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Growing up in Newton, Massachusetts, Kenny Hoshino found comfort in the kitchen from a young age, watching and pitching in as his parents and siblings cooked hearty dishes like chicken cutlets, matzo ball soup and on special occasions, his father’s favorite sushi recipes.  

It wasn’t until his time spent studying Neuroscience at the University of Massachusetts Amherst that he exercised that love for cooking outside of home with a job at a local Bertucci’s pizza restaurant. There, Kenny moved around the kitchen quickly, making pizza dough and testing his hand at every station.

After graduating from UMass with a bachelor’s degree in neuroscience in 2009, Kenny took a position at Chez Albert, a French restaurant near his alma mater where he spent two years as a pastry chef and line cook. At Chez Albert, Kenny felt at home in the chaotic and frenetic environment of a busy kitchen. He enjoyed the pressure of crafting dishes from start to finish and found his identity expressing himself creatively by working with his hands.

In 2011, he took a leap of faith and moved to Charleston, South Carolina where, after a few months shucking oysters at Cypress, he put his degree to use with a job in laboratory research. The lab role was short-lived, and Kenny followed his passion back to Amherst to return to Chez Albert as pastry chef and sous chef, eventually helping the team to open a new location in a larger space.

Kenny moved to Boston in March of 2014 and began working at Michael Scelfo’s Harvard Square restaurant, Alden & Harlow in April, where his nights were spent at the restaurant’s sauté and bar manger stations. Seven months later, Chef Scelfo saw his knack for all things pastry and offered Kenny a position as baker and pastry chef. After Scelfo’s sophomore concept Waypoint opened in 2016, Kenny began applying his talents to the restaurant’s always-changing, cult-followed sweet and savory treats. In 2019, Kenny helped open The Longfellow Bar, directly above Alden & Harlow. Today, Kenny leads the restaurants’ pastry and bread programs, and oversees a growing team of buddying pastry chefs.

When he’s not up with the sun prepping bread and desserts every morning, Kenny finds an outlet in music, with a basic knowledge of piano, bass and guitar, and enjoys painting with watercolors and hard pastels.

Kenny is participating in Sugar Rush on Tuesday, July 23 at Oak + Rowan! Enjoy a 5-course dessert tasting menu that raises money for breast cancer research.
Tickets are available on Eventbrite!

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