Alessandro Pirozzi, chef and owner, Cucina Alessa

Alessandro Pirozzi, Cucina Alessa

FINALIST – Real Estate & Hospitality
Alessandro Pirozzi
chef and owner
Cucina Alessa
 Alessandro Pirozzi had some tough moments growing up in a home where he was the youngest of four children and the only boy.
But without those struggles, he probably wouldn’t have achieved the success he has found as one of California’s most popular restaurateurs with Cucina Alessa.
It was during those difficult times when Pirozzi’s grandmother, Nonna Ida, would rescue her grandson and bring him to her kitchen to help prepare dinner for the family.
Pirozzi fell in love with everything about being in the kitchen. He loved the smells, the flavors and the techniques that had been passed from generation to generation of how to make fresh homemade pasta.
He learned the family’s secret recipes and began his journey to becoming a certified Italian chef.
The lessons for Pirozzi didn’t just come from the kitchen. His grandmother taught him how to grow the vegetables and herbs he needed for his cooking and helped him learn how to prepare foccacia dough and great bread.
Pirozzi learned how to make food from every region of Italy and perfected techniques that would enable him to make just about anything a lover of Italian food could desire.
Regional secrets to perfect pizza and techniques to preparing different meats and sauces only bolstered Pirozzi’s skill set and put him in position to go into business.
Eventually, he travelled from Southern Italy to Southern California and shared his great cooking through his own chain of restaurants.
Cucina Alessa now has locations in Huntington Beach, Newport Beach and Laguna Beach. Pirozzi was named Chef of the Year in Orange County and local publications continue to rave about his cuisine.
HOW TO REACH: Cucina Alessa, www.cucinaalessa.com