Q+A: Doug Genovese

Photo: Joshua Franzos

More than 100,000 visitors a year dine at the Carnegie Museums in Oakland, and Doug Genovese is in charge of making sure everyone is satisfied. Genovese is general manager of food and beverage services at Carnegie Museums of Art and Natural History, where he oversees everything from the grab-and-go sandwiches at Fossil Fuels Cafe, grilled lamb and stone fruit salad at The Cafe Carnegie, and the varied menus for catered events. Genovese wasn’t always interested in cooking. He was planning on a career in software development as a student at Penn State University in the late 1990s. But his experience working at a high-volume steak house convinced him he preferred the kitchen over sitting at a desk. He eventually took an entry-level pantry job at The Pittsburgh Golf Club, where he worked his way up to executive sous chef after eight years. Later, he served as executive chef at Square Cafe before he became the executive chef at the Oakland museums in 2017, where he’s continued to work his way up through the ranks to the position he holds today. Genovese credits his Italian grandmother with fostering his love of cooking, and he works out concepts for new dishes at home, though his 12-year-old son’s palate skews more toward fast food. “He likes mac and cheese and burgers and that kind of jazz,” Genovese shrugs. “He’s a kid doing kid stuff.”

 By Chris Fleisher  

Q: The food at Fossil Fuels Cafe and The Cafe Carnegie are very different. How do you develop those varying menus?

A:  It’s being able to adapt to the upper end of the food spectrum and the lower end of the spectrum, and still providing really high quality. We make in-house pizzas, we make all of our dough in-house. Same with the sandwiches. We want to make sure that everything’s made in-house and is done with care. We just have to take a fine-dining view of things and translate it into something more casual.

Q: Is there a dish that you’re particularly proud of?   

A: I really enjoy making fresh pastas, making bread, and doing very simple, earthy, fundamentally satisfying products. 

Q: Your love of cooking came from being with your grandmother in the kitchen. What did you cook together? 

A: One of my favorite dishes that she used to make is a very thin pork schnitzel. It’s not the most vegetarian friendly, but it’s a labor of love when you do it correctly. 

Q: How did those early experiences inform your work here? 

A: I think it’s more about treating people well, hospitality, and having food as a nurturing component of your life as opposed to just sustenance.

Q: There is a growing awareness around dietary restrictions. How do you account for that in the menus you plan? 

A: We use a lot of acid, a lot of pickles, and things to enhance the umami flavors. You’ll see a lot of mushrooms, lightly fermented things like cucumbers, herbs, carrots. And you’ll see more pungent vinaigrette. It gives it all a bigger flavor. One of our goals in the cafe is to provide quality vegetarian items without people thinking it’s vegetarian or vegan. We want them to look at the dish and think this would be really awesome to eat just because it’s really good, not because of any specific dietary concerns.

Q: In 2022, you started collaborating with local chefs who consult on The Cafe Carnegie menu. How do you choose the chefs you partner with? 

A: A lot of the time it is word of mouth. But Tara Rockacy, the farmer and owner of Churchview Farm, has been instrumental in helping us find and connect with local chefs.  

Q: What’s your next partnership? 

A: Above and Beyond Catering is this year and into early next year. They’re amazing. They do local farm-to-table stuff, they do a lot of catering, they have a cafe. Just really great people, too. 

Q: Do you try out new concepts with your family? 

A: Oh my, yes. We make a vegan ramen with shiitakes, chiles, onion, soy sauce, and lots of garlic, making noodles and broth. We were testing out wings and went through 10 iterations. My wife and son are definitely my guinea pigs for everything.

Q: Have they ever rejected anything? 

A: My wife’s not into the hot-dog eggs that I make for my son. We make cheesy eggs with hot dogs in them. I know, it’s gross.

Q: And that hasn’t made it on the menu? 

A: That’s a reject. But my wife has had a few that have come onto the menu here. The salmon tartare was a direct correlation between my wife loving it at home and it being on The Cafe Carnegie menu.