Bruno Amato
[adrotate banner=”13″]
Executive Chef, Bruno Amato, was born and raised in the small fishing community of Nicotera, Calabria, in Italy. He discovered his passion for cooking early on and went on to get his Culinary Arts Diploma from the Culinary School of Vibo Valentia in the late 1980s.
After almost two decades of working his way up to Head Chef in a number of Italian restaurants and hotels, he eventually received an offer to bring his expertise for authentic Italian cooking to the USA. Before long, Bruno became Head Chef for the famous Il Forniao restaurant at the Venetian Hotel & Casino in Los Vegas, and later for the Il Forniao restaurant at the Wells Fargo Center in Sacramento, CA.
In California his restaurant was awarded ‘best Italian restaurant’ in the area, and in 2014 he won Sacramento’s local Top Chef Competition.
In addition to his hand-made pizzas and pastas, Chef Bruno has an excellent reputation for his traditional arancini de riso, lobster ravioli, and a great variety of seafood and sauce pairings.
In February 2016 he was featured on the SoCal Restaurant Show, Episode 161, where he was interviewed about his work with Paisano’s Italian Restaurant at Pechanga Resort & Casino.
As for what he loves most about his life’s work, Chef Bruno has been quoted as saying that, “cooking for people gives me the chance to improve myself every day. I watch the customer’s faces. To see their reactions makes me happy.”
“Cooking in American restaurants and resorts,” says Chef Bruno, “gives me both the freedom and opportunity to share the food of my homeland, food that I absolutely love, with another group of people. Maybe they have never gone to Italy. Perhaps they will never get to go. But through my recipes and my cooking I am happy knowing that they can experience the real taste of Italy. Not out of a can, a box, or an Americanized version, but the real deal. The same kind of food that we eat when we go out.”
