Billy Olivia

Executive Chef William Oliva bravely laughed in the face of child labor laws when he started working in the kitchen at twelve years of age. Enlisted into the business by his brother, William’s first restaurant job was at the Financial District’s Fraunces Tavern under Chef Guy Gautier, just blocks away from Delmonico’s. Shortly after, he took a position at Liberty Café with ex-Tao chef Sam Hazen and then landed at his brother’s restaurant Harbour Lights, working with John Loghran, previously of The River Café.

At Harbour Lights, Oliva worked his way up to sous-chef before transferring to the short-lived Longacre Square Steak House, where William delighted guests with signature entrees that illustrated his fine dining ambitions in the context of a steakhouse. At the time, Times Square had few gastronomic reasons for New Yorkers to venture into its confines, and Longacre’s owners decided to turn it into an outpost of venerable watering hole Rosie O’Grady’s. The pub fare was too timid for Oliva’s culinary ferocity, so he took off to Europe.

In West Cork, Ireland, Oliva took over The Baltimore Customs House where his $35 and $45 tasting menus garnered a Michelin Bib Gourmand. Europe exposed the chef to new flavor profiles and techniques, which he encountered on trips to Seville, London, and Southern Italy (Sicily, Capri, Rome). Armed with overseas experience, he left the tranquility of West Cork and settled back into his home state.

Now at Delmonico's, Oliva brings a globally-inspired, seasonal approach to the oldest restaurant in the country. Using organic and local ingredients whenever possible, chef Oliva has successfully incorporated items like Meyers beef, laughing bird shrimp and Five Spoke Creamery cheeses (from Porchester, NY) into his menus. In Ireland, Oliva had direct access to farmers, he once had to wait for a farmer's chicken to lay the last two eggs in an order, and he hopes to strike the same close relationships with his purveyors in NYC.