Max Blachman-Gentile
The Standard | New York
February 2019
Max Blachman-Gentile was born and raised in Oakland and attended high school across the Bay in San Francisco. He was always interested in food, and when an opportunity arose at the palliative care pediatric center where one of his mother’s worked, Blachman-Gentile began cooking there on weekends. It was the first time he saw the power of food to make people happy, even in dark times. He also held down traditional restaurant jobs in high school and staged at Gary Danko and Boulevard.
Blachman-Gentile went on to work for Danny Bowien at the first New York location of Mission Chinese while studying history at Columbia University. He graduated in 2013 and continued working for Bowien as sous chef at Mission Cantina. In 2014, he returned home to stage at Tartine Bakery, crystalizing his passion for bread.
Back in New York, he joined Carlo Mirarchi Roberta’s as a baker. His next role was as chef de cuisine at pizza and burger spot Emily, where he was responsible for both bread and savory options. In 2016, Blachman-Gentile moved to beer bar Tørst as head baker, where he experimented with direct-to-consumer bread sales via Instagram. In 2018, Blachman-Gentile was appointed chef de cuisine of The Standard, East Village, which includes Café Standard, Narcissa, and narcbar within the hotel. He leads a team of 60 and launched a bread program with a small retail and wholesale component that he plans to grow.
