“Behind every great chef there is a greater team, and behind every great restaurant is a great neighborhood!”
—Will Artley
While travelling the world with his military parents, Will developed a passion for cooking at a young age. He even spent time as a young boy working on a pig farm. Years later his passion drove him to work for free in several great restaurants just for the opportunity to learn. Later on, having staged at two of the best restaurants in New York City (Danube and Jean-Georges), Will Artley started at the prestigious Culinary Institute of America (CIA) in Hyde Park, New York, with a background of which many students would be jealous. Not one to rest on his laurels, while at the CIA, Will worked with Marcus Samuelsson at Aquavit and did an externship with chef Seth Bixby Daugherty at D’Amico Cucina in Minneapolis. Will earned a master’s in artisan bread and later studied under two of America’s best pizzaiolos (respected, professional pizza-makers) and became certified by the Italian government as a Master Pizzaiolo himself.
After graduating from CIA in 2003, Will moved to Washington, D.C., to open Chef Bob Kinkead’s Colvin Run Tavern in Tysons Corner, VA, while simultaneously working the line at Kinkead’s eponymous D.C. restaurant, Kinkead’s. He moved to Evening Star Café, a high-end diner in Alexandria, VA, in August of 2005, where he started as a sous-chef and moved up to executive chef. In October of 2011, after six years at Evening Star Cafe, Will decided it was time to move on. He left without knowing his next job.
After four months off, except for a week-long gig with a pop-up restaurant, Will was hired at Pizzeria Orso in Falls Church, Virginia. Before taking over, his new bosses sent him to VPN Americas, an international nonprofit organization that cultivates the art and traditions of Neapolitan pizza. When faced with the question of why he transitioned from working for chefs of Kinkead’s caliber to cooking “comfort pizza,” Will says, “I don’t think a lot of people want to eat fine dining. I think people want to eat fine food.” The fine-dining training is hard to shake though, and Will still plates like he’s working in a fine-dining establishment.
The success of Pizzeria Orso led Will to his first national TV appearance as a contestant on Food Network’s show Chopped in 2012. Will describes his experience on Food Network’s competition show Chopped, which aired in November of 2012, as “eye opening” and one of the hardest things he’s ever done. Will says, “[The] biggest lesson I learned was to truly appreciate how great my team is … and that the reason for my success is because of them … it was the first time in my career I didn’t have them to help me.” He came back from Chopped with a new outlook and appreciation for his core team, which has been with him for seven years. As Will says, “That’s a long time” for people in the food industry to stick around.
And as much as Will is passionate about food, he’s also passionate about his ink. Will’s first tattoo was his family crest on his left upper arm that he got when he was fifteen years old. He hoped the tribute to his family would mellow his father’s anger at finding body art on his teenage son. Although it never resulted in any family drama, Will disliked the tattoo and eventually had it covered up with a huge bear claw, which he says is his animal totem. However, he liked the idea of the family crest and had a new one inked on by his regular tattoo artist, Duong Nguyen, who works at Way of Ink in Springfield, Virginia. The crest, now on his left leg, serves as a reminder of his parents’ hard work. Will says, “It keeps you going a little bit more.”
The tattoos on Will’s arms tell two different stories. The left forearm is a blend of gods and symbols with wildly diverse origins (Aztec, Polynesian, Pacific Northwest, and his own family) that he and Duong designed into a cohesive sleeve. The tattoo on Will’s right arm represents his cooking travels, “ … starting in New York … different direction[s] … the stairs I had to take.” The sleeve has traces of the art deco style to remind him of his time in New York, and vegetables from his garden (beets, carrots, peas, tomatoes, Swiss chard, squash blossoms, and artichokes) adorn his shoulder. Will says, “If I wasn’t a chef, I’d be a farmer.” Once the vegetable sleeve is done, Will plans to commission a back piece based on a large pig that will encompass all the products that can be made from the animal.
The type of pizza made from this recipe is served at Pizzeria Orso.
NOTES FROM THE CHEF
Will says, “My preference for tomato is San Marzano. These tomatoes are the best! No other tomato is this sweet and perfect. You can taste the terroir in the tomato.”