An award-winning chef who began his culinary career in his hometown of Massena is featured in a TV commercial for a new smart phone.

If you pay very close attention, you will see the name of Chef Gary Danko’s Michelin Star restaurant in San Francisco appear on the screen of a Droid phone in a 30-second-long commercial for the new product that first aired during the last game of the World Series.

The robotic snowman holding the phone in the ad first calls up a review for Restaurant Gary Danko, showing its high ratings, then forwards the review to a friend with the recommendation to eat there.

Danko, who began cooking at age 14 in the Massena mainstay The Village Inn, said he was surprised to find out he was in the ad, but received messages from friends who caught a glimpse.

The winner of several James Beard Awards has appeared on the Food Network and PBS. He attended the Culinary Institute of America and studied with master chef Madeleine Kamman before opening his namesake restaurant near Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco. Plans are in the works for a second brasserie-style restaurant in Ghirardelli Square.

To see the YouTube video of the commercial, go to www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDFEbi-nBps.