Missy Robbins

Missy Robbins came to ICE after graduating from Georgetown. She spent the next few years cooking and learning at Anne Rosenzweig’s Arcadia and Lobster Club and Wayne Nish’s March. After interning in three restaurants in Italy, she joined the Soho Grand Hotel, eventually becoming sous chef there, before taking the helm at Chicago’s acclaimed Spiaggia restaurant. In October 2005, Robbins won the coveted William R. Rice Most Promising Chef Award at the Chicago Wine and Food Festival. In 2008, she returned to New York to serve as executive chef at A Voce, and opened the restaurant’s second location in the Time Warner Center. Food & Wine chose her as one of its 2010 Best New Chefs. In 2014, Robbins collaborated with long time friend Sean Feeney to found Grove House Hospitality Group.

In 2016, Grove House opened its first restaurant with Missy as the Chef-owner and face of the brand. Lilia foudn its home in Brooklyn's Williamsburg neighborhood, bringing "the best of Italy to Williamsburg where wood-fired seafood, hand-crafted pastas, classic Italian cocktails and warm hospitality come together to create a casual dining experience." The restaurant was a runaway hit, earning Robbins four separate James Beard nominations, and seeing her win Best Chef: New York City in 2018.

That same year, Robbins opened pasta- and vegetable-focused outpost Misi , also in Williamsburg, which quickly garnered the attention of the industry and diners alike. Since then, her brand has continued to grow in the famously trend-setting neighborhood with the opening of Misipasta and MP Grocery. Misipasta is Robbins' answer to the concern that a take-out version of her meals would lose their lustre in travel, and thus curates "kits" for people to make the famous pastas at home. MP Grocery is a quintessential Italian specialty food store and grocer, selling prepared foods, fresh ingredients and imported goods. 

Beyond her accolades as one of America's great Italian-cuisine chefs, Robbins has written two cookbooks, one of which (Pasta) was nominated for a James Beard Award in 2022.