It’s not unusual for a clan to cook together at home; and family-run restaurants are a dime-a-dozen. Less common, however, are professional chefs that happen to be close kin. The Buzz recently caught up with three pairs of high-profile sibling chefs to find out if rivalry rears its head in the kitchen too.

The Brothers Voltaggio

Bryan Voltaggio, 33, Volt, Frederick, MD
Michael Voltaggio, 31, Langham Huntington Dining Room, Pasadena, CA

This dynamic duo not only took their rivalry to TV as finalists on Top Chef Las Vegas (Michael won), they’re now collaborating on a website, a cookbook and a future restaurant. The brothers only worked together at the very beginning of their careers, but their recent experience cooking side-by-side at the James Beard Foundation has them itching for a reunion.

On Their Beginnings

Bryan: I got Michael his first job in the business as a busboy at the hotel I was working in as a sous chef. I also got him a job working for Charlie Palmer later on. But it goes both ways, Michael has set me up with a lot of opportunities.

Michael: Bryan did get me my first job, but it wasn’t about him encouraging me to get in the business as much as it was he was encouraging me to get a job.

On Trust and Fistfights

Bryan: I trust Michael and I know his abilities more than anyone else. So I can honestly support someone who’s not going to go out there and screw up our name. The great thing about our relationship is that we can be critical to each other and not have to worry about feelings. If a dish sucks, we’ll say, “that sucks,” and there’s no harm done because you don’t have to worry about the HR department. We’ve always been naturally competitive with each other – we both played sports, for example – but we only had a couple of real disputes when we were competing against each other on Top Chef and they were very short-lived.

Michael: We actually got in a fistfight one time when we started working together. We were at work and he started yelling at me. So I started yelling back. Then the manager pulled me into his office and said, “I understand that Bryan is your brother, but when we are at work he is your boss, so whatever Bryan says, he’s right and you have to do it and you can’t talk back.” When he got home that night, I was waiting for him at the top of the stairs and I said, “Work is work, but home is home,” and I punched him in the face. We rolled around and beat each other up for a while, and that was the time that we both realized that we needed to find our separate ways. Now we are closer than we have been in our whole lives.

On Advantages

Bryan: The best part about working together is that it makes our mom happy. The second thing is that we are able to bounce ideas off each other. There is an advantage to us being a little bit different is that we can create new ideas rather than be stagnant. If you work with somebody who has the same ideas, same philosophies and same styles all the time then you’re not creative.

Michael: Our differences and even the sense of competition is healthy because I think we each push each other to raise the bar higher. I may have won Top Chef, but he had a James Beard nomination this year. Those things just drive each of us to get better. I think our cooking styles are very similar, but I’m a little more aggressive and Bryan’s a lot more restrained.

Which Dish?

Bryan: A lot of Michael’s dishes represent him because they are pretty unique, like his personality.

Michael: I think Bryan’s a lot like coq au vin. It’s such a simple dish, but it requires a lot of thought and discipline and finesse to make it taste correct. It’s not too dressed up, there’s a hint of refinement and it can be as rustic as it needs to be. And that’s Bryan.

The Brothers Carro

Fabrizio Carro, 34, Quattro Gastronomia Italia, New York
Nicola Carro, 34, Quattro Gastronomia Italia, Miami

These identical twin brothers have worked side-by-side in a kitchen for as long as they can remember. As soon as they were able to wield spatulas, the boys became their mamma’s sous chefs while growing up in Italy. During their teens, they both attended the same culinary school and started a catering business together before separating to work in kitchens all over Europe. The brothers happily came together again in 2006 at Miami’s Quattro, before recently opening the New York outpost, which Fabrizio will run solo when Nicola returns to the Sunshine State.

On Teamwork

Fabrizio: It is so easy to work with my brother, because I don’t have to tell him what to do. I don’t have to handle him in any way.

Nicola: It’s harder to work with other chefs because no one knows my kitchen or my cooking style like my brother. I believe in my brother 150%. When I’m working with him, I’m playing with the best player I can play with.

Fabrizio: Whenever we have a disagreement, I just shut up and go away for five minutes and come back. We’re too big and too strong to settle things physically!

On Cooking Styles

Nicola: The only way that we are different is that I prefer to cook primi piatti – the starters and the appetizers. My brother is more for the main course. But we build one plate together all the time. One of us will have the idea, and the other will do the preparation, and then one of us will finish it.

Fabrizio: Nicola can be more productive than me, and he has more consistency. I like change; I’m always looking at how to do something differently.

Which Dish?

Nicola: The dish that best describes my brother is bœuf bourguignon. That dish reminds me of my family and of all the times we had together.

Fabrizio: My brother is like agnolotti, a braised beef ravioli that is on our menu. The dish has so much passion in it, and every time I serve it, I feel like it’s a piece of my brother.

The Brothers Kinkead

Bob Kinkead, 54, Kinkead’s, Washington DC; Sibling Rivalry, Boston, MA
David Kinkead, 40, Sibling Rivalry, Boston, MA

Despite a 14-year age difference, and the influence of eight other siblings, David Kinkead followed in his big brother Bob’s footsteps while working in his kitchen during a summer gig in Nantucket. Now the brothers have a restaurant, Sibling Rivalry, with a unique concept: they serve two separate menus under one roof.

On Mentorship

Bob: I gave David his first job in the business. I wasn’t really surprised that he pursued it as a career, because I think he had an aptitude for it and enjoyed the whole atmosphere of being in a restaurant.

David: Bob was one of my mentors and a large inspiration for me. His getting me my first job was more him giving me something to do, I think, as opposed to encouraging me to get in the business.

On Problem-Solving With Tequila

Bob: Getting to see David is the best part of working with him as I go up to Boston once a month. We have had very few disagreements as partners. The only difficult part is that because he’s my brother, and my equal partner, I have to worry about how I phrase things so he doesn’t get his nose out of joint.

David: I think it’s easier working with my brother than with any other chef because we are really pretty tight. There has been very little friction. The best part of working with him is that there aren’t any trust issues. Sometimes, though, he talks to me like I’m still 17 years old! But if we do have a dispute, we sit down at a table with shots of tequila to work them out.

On the Restaurant Name

Bob: Because of the name of the restaurant, everyone likes to make it out like we’re always arguing with each other, and that’s absolutely not true.

David: The name of the restaurant is just a play on words. A lot of people think it’s just a gimmick – that we’re not really brothers, which is obnoxious.

Which Dish?

Bob: I don’t think our cooking styles are hugely different, though I’d say David will try more new ideas, and I am fussier about plate presentation. There’s a dish that he does on the menu, a Moroccan-style lamb brik with cumin, soft-poached egg, curried lamb jus and cucumber salad – it’s a very original way to look at that dish.

David: I think the dish that reminds me most of my brother is a trio of lamb he does. It’s rack, slices of leg, and a stuffed saddle, and it’s just very him.

– Kathleen Squires