About Me
My name is Mike O’Connell and I am the Rooftop Gourmet. My passion for food and wine developed at an early age from family dinners, cooking with my mother, traveling the world, culinary school, and our family wine business. When I was very young, I would watch re-runs of Julia Child on PBS because it immediatley followed Sesame Street and from then on I was hooked.
My grandfather, John Recco transformed his parents’ gourmet market in Auburndale, Massachusetts into a wine shop and since then has acquired two larger stores in Newton and Wayland. I grew up working in all three of the stores throughout my time at Wellesley High School and Trinity College, learning the business and everything I could about wine. I have studied abroad in Rome and traveled all over Italy on various occasions soaking up as much food, wine, and culture as possible.
After graduation, I decided to enter culinary school at the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts, where I expanded my food knowledge and learned the basics. I worked under celebrity chef Michael Schlow at Via Matta in Boston and got a full dose of restaurant life before deciding to return to work for the family business. Since then, I have been working full time at our Upper Falls location in Newton, and cooking for fun in my rooftop apartment in South Boston.
Entertaining, watching people eat your food, and hearing feedback on recomended wines is what drives me. I love to introduce customers to new wines that they fall in love with, and I love creating a new recipe and watching my friends or girlfriend try it. I wouldn’t say that I have a particular cooking style but most of my dishes are modern twists on classic recipes. I love to incorporate new flavors, ingredients, and techniques into simple dishes.
I am always learning. Whether I am reading cookbooks, wine magazines, watching food t.v, attending seminars, or wandering aimlessley around the grocery store, I am constantly thinking about food and wine. When it comes to wine and food there is always more to learn.
Creating a new dish is very similar to winemaking. You start with a basic protein and you build flavors into the meal while balancing sweet, sour, bitter, and spicy. Different techniques are used to add flavor and texture.
With wine, you start by growing a particular grape varietal (or multiple varietals) and everything done in the growing process contributes to different aspects of the wine. Where and when the grapes are harvested, the soil they grow in, how old the vines are, how long they are aged, and in what type of barrels, are all contributing factors. Winemakers tweek these things in order to balance fruit, acidity, and tannins. I love pairing wines with my recipes and I encourage you to try them yourself. When it comes to food and wine, everything is subjective so don’t be frustrated if you hate something that I love but keep trying different things to develop your palate.
I don’t stay in and cook every night. Going out to eat is also one of my favorite things to do. Some of my favorite restaurants are Rialto, Neptune Oyster, K.O Prime, B&G Oysters, Bricco, East Coast Grille, 51 Lincoln, Alta Strada, Sushi-Teq, Il Capriccio, and Masa.
Trying to pick a favorite food is impossible… I love everything (except eggplant and bananas). I can go from craving refined French cuisine to a #2 combo meal at Wendy’s in less than 24 hours. I love everything about the Piedmont region of Italy. Cooking is relaxing. Raw 0ysters and truffles give me goosebumps in a good way. Viognier tastes like a medicine I took for an ear infection when I was a kid. I want a pet pig. I run marathons so that I can eat what I want. I have a minor obsession with my chef’s knife.
Email me Personally: RooftopGourmet@gmail.com or michael.okie@gmail.com
