Lomonaco is the chef-owner of Porter House at the Time Warner Center, which is where to go when you want to spend a lot of money on meat in a mall.

A native of Bensonhurst, Lomonaco went to New Utrecht High School, attended Brooklyn College. He made a go as a stage actor until deciding to pursuing a food career and earning a culinary degree from the New York Technical College. Following early stints at several undistinguished restaurants around town, Lomonaco landed at Le Cirque—where he worked for Alain Sailhac and Daniel Boulud—and later followed Sailhac to "21." He eventually became 21's executive chef before leaving in 1996 to head up the kitchen at Joe Baum's Windows on the World, the glittery restaurant on the 107th floor of the World Trade Center's north tower. Lomonaco would have probably died on Sept. 11th—like 79 of his fateful employees—if he hadn't stopped to pick up his eyeglasses that morning. Following the attack, Lomonaco took some time off, returning in 2002 to open Noche in Times Square and Guastavino's on the East Side with Windows on the World's former owner, David Emil. He opened the Jeffrey Beers-designed Porter House in the Time Warner Center in 2006. [Image via Getty]