Food has always been a part of Rob Del Balzo's life – from having regular dinners with his family, to working as a bus boy and waiter as a young teen and later becoming executive chef and manager at a local restaurant.
The Yorktown native, who is also a caterer to the stars, has opened his own restaurant in town. His focus is on serving healthy food and encouraging families to eat together more often by not spending time to cook the meals themselves.
His new restaurant, , which opened in August is having a grand opening on Sunday, Sept. 9 at 1 p.m. There will be a ribbon cutting ceremony at their location on 2013 Crompond Road in Yorktown.
Del Balzo, a 1995 graduate, learned how to cook at a young age, even though his late mother Carol encouraged him to become a lawyer and avoid the food industry. His grandfather, Vincent Cagnetta, was one of the founding members of local catering establishment "Antun's of Westchester" in Elmsford.
Several years ago Del Balzo and his friend Matt Arruda cooked together for Arruda's grandfather's 90th birthday party. Everyone there kept asking who had catered the party.
And that is where it all started.
Del Balzo and Arruda began providing breakfast and lunch service to local day care facilities and opened Nuttin to It as a catering business in 2009. He still provides catering to the Kaleidoscope Childcare Center in Mt. Kisco and the Strawberry Early Childhood Development Center in Mohegan Lake.
Nuttin to It staff members have also provided backstage catering to the cast and crew of major network TV shows and films such as: Next Food Network Star, Rocco's Dinner Party, Inkmaster, Design Star, Sweet Genius, Celebrity Apprentice, VH1 and MTV productions, and Harry Potter.
"It was amazing," Del Balzo said of having cooked for some notable chefs. "Bobby Flay loves out food."
Yet, for him it does not matter who he is cooking for. What he loves is seeing people's reactions when they've enjoyed his food.
Del Balzo decided to open up a store – initially centered around the concept of grab and go dinners – because he wanted to keep his staff employed. He said his full-time staff were only working several months out of the year when catering at the set of various TV shows.
Eventually, the space he moved into was big enough for him to offer a seating area and an eat-in menu.
Many of Del Balzo's recipes were put together with his late mother in mind, especially "Chicken Carol" made with chicken breast, sun-dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, caramelized shallots and garlic in a white wine tomato broth. The restaurant's menu includes salads and wraps, burgers and sandwiches, and their award winning chipotle BBQ pulled pork and panko crusted smoky mac 'n cheese.
"I really, truly want families to eat together," Del Balzo said. "Don't waste time cooking, cleaning, just spend time together."
That's why he has opened Nuttin to It – customers could come in, buy food that would normally take hours to cook, go home and have dinner with their families.
Del Balzo lives in Yorktown with his 2-year-old daughter Caitlyn and wife Cathy, a 1995 graduate and kindergarten teacher at .
is open for lunch and dinner, eat in or take out. It provides full-service catering, which includes food and drinks, tents, linens, and wait service for house parties, company events, family gatherings, film sets, and day care centers.
Menu theme options include Asian, BBQ, Southwestern, Italian, American Nouveau, sandwiches, and more. Click here to check out their full menu and check out their website for more details.
is located at 2013 Crompond Rd. in Yorktown Heights. It's open seven days a week – Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Friday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. They also offer free wifi.
Let Patch save you time. Get great local stories delivered right to your inbox or smartphone everyday with our free newsletter. Simple, fast sign-up here.
Like us on Facebook | Follow us on Twitter | Sign up for our newsletter
