Chef de Cuisine of Press in Napa, Vincenzo Loseto, began his culinary career following his brother to work at a local butcher shop on his native Long Island. From there, he attended a local 2-year vocational cooking program, and then the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park.
Since graduating, he has worked as a sous chef at The Nomad in NYC, and at Eleven Madison Park before coming to Napa. A lover of competitions, he placed first in the 2016 Ment’Or Young Chef Competition and, and assisted Chef Matthew Peters on his 2017 Bocuse D’Or win.
After eating every crazy bite available at Bottlerock Napa 2025, I caught up with Chef Loseto, who goes by “Vinny” on the latest season Top Chef. We sat down and chatted about his favorite moments on the show, the different food seasonality in California compared to New York, and how great it would be to barbecue with Post Malone.
Vinny also made our favorite bite of the entire festival with the Nitro French Fry Soft Serve with Potato Crumble and Tsar Nicolai Caviar. It was my perfect bite of salty and sweet on a hot summer festival day!
What is your Favorite Top Chef moment?
Other than the obvious of just bonding with everyone on the show… Making pizzas on the vineyards was a highlight for me, mainly because it reminded me of home and it was a nice refresher during the show to be able to make pizzas at a winery. It helped me get grounded a little bit midway through the show.
Do you have any dishes inspired by your time on the show?
While on the show, you’re either drawing from stuff you already know or you’re creating something ridiculous on the fly. It’s a tough one. The chopped cheese patty was kind of on the fly one, hopefully I could introduce that somewhere into a menu sometime soon.
We have to talk about the lobster corndog that you highlighted on the show. It is obviously a hit, selling 3000 over the weekend at BottleRock.
Here at Bottlerock, we put the lobster corndog on the menu three years ago. It originally started out as a way to elevate fare food because we’re on the Napa Fairgrounds, and we did in VIP for the first two years, got great traction, and now we branched out to GA as well.
Did you find any hidden gems in Canada while filming?
We didn’t get to wander too much. Hanging off the CN tower in Toronto was a fun one. Being able to see and experience that was a pretty unique.
What’s your perfect bite?
Perfect bite? I’m pretty simple, you know, I like some pizza. You know, taking just a bite of pizza. Being in California, it’s not as accessible as it once was in New York, but yeah, a nice, nice bite of pizza.
Farm to table to a focus for your cooking. Do you have a favorite season and a favorite dish to make?
Favorite season to eat? Spring. Least favorite season to work with in a kitchen? Also spring just because it’s the most labor intensive.
But being in California, it’s definitely very unique. The seasons aren’t what I’m used to in New York. I’m used to a traditional four-season year. We’re getting produce super early relative to where I’m from. And then like, we’re getting tomatoes all the way through November.
But yeah, the summer, once summer hits, it’s pretty amazing. Just the tomatoes, the squash, squash blossoms, herbs and everything. Fruits. It’s pretty amazing out here.
What’s your perfect day in Napa Valley?
Perfect day in Napa Valley… A day off, typically when the timing is right, I head up to Stony Hill, bring my pizza oven, drink some amazing wine, make some pizzas, and just relax in a beautiful landscape.
Any local places you like to check out and would tell people to visit?
State Line Barbecue down here – Daryl does some amazing Kansas City barbecue grill cooking. There are some fun wineries to check out as well of course. Definitely Rudd. Super beautiful, doing amazing cabs, as well as amazing sparkling wine. And they have some cave tours, which are quite beautiful.
Perfect Napa food and wine pairing?
I like some fried chicken and sparkling wine. Or even Thai food and sparkling wine.
Do you have any advice for future Top Chef contestants?
Do your homework, do your research. But also, don’t be afraid to take risks. You’ve got to be able to set yourself apart. And sometimes it’s a big bite to take, but, it does pay off if you’re willing to take that risk.
Who’s your dream rock star cooking collaboration?
Dream rock star? Post Malone. He was here last year or the year before. Definitely would love to do something with him. Kaskade was here this year, someone I’ve always listened to and looked up to and would love to cook with. And they always seem like people that look like they want to have a good time, especially Post Malone, I feel like cracking a beer and doing some barbecue with him would be pretty amazing.