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Antonio Bettencourt
Chef Antonio Bettencourt's training, it seems, started at a young age. The passion for cooking was developed while helping prepare dinner at his mother's side each night and on holidays. Family trips to Brazil opened Tony's eyes to the relationship culture and geography have on food. The flavors and colors were something he had never experienced before and something the future chef would not forget.
After high school Tony worked as a waiter at a local restaurant in Peabody where he learned the crucial details of running the front of the house, bartending, bussing and hosting. While at the restaurant he would watch the kitchen intently and try to soak in as much as possible, always asking questions and then going home and practicing what he had learned. One busy evening Tony was asked to jump in on the hot line and help on one of the stations and from then on became one of the chef’s regular fill-ins.
After a six year detour, Tony could not stop thinking about the memories of cooking and of the adrenaline of the kitchen and decided to go to cooking school. He studied at the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts in Cambridge, MA. under the watchful gaze of school director, Roberta Dowling.Tony graduated with high honors in June of 2001.
In October of 2001, Bettencourt went on to Metro Brasserie and trained under chef Amanda Lydon, focusing on regional French cuisine. He then followed chef Lydon to Upstairs on the Square to serve as the executive sous chef to both Amanda Lydon and Susan Regis.
Chef Bettencourt opened Tomasso Trattoria and Enoteca in Southborough, MA in October of 2004. His honest, regional Italian cooking helped Tomasso become the premier Italian restaurant in Metrowest. With Antonio at the helm the restaurant earned a Best of Boston award from Boston Magazine and also Best of the New from the Boston Globe. Chef Tony was invited to cook at the prestigious James Beard Awards in New York and to teach at the Italian Culinary Institute.
With the opening of Sixty2, Tony realized his dream of owning his own restaurant. Tony opened Sixty2 on Wharf, with his wife Valerie, in February of 2008 in Salem, MA. Here he brings his extensive training in both regional French and Italian cuisines to the North Shore. Since opening, Sixty2 has been awarded a Best of the New by the Boston Globe and a Best of the North Shore by North Shore Magazine. the menu at Sixty2 changes frequently as Chef Bettencourt and his team continually refine their techniques and dishes in order to exceed every guests expectations.
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