Laura Pensiero: From Clinical Dietitian to Accidental Restaurateur building Hudson Valley Mediterranean Magic

Laura Pensiero: From Clinical Dietitian to Accidental Restaurateur building Hudson Valley Mediterranean Magic

From This Kaleidoscope Career Podcast by This Kaleidoscope Career Podcast

March 24, 2026 · 38 min · Season 4 · Episode 28

About this episode

Laura Pensiero shares her journey from clinical dietitian to restaurateur and her insights on succeeding in the restaurant business.

Meet Laura Pensiero, RDN Registered Dietitian, Chef, Author, Consultant and Speaker Owner of Gigi's Trattoria in Rhinebeck, NY From studying nutrition, working at NY’s premier hospitalsto sharing a kitchen with world-renowned French chefs to becoming an accidental restaurateur. Meet the tenacious Laura Pensiero, the owner and driving forcebehind GiGi’s Trattoria in Rhinebeck, New York, and author of Hudson Valley Mediterranean. From Laura, we learn how to succeed in the restaurantbusiness, build adjacencies to our expertise, and what she has learned as an entrepreneur through the crash following 9/11 and the pandemic. Creativity, good management, and community have become her hallmarks in the 25 years she has been building a robust community in the Hudson Valley. Find out what the inimitable Julia Child told her aboutnutritionists and about the books she worked on with the likes of Le Cirque's founding chef, Alain Sailhac , and Jacques Pépin, Jacques, Torres, and the late André Soltner. Meet Laura at https://www.laurapensiero.com/ Gigi’s Hudson Valley https://www.gigihudsonvalley.com/ Books & Media: Laura has worked on The French Culinary Institute's Salute to Healthy…

People in this episode

Guest: Laura Pensiero

Topics covered

  • restaurant business
  • entrepreneurship
  • nutrition
  • community building
  • cooking

Keywords

  • dietitian
  • restaurateur
  • Hudson Valley
  • cooking
  • entrepreneurship
  • nutrition

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Gigi's Trattoria, The French Culinary Institute

Books & works: Hudson Valley Mediterranean, The Strang Cookbook for Cancer Prevention

Places: Rhinebeck, NY

More episodes of This Kaleidoscope Career Podcast

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the This Kaleidoscope Career Podcast podcast page.