About Calico

Meet the Faces Behind the Gourmet Menu & Pastries

Chef/Owner Tony Balassone is a Hudson Valley Native and a graduate of the famed Culinary Institute of America. Upon graduation he was awarded two fellowships and is asked regularly to Guest Lecture. He then worked in Manhattan and was Executive Chef of two prestigious Country Clubs in Westchester County.

Chef Balassone has been invited six times to prepare Dinner at the Famed James Beard House in New York City. Calico has been open since 1994 and has consistently been the Top Rated Rhinebeck Restaurant.

Pastry Chef/Owner Leslie Balassone is a Hudson Valley Native and a 3rd generation Professional Baker. She did a formal apprenticeship with a Master French Pastry Chef and also studied under an Austrian Pastry Chef. Using seasonal ingredients of the highest quality she has been deemed “The best Pastry Chef in the Hudson Valley” by Zagat.