Italo Peveri, head chef at Firenze Trattoria Restaurant
in Encinitas, used a student visa to travel from Milan,
Italy in 1967 to San Diego to fulfill his dream of becoming
a chef in America. By day he was a student of English,
by night he worked in his brother’s restaurant
as a dishwasher and bus boy. With no formal schooling
in the art of cooking, he drew from his love of the
“old country” cuisine to help him master
the art of gourmet cooking. Italo learned the nuances
of preparing the colorful and full-flavored dishes of
Northern Italy from his chef brother Giulio, co-owner
of the famed Jack & Giulio’s Restaurant previously
located in Pacific Beach and now in Old Town, San Diego.
Within a year, Italo was given a piece of the business
and actually ran the restaurant when Giulio traveled
to New York to start a second restaurant under the same
name. When his brother’s restaurant closed in
Pacific Beach, Italo worked in several other San Diego
restaurants before being wooed by Firenze Trattoria’s
owner Barry Podwell to serve as master chef in 1995.
Today, given the recent restaurant renovation, Italo
enjoys creating his famed cuisine in a newly expanded
kitchen that, to his delight, includes an enlarged walk-in
refrigerator/freezer as well as new appliances, electrical
and plumbing.
Italo resides in San Marcos and has a daughter and
two grandchildren who live nearby. |
