David Degner

Chefs on the Spectrum · Cambridge, Massachusetts

Ezra Kukis works beside a pasta extruder in Chitarra Pastaria’s Cambridge workspace.
Ezra Kukis at the pasta extruder, Chitarra Pastaria, Cambridge.

At Work at Chitarra Pastaria

I photographed the team at Chitarra Pastaria in Cambridge for a New York Times story about Chefs on the Spectrum. I hadn’t realized this work was happening so close to my home.

The assignment led me through Chitarra’s shared workspace: Ezra Kukis at the pasta machine, Julia Agostino checking pasta, and Stefano Micali packing it. These photographs follow their work and end with the three of them together.

Hands gather fresh pasta in a tray beneath the extruder.
Fresh pasta gathered beneath the extruder.
Ezra Kukis handles a metal part beside the pasta machine.
Ezra Kukis works on a component of the pasta machine.
Julia Agostino tends a steaming pot while Stefano Micali packs boxes behind her.
Julia Agostino checks pasta at the stove while Stefano Micali works behind her.
A fork lifts a piece of pasta over two plates of rigatoni.
A sample of Chitarra pasta being checked.
Stefano Micali looks into an orange Chitarra pasta box.
Stefano Micali packs pasta into Chitarra boxes.
Hands fold red paper around pasta inside an orange box.
Packing a Chitarra pasta box.
Stefano Micali stacks boxes as Julia Agostino and Ezra Kukis work nearby.
Stefano, Julia and Ezra at their workstations in the shared Chitarra space.

Pete Wells’s April 2026 story introduced Chefs on the Spectrum, a program then taking shape to train and place autistic people in fine-dining jobs. The story also described Chitarra Pastaria, where the eight employees are autistic, and noted that co-founder Ken Oringer had been recruited for the program’s pilot.

Ezra Kukis, Julia Agostino and Stefano Micali sit together behind pasta, a plate and a pot.
Ezra Kukis, Julia Agostino and Stefano Micali together at Chitarra Pastaria.