Father and son united by the same passion for Italian Cuisine!

Restaurant Mamma DiSalvo’s: authentic Italian Food, with an American Flavor!

Mamma DiSalvo’s. Not an Italian American way of pointing out Salvo’s mother, but instead a very successful restaurant and catering business just outside of Dayton, Ohio. The owner, Robert DiSalvo, has been a great friend to our North America division, and as a testament to the business’ future sight, his son Vincenzo decided to spend some time away from his country, to study at CAST Alimenti. We have been in touch with both the family, Vincenzo, and some of his instructors throughout his stay at the school, but just recently, we reached out to Robert to ask him a few questions. Here are the results of our inquiries.

So Vinny, what were your expectations before starting your adventure at CAST Alimenti?

Before I started, I was expecting to learn the basic fundamentals of cooking, recipe foundations, and how to accommodate the modern cooking trends and customer demands.

Robert, how do you think the experience impacted Vinny? What can you see in the business’ future?

Very simple. It has opened a new outlook for Vinny to see the amazing things that can be done with food and the beautiful presentations- Food is an Art because we create from ingredients that are simple and they [CAST Alimenti] taught him how to make it taste good and look amazing [..] it has opened him up to see the possibilities of being a cooking artist and taught him to develop a passion and love for cooking [..] like his past generations. What I can see Vinny [doing] in the business future is to take Mamma DiSalvo’s to another level with keeping the authenticity of our family recipes and creating something with a different flare and still keep to tradition.

Could both of you tell us, in your own words, about the restaurant and what it means to you?

Vinny: “In regards to our restaurant, we try to bring a nice taste of Italy to America and keep it as traditional as possible We make it our goal to always put quality before anything and make sure we aren’t taking any shortcuts and lessen our customer’s experience of good homemade Italian food. The Restaurant represents, mainly, family and how it brings our family together by working together […] providing a nicely prepared meal for them to enjoy. It also represents tradition and passion because we only use recipes and techniques passed down through our family and do it thoroughly and passionately.”

Robert: “My restaurant represents a dream my mother had when she came over [from Italy] in 1952, her father was a chef and a butcher in the old country of Duronia. The province of Campobasso, Molise. She was always baking, cooking, every day at home and for others and everyone always told her she needed to open a restaurant. So she started one on July of 1979. My mother always thought as to cook with taste and passion for food. Always taught us the value of customer service and making the customer feel at home. To this day we are continuing this tradition. I chose my career because I love to cook and be with people. I have also learned that our knowledge for food never stops, we are never too old to learn new ideas and new recipes.”