Featured Chef - Chef Joe Hafner

Executive Chef
Gracie's Restaurant
Providence, RI

Chef Joseph Hafner insists on ingredients so fresh they taste like they were just plucked from the soil. His flavors are always simple and impeccably clean, and his ever-changing menu at Gracie’s never ceases to surprise. It’s why Chef Hafner’s creations are a happy marriage of the freshest ingredients and the most inventive culinary thinking. That’s the pleasure of eating at Gracie’s.

One could attribute Chef Hafner’s approach to his experience cooking in many notable kitchens, such as the Michelin -starred Les Trois Marches in Versailles, Babbington House in Somerset, England, Philadelphia’s Susanna Foo and Carambola restaurants, along with Cafe Zelda, Salvation Cafe and The White Horse Tavern in Rhode Island. Or maybe it can be credited to his experience cooking at events for The James Beard Foundation and alongside other award-winning chefs at dinners for Share Our Strength, The March of Dimes, and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

A true devotee of the current trend of using local, organic, sustainable foods, Chef Hafner takes this concept one step further with his tasting menus, crafting each plate spontaneously and according to what each diner prefers.

In his travels, he has learned that good food is all about the ingredients. Only the freshest and best will do, which is why Chef Hafner works closely with local farmers, fisherman, and cheesemongers. That devotion to quality is apparent in everything on the menu at Gracie’s.

Talk to Chef Hafner and he’ll tell you that he attributes his passion, style and culinary philosophy not only to his work experience, but also to a fervent desire to improve and progress with every dish. It’s what makes the food at Gracie’s cutting edge, yet approachable. Chef Hafner is always thinking, creating. Perhaps it’s why everyone within a plate’s reach of him is always blissfully eating.

Spring Vegetable Salad with Truffle Whipped Honey and Whole–Milk Ricotta