What were your favorite foods growing up?
My grandmother's rabbit baked with olives, rosemary and lemon. (My grandfather used farm rabbits for the family. My mother's potato gnocchi made with sausage ragout. My grandmother's homemade tagliatelle Bolognese or tagliatelle with pomodoro and basil (only on Sunday after church). For desserts I grew up with apple and polenta cake and stuffed peaches with amaretto and chocolate, my mother's specialties. There are so many more...

When did you decide you wanted to be a chef?
When I was about nine years old my Catholic teacher asked us to draw what we would like to be in the future and I drew a fisherman and a cook.

Where and when did your career in food begin?
My uncle owns a restaurant/trattoria near Turin, north of Italy, and I use to help the chef there before going to culinary school. I was 13 when I started to peel garlic and pick green beans and mushrooms for the restaurant. I used to love it. It was a great kick off, for me it was like a game, it was so much fun. I learned so much and it definitely made me want to learn more about cooking and the restaurant business.

If you didn't become a chef, what would you be?
I would be a photographer, a soccer player or a fisherman.

Who/what has shaped your cooking the most over the years?
I listen to my boss (Nick Jones, Soho House owner), customer's feedback, my friends, my wife and my family. All are people with a lot of passion for food. I also read a lot of cook books.

How would you describe your cuisine?
Modern Italian

What influences your cooking style and particularly the menu at your restaurant?
We listen to our customer's feedback, so they definitely influence our menu.

What are your favorite culinary weapons in the kitchen?
A truffle shaver and a pasta cutter

What is your favorite secret ingredient?
Lemon zest and the best extra-virgin olive oil

What is the one rule or value you try to instill in all of your staff?
Discipline

What qualities do you look for when hiring cooks for your restaurant?
Passion and discipline

If I'm trying to watch my weight and I'm eating at your restaurant, what should I order to eat?
There are plenty of options; we almost do not use butter, even our desserts are designed to satisfy people that are trying to watch their weight. We have a carpaccio and tartare section; a salad section. I can also say that our pizzas have about 800 calories, while the average American pizza has between 1200 to 2000 calories.

What was the most challenging meal you had to make? Why?
Cooking for 300 people on the beach, for 3 nights, during the Art Basel Festival in Miami, with no running water, no electricity and no kitchen.
It was a crazy task but it turned out to be a big success.

What was your worst restaurant disaster?
A gas cut at Cecconi's London at 8 p.m on a Friday night; the restaurant was full and I had to improvise food for 200 people with no gas. Also, a storm at Soho House New York last year; the open roof top was full of customers when suddenly a thunderstorm hit the city and you can imagine what happened.

What is your least favorite food?
Hot dogs and nachos

What is your beverage of choice?
Italian red wines and British bitter beers

What are some recent dining and culinary trends you have been observing?
North African, Spanish, Portuguese and Brazilian food as well as small plates of tapas or cicchetti

When you are not eating at your own restaurant, where are you eating?
Terroni on Beverly Blvd and the Bazaar at the SLS Hotel with friends.

Which foreign country inspires your style most?
Italy — but it's not foreign to me and America, whose foods are foreign to me.

What was the most spectacular meal you have ever had?
In Langhe Valley, Piedmont, North of Italy, I had a mushroom and white truffle dinner that smelled just like heaven. The whole area during the autumn smells of grapes, mushrooms, truffles and fog. It's a proper spectacle. And a branzino cooked on sea salt at Cinque Terre, Italy, this summer, in a tiny little restaurant by the port; that was spectacular!

What is your best cooking tip for a home enthusiast?
Buy the best. I know sometimes it can be expensive, but get the best!

What do you eat when you are home?
My wife's soups