the team

Adam Block

Long time restaurant consultant and investor, Adam is the sole operator and owner of PRINT Restaurant and The Press Lounge. As the principal and founder of Block & Associates, founded in 1987, Block has advised, developed and consulted on some of the most influential restaurants, hotels and projects in the world.

His experience working with iconic chefs and restaurateurs such as Thomas Keller (French Laundry and Per Se), Charlie Trotter, Alice Waters (Chez Panisse) and Judy Rodgers and Gilbert Pilgrim at Zuni Cafe, helped inspire the vision for PRINT Restaurant and The Press Lounge.  He wanted to create a quality experience in a price-approachable restaurant dedicated to sustainability, regional sourcing and community. Since its opening in 2010, PRINT and The Press Lounge continue to gain momentum on all fronts and PRINT Restaurant is one of the country’s leading Ag-American restaurants.

There were many naysayers when Adam decided to open an ambitious eatery in Hell’s Kitchen in 2010. He didn’t want just any restaurant, but the kind with stalwart sourcing that it would have its own on-staff, full-time forager. Although the “farm-to-table” buzz term was just beginning to surface, it was a financially-tumultuous time and the idea of having a forager seemed frivolous at best.

Adam’s background in the food industry and in his consulting business well-prepared him to operate PRINT and The Press Lounge, as these concepts require oversight by someone detail-oriented both operationally and financially in order for them to work.

Gary King joined the PRINT team in May of 2018. Chef King strives on a daily basis to preserve the quality and integrity of fresh ingredients by highlighting and enhancing their flavor to give guests a true taste of what the local area has to offer. As executive chef and owner of Oceanside Restaurant in Maui, Gary prepared a rustic American menu with Mediterranean influences, showcasing the finest seasonal produce and seafood that Maui had to offer while supporting local farmers and fisherman.

Originally from Oceanside, California, Gary has spent most of his working life in some of New York City’s finest restaurants. He began his journey with the legendary San Domenico in midtown Manhattan, then ventured on to the French Culinary Institute, and traveled to Italy where he worked at the Michelin-starred Ristorante Reale in Rivisondoli learning to make hand-crafted pastas and seasonal Michelin-starred farm-to-table cuisine.

In 2005 Gary returned to New York City to join the team of Tom Colicchio’s acclaimed restaurant Craft, where he used high quality seasonal produce to execute the restaurant’s simply-prepared dishes. Moving on to Australia, he worked at the classic Sydney establishment Otto, further strengthening his knowledge of rustic Italian dishes.

Upon returning to the states, Gary worked as sous chef at Chelsea mainstay Cookshop, where he developed close relationships with tri-state farmers and served a daily-changing menu of farm-to-table fare. He then joined Nick Hatsatouris and Lincoln Pilcher to open Moby’s Montauk & East Hampton, another very successful farm-to-table restaurant.

Chef King joined longtime friend and fellow chef Justin Smilie at il Buco, and then worked alongside Smilie opening Upland in 2014 as Chef de Cuisine.

In 2015 Gary was introduced to Paul and Preston Cheng, who together owned Oceanside Restaurant in Maui. They were looking for a new chef, and King being a longtime fan and supporter of all things farmer was excited at the prospect of working in a Maui restaurant and having direct access to the area’s pristine produce and seafood. He joined Paul and Preston Cheng to open the restaurant which made its debut in December 2015.

In 2017, Gary returned to New York City. He became the executive chef  at NoMo SoHo for a year and a half, before joining the team at PRINT.

Our Executive Pastry Chef Sofia Schlieben is NYC born and raised. She wasted no time and started working from an early age for some of the city’s most decorated chefs. She has worked for Thomas Keller, Micheal White and Jean Georges. Sofia became Pastry Chef at Michelin-starred Veritas, and then went on to become Corporate Pastry Chef for John Fraser’s Dovetail, NIX and The Loyal. She now joins PRINT and is incredibly excited to showcase her skills in such a thoughtful and seasonal restaurant. She has a tattoo for every piece of produce she has worked with. Her inspirations come from seasonal ingredients and the classic dishes of Americana, and loves bringing the two of these together in the PRINT pastry department.

Meghan Boledovich

Meghan’s role as forager at PRINT is as important as it is diverse. She acts as a liaison between the farm and the table within the restaurant, working closely with all of the food and beverage purveyors. Additionally, she is actively involved in connecting the restaurant with the community.

Seeking out farmers and artisans inside the region and out, she establishes relationships that serve to supply unique ingredients for PRINT’s globally-inspired and locally-sourced menu. Mornings are often spent at the greenmarket and on PRINT’s rooftop garden. During peak growing season you’ll find her scoping out local farms, and gathering ingredients at the greenmarket on her four-wheel forager bike, in pursuit of a sustainable balance between the needs of the farmer and the standards of PRINT.

Meghan’s diverse background in food began with the inspirational time she spent studying (and later teaching) in Aix-en-Provence and Bordeaux, France. There she immersed herself in the vibrant daily markets and explored the incredible abundance of artisan foods and local purveyors.

She found a way to correlate her Bachelor of Anthropology from the University of Kansas in Anthropology with her passion for gastronomy upon acceptance into the Food Studies Masters Program at New York University, where she analyzed urban food cultures and systems within a global framework.

Prior to her arrival at PRINT, her work experience in the food industry included positions as a biodynamic wine retailer, greenmarket manager, organizer of a community cooking club, urban farmer, content developer for various food tech sites, sous chef, and youth culinary instructor.

In her free time you will find her in her kitchen experimenting with seasonal ingredients and sharing abundant meals with friends. It is this fulfillment that comes from cooking with such vibrant local ingredients that she hopes to share with guests through her foraging work at PRINT and through the PRINT blog with her recipes inspired by ingredients of the season.

Director of Sales and Marketing Persephone Chan is a well-established veteran of the industry. She grew up in a restaurant family and learned the craft while working in all aspects of hospitality and operations at her father’s restaurants. Persephone interned as a cook at one of the world’s most recognized Japanese kitchens – Nobu – directly after earning her degree in the culinary arts from the New York Restaurant School. She is also a graduate of New York University’s Stern School of Business. With a combination of her education, training and experience, Persephone has the business acumen and creative skills to connect with her clients in order to produce truly unique and successful events. Since then, she has worked with Michelin-starred Chefs and their renowned restaurants including Eric Ripert, Jean-Louis Palladin, Jean-Louis Dumonet and Marcus Samuelsson.

Persephone’s talent for elevating an event from corporate to elegant draws from her over 10 years of experience as the Conference Director for advertising giant Young & Rubicam in New York City. Among her many professional accomplishments, Persephone has been at the helm orchestrating events for high profile clients ranging from C-suite executives for Fortune 100 companies and former US Presidents, to spiritual leaders such as the Dalai Lama.

A born and raised New Yorker, Frankie’s love for food and wine was kindled at a young age while growing up in an Italian family on Long Island. Frankie spent his early years watching his grandmother cook in a wonderful-smelling kitchen filled with love. Frankie started out his career at Paces Steakhouse, spending ten years there before breaking into the NYC scene as a sommelier at the legendary Grand Central Oyster Bar. After trying his hand at the hotel bar scene at The Marlton, Frankie really earned his chops working for Jonathan Waxman at Jams in 1 Hotel Central Park. It was at Jams where his cocktails earned the attention of Newsday and Timeout magazine. Over the past few years Frankie has stayed true to hotel restaurants, curating the wine and beer program at Nomo Soho Hotel, and more recently working as the AGM at Simon and the Whale in the Freehand. Frankie is thrilled to be a part of the dynamic and incredibly talented team at PRINT, and always welcomes a fellow suit jacket aficionado to the bar.