INGOOD TASTE
Candid conversations with the dining scene’s most engaging chefs
Eric Delliquadri,
Executive Chef, Gia Visto
On the Menu: Modern Italian cuisine mixed
with traditional dishes. Choices range from
spaghetti and meatballs to more modern fare,
including whole Branzino (or Mediterranean
Sea Bass) with ramp pesto and Gnocchi Al
Forno with nduja and Calabrian peppers.
Why did you become a chef?
I was actually pursuing a career
in forensic psychology and
preparing to apply to graduate
programs. However, I was always
intrigued with food and cooking, and I made a
crucial decision to forego graduate school and go
to culinary school instead. Both my grandmothers
and my mom were great cooks, as well as bakers
too, so food was always a part of my life. And, it’s
worked out just fine.
QA
What led you to work at Gia Visto?
My first job after graduating from the
Pennsylvania Institute of Culinary Arts was at
Longue Vue Country Club in Verona. That’s
where I met Jill Varmecky—one of the owners
at Gia Visto and a great chef as well. Following
my departure from Longue Vue, I worked at a
few different restaurants around Pittsburgh. Jill
called me about working at a small place called
La Cucina Dolce where she was the GM. After
a few years we both left at different times. Then
I received another call from her in the winter of
2011. She was buying La Cucina Dolce (renamed
Gia Visto) and she wanted me to be the chef.
That’s how we got the band back together again.
I’ve been chef at Gia Visto since we opened in
February of 2012.
Who has influenced your cooking the most?
The chef I worked under during my externship
while in school really set my whole outlook on
respecting food and having
a passion for food. His name
is Matthew Medure. His
restaurant is Matthew’s in San
Marco in Jacksonville, FL. He
really taught me how to push
the boundaries of the culinary
arts. I’m always checking out
what other chefs are doing
around the city, and country
as well. Most of my vacations
are centered on trying cuisine
from that particular city’s best
restaurants.
What kitchen tool can’t you
live without?
I could say something off
the wall like a chinois (mesh
strainer) or a microplane zester,
but it has to be my knives. How
can a chef be a chef with no
knives?
Eric Delliquadri, Executive Chef, Gia Visto.
What is your best cooking
advice for a novice?
It would have to be taste what
you are cooking, taste what you
are cooking, taste what you are
cooking. You have to develop
your palate and the only way
to do that is to constantly taste
everything.
What is your favorite quick
meal to prepare at home?
I don’t cook much at home,
much to my wife Laura’s
dismay, but usually my go-to
meal is tomato sauce and pasta.
The Skuna Bay Salmon made with braised garbanzo beans and
tuscan kale, smoked paprika and fennel.
Other than your restaurant, where’s your
favorite place to eat?
For pasta we go to Cenacolo in Irwin. We’ve
also been getting into regional Asian places,
like Ramen Bar, a couple of Szechuan places in
Squirrel Hill, and we just went to a great shabushabu place in South Oakland called Top ShabuShabu and Lounge.
What is your favorite go-to ingredient?
Garlic, olives, citrus and mint usually make their
way into most of the dishes I create.
What’s the next big food or dining trend?
I think the less overexposed cuisines are going
to become more popular, like Israeli or Persian.
It seems that street food in a restaurant setting is
starting to build momentum. n
The dining room at Gia Visto.
8 724.942.0940 TO ADVERTISE | Murrysville
—Reese Randall
Photos provided by Gia Visto.
Gia Visto
4366 Old William Penn Highway, Monroeville;
412.374.1800, giavistomonroeville.com