COMPETITOR

Piazza 1909

HEAD COOK: Stefano Ceresoli

COMPETITION: World Pasta Championship

QUALIFYING EVENT: Chef's Roll

“Ciao, sono chef Stefano Ceresoli” I transported the essence of my Milan birthplace to the beautiful setting of San Diego where I moved almost 20 years ago and opened three successful restaurants: “Caffe’ Bella Italia” in Kearny Mesa, in 1996, a second location in Pacific Beach in 1999 and my biggest project: “Solare” restaurant Lounge, which I personally designed, completed in 2008, after over a year of constructions. Then I decided to free myself for a “sabbatical” year and sold the last restaurants within the last two years. I got time to regenerate and spent some months in my country for a culinary travel experience. I came along new places, restaurants, new concepts, new trends, but at the end everything confirmed my biggest belief: fresh ingredients, simplicity and the joy to eat “together” is what Italian cuisine and mine are all about! As a native who knows the nice ties of Mediterranean dining, I pride myself in preparing everything from scratch. Fresh pasta is my specialty and one of my signature dishes is “Ravioli di Zucca e Salsiccia”, stuffed with butternut squash, Italian sausage, in a browned butter sauce with poppy seeds. Something more personal about me? It is hard to describe your self, but everybody says that I have a super energetic personality and it is contagious! I think it is true, not only because I have double adrenaline in my blood stream than a normal person (it is not a joke), but because I love Life and I am so passionate about what I do. I come from an Italian family of restaurateurs and wine makers and after studying interior design, I went for culinary school. I quit my well-paid job at a major insurance company to open a bakery-fresh pasta shop in Milan "Mister Michetta" and found my self waking up at 2 am in the morning to dig my hands in flower, every day for 6 years! Call me crazy! How I ended up in the States? This is a cute other story, but lets keep it for next time we meet!