I’m Italian, I was born and raised in Castelvetrano, Sicily. Today I am 46 years old and 30 years I worked as a cook.

For six years I work in the restaurant Pizza dal Capo.

I went to the kitchen when I was 8 years old, I helped my mother and my aunt prepare banquets for our relatives whom I have a lot.

In 14 years, for the reason not to ask for money from my parents, I got a job in a restaurant as a junior assistant. I peeled potatoes and washed dishes. After high school I studied at the Marine College and received the master. But the kitchen has always attracted me.

While sailing, I very enjoyed cooking and treated sailors, they couldn’t restrain themselves with delight, and said a lot of compliments to me.

It was especially fun to cook in a storm: everything could fly away.

After serving in the Army, I returned home and became interested in the development of new dishes. I worked in a restaurant and learned.

Once, in the spring morning, a beautiful Russian girl appeared in my village, she came to us for work. It was the 90′s, we hadn’t seen Russians earlier. Love at first sight, and after 2 years we were married.

So, that’s how, I went in Moscow. I didn’t speak Russian, and for the reason to enter into society and to return to my profession, I learned to cook in Moscow. Then I worked in many restaurants in Moscow and Sochi. I taught the chefs from the Khanty-Mansiysk administrative center Italian cuisine.

Now I live in Moscow. I have a good family: my wife Helen and two sons. Anton, he is 11 years old, and Denis, he is 9 years old. All my spare time (which I don’t have much) I dedicate them. Boys study in the linguistic school, in the music school and do sports.

I love nature, at the weekend I do Caucasian Shashlik and Uzbek pilaf in the country.

Working in Russia, I learned not only the cuisine of the Caucasus and the East, but also the kitchen of the north and the south of Russia. Coming home to visit my mother, I surprise my relatives with such exotic flavors.

But in general I like Russian herring and sour cream, soup and sturgeon, caviar. At home, on the weekends, I cook my usual Italian cuisine.

The dish on the photo — tagliatelle with prawns and spinach. I chose this dish because of its color — red, white and green — it reminds me my country, because the Italian flag has these colors. A taste of this dish is unique.

I wish all people to lead healthy lives. Always remember that the choice of food — it is a choice of destiny.

Pizza dal Capo

Tverskaya 12, str. 2, Moscow

Tel: +7 (495) 662-70-02

http://www.etaj.ru/restaurant/i22-picceriya-dal-kapo.html#add