef Gagliardi has decided to create his own fall-back position. "I bought a building in 'the 'hood' at Ninth and Jasmine where I want to put in a pasta factory," he says. "I may have to start smaller than I thought, but my grandfather had a pasta factory in Buenos Aires and I have the old pictures to go by."

Gagliardi confesses to a passion for creative development - whether in the culinary field, action sports or corporate events production. "I am a person who pursues his dream at any cost," he says, "and sometimes the cost is very high."

Argentina-born Gonzalo Gagliardi is also known by one

of his professions, and it was the sous chef at The

Ritz-Carlton, Amelia Island who conferred on him the alias

of "Chef Gazpacho" when he worked at that five-star hotel. He is no longer at The Ritz because he took time off to work

of "Chef Gazpacho" when he worked at that five-star hotel.
He is no longer at The Ritz because he took time off to work