Born and raised in Los Angeles, Pollack’s culinary curiosity began over 6,000 miles away in Florence, Italy while studying abroad to pursue a degree in architecture from Brown University. Pollack credits the Florentine central market for instilling in him a passion for food so profound, it deflected his career trajectory straight into the kitchen.
After working in Italy’s twenty regions and strengthening his skills under esteemed chefs such as Neal Fraser and David Myers in Los Angeles, Pollack partnered with chef Steve Samson in 2011 to open Sotto, focusing on the regional cuisines of Southern Italy. Sotto garnered tremendous popular and critical acclaim including a spot on Esquire magazine’s ‘Best Restaurants in America’ list and earning the #1 honor in Los Angeles magazine’s ‘Best New Restaurants’ awards and has been featured in renowned national publications including Food + Wine magazine, the Wall Street Journal, Bon Appétit, and the New York Times. Pollack has been honored by esteemed publications including as a ‘Rising Star’ by StarChefs and on the prestigious ‘30 Under 30’ list by Forbes magazine.
In 2014, he struck out on his own to open Alimento in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles that was ranked within the top 20 of Los Angeles Times’ food critic Jonathan Gold’s “101 Best Restaurants in Los Angeles 2015,” Los Angeles Magazine’s “Top 10 Best New Restaurants,” Angeleno’s “Best New Restaurants,” Bon Appétit’s “Best 50 New Restaurants,” and GQ’s “25 Most Outstanding Restaurants of 2015.” In addition, Zach was nominated as a semifinalist for the James Beard Foundation’s “Rising Star Chef of the Year” award in 2015. Most recently, Zach debuted his second project Cosa Buona in May 2017, which pays homage to the neighborhood pizzeria and showcases Italian-American fare. In addition to being lauded by the Los Angeles Times’ late Jonathan Gold in both his review and his “10 Best Dishes of 2017,” Cosa Buona was also awarded a spot in Los Angeles Magazine’s “10 Best New Restaurants of 2017” and included in Time Out Los Angeles’ roundup of “Best Dishes of 2017” for their Smokey Mozzarella Sticks.