Meet Chef Gio

Chef Giovanni “Gio” Filippone has taken a pretty remarkable road to the kitchen at Fish On. Born in France to Sicilian parents and raised in Bayonne, New Jersey, Gio grew up around family, food, and the Italian traditions that have stayed with him throughout his culinary career.

After graduating from the Culinary Institute of America, Gio discovered Florida’s Emerald Coast during an externship and never forgot it. A few years later, after one particularly memorable New Jersey snowstorm, he packed up and headed south for good. He has now spent more than two decades cooking along the Emerald Coast and making the area his home.

Gio’s career also took him somewhere very few chefs ever get to go: Gordon Ramsay’s “Hell’s Kitchen”. He competed on Season 5, finishing among the final six chefs, and was later invited back to compete again on “Hell’s Kitchen: All-Stars”. Gio has described the experience as a kind of culinary boot camp—long days, intense pressure, and, of course, plenty of yelling from Gordon Ramsay.

As Gio puts it: “Pros. I did it. Cons. I got yelled at.”

Today, all of that experience comes together at Fish On. Gio brings serious culinary skill to a restaurant that doesn’t take itself too seriously, combining fresh seafood with familiar favorites and the Italian and East Coast influences he grew up with.

For Gio, great food doesn’t have to be complicated or pretentious. It should be fresh, flavorful, approachable, and worth coming back for. That philosophy is at the heart of Fish On—and as the menu continues to grow, guests are getting to experience even more of the food and flavors that have shaped Gio along the way