New York City College of Technology's Culinary Professor Frank Costantino has been named to New York's five-man Culinary Olympic Team, which will compete in Erfurt, Germany, this fall. These gastronomic Olympics, almost as old as the other one, draws hundreds of master chefs from 30 countries and lasts 11 days.

Frank Constantino

For Costantino, this will be a return of sorts. For while a student in City Tech's award-winning Hospitality Management program, he served as an apprentice at the 1984 Culinary Olympics in Frankfurt, where the New York team took 21 medals and a silver grand prize. He has been on the City Tech faculty for 13 years. "It was a great experience," he says, "and going back as a professional member will be a defining moment in my competitive career."

The former chef at La Caravelle, Windows on the World, HBO headquarters, and Quatorze, Costantino has been very active in culinary competitions and has won numerous gold medals. A management text by him on culinary leadership will appear from Prentice Hall this spring. Costantino has also just learned he will be inducted into the American Academy of Chefs this July.