In Italian, “Giusto” means “just right,” and to chef Kevin O’Donnell, the restaurant he’s set to helm at the nearly completed Hammett’s Hotel this summer couldn’t have been better named. “The opportunity came along at just the right time and in the right place,” O’Donnell said in a recent interview with Newport This Week.

O’Donnell’s culinary career is impressive. After graduating from Johnson & Wales University in 2004, he honed his skills in Italy at Ristorante Zeppelin in Orvieto, before returning home to take a job at Castle Hill Inn. After a second stint in Italy, he worked at Michelin-starred Del Posto in New York City, served as the executive chef who helped launch the internationally acclaimed L’Office in Paris, and, along with chef-partner Michael Lombardi, was a 2017 James Beard Award semifinalist for “Best New Restaurant in America” for their venture, SRV in Boston.