What were your favorite foods growing up?
Potato gnocchi with ragu', the insalta russa that my grandfather used to make. Vanilla ice cream with fresh raspberry mashed together on a Sunday afternoon, after helping my Grandma bring hay home.

When did you decide you wanted to be a chef?
At 13, while reading one of my Dad's magazines which was about chefs, their cuisines and lifestyles.

Where and when did your career in food begin?
At 14, culinary school in Stresa, Lago Maggiore, September 1987. In June 1988 I worked at the Hotel Pitrizza in Costa Smeralda, Sardinia, Italy, making fresh pastas and helping out as apprentice for Sergio Mei.

If you didn't become a chef, what would you be?
Probably a Doctor

Who/what has shaped your cooking the most over the years?
Sergio Mei, Executive Chef at Four Seasons Milano and one of his Chefs, Luca Calvi who was my first Chef De Partie at age 14, in Sardinia; he taught me discipline.

What are your favorite culinary weapons in the kitchen?
Recently a sous vide machine, a thermal circulator, my new pasta boiler and of course a 12K pasta machine (the pasta machine is my all time favorite)

What influences your cooking style and particularly the menu at your restaurant?
The local seasonal ingredients and the will to try new ideas but keeping them somehow within an Italian parameter. Fresh pasta is a must.

What is your favorite secret ingredient?
Radishes and fennel are what I really go for all the time. Cheese in any form is my favorite as long as it is good, and California is producing some really good cheese.

What is the one rule or value you try to instill in all of your staff?
Taste, taste, taste and taste.

If I'm trying to watch my weight and I'm eating at your restaurant, what am I ordering to eat?
Right now a fall vegetable salad followed by a tuna tartare with butternut squash a tuna tartare with tangerines and watercress, then a Kurobuta Pork duo with romanesco baby broccoli, parsnip puree and mostarda. To finish, a light pomegranate souffle', you can leave the gelato out.

What was the most challenging meal you had to make? Why?
It was pairing mushrooms with dessert for a wine dinner. We ended up just doing a small one syrup candied mushroom for the dessert dish. I did not want to do an ice cream as it has been done many times before.

What was your worst restaurant disaster?
A lunch for 200 people. Brulee was being pre set and was free formed and 1 hour before the guests arrived it melted on the plate even before being torched. The entire kitchen of 15 cooks started making brulees a la minute and blast chilling them. Fortunately we recovered and each one of the guests had a creamy mango brulee for lunch, at the end of their meal.

What is your least favorite food?
Bad food in general.

What is your beverage of choice?
Good red wine, no preferences in terms of origin. Drier red wines with a touch of oak are preferred.

What are some recent dining and culinary trends you have been observing?
Small plates, more courses, localized ingredients, mixing styles as well as ethnicities.

When you are not eating at your own restaurant... you are eating at?
Pizzaiolo in Oakland.

Which foreign country inspires your style most?
Italy (but,being Italian, The United States)

What was the most spectacular meal you have ever had?
Restaurant Petrus, London England, 1999.

What is your best cooking tip for a home enthusiast?
Cook what you love to eat and feel comfortable with, keep it simple. Stay with the season.

What do you eat when you are home?
Lots of vegetables, pizza sometimes and salads. I love to snack on good cheese and salami.