About Chef Jonathan Sellitto
Jonathan was the younger of the Sellitto brothers and from the time he was a small child, he was passionate about life and all it had to offer. With an unbelievable spirit, a fearless sense of loyalty and an endless range of humor, Jonathan’s life and future took a sudden turn on 9/11 when his brother was killed in the World Trade Center; many of their plans were tragically lost.
While taking a summer trip through Italy in 2003, Jonathan found his passion at the Culinary Institute of Florence and after graduating from the College of Charleston, he returned to pursue his dream as a charcutier. Jonathan was able to find the best of both worlds—someone with the skills of a butcher and the mind of a chef. Once back in the states, he mastered old-school techniques at Barbara Lynch’s Butcher Shop, Boston, MA and went on to partner with a dear friend and Abbey alum, Chef Angus Brown, ‘01 to open LUSCA, in Atlanta, GA. In addition to running the charcuterie program, he was instrumental in helping LUSCA achieve the recognition of being named a top new restaurant in 2015 by GQ Magazine and a James Beard Award semi-finalist; he was selected by Atlanta Magazine as “one of the country’s greatest charcutiers in the country.”
Jonathan loved The Abbey and was thrilled and honored to have been invited to present a program for the Club in 2016 and to support its mission to feed the body, soul and mind through food.