Just like mama used to make Just like mama used to make (February 25, 2004)
In the reality TV show, "The Restaurant," chef Rocco di Spirito featured his Italian mama's meatballs on the menu and even employed her at the business.

While that's not possible for Donato Scotti -- his mother still lives in Italy, and quite happily, too -- he credits her with his longtime love affair with food. She makes gnocchi (potato dumplings), Scotti said, like nobody's business.

"I grew up thinking about food, always waiting for my Sunday meal when I would get the polenta and some kind of meat, maybe rabbit -- and just hoping my mom would work her magic," he said. "The thing that really developed my love for food is the way my mom used to make those things."

The family and some friends would eat together from noon till 2 p.m. each week in their home in Ville d'Alme, savoring the meal and each other's company, he said.

In fact, Scotti loved food so much, he started delivering bread at the age of 12. At 14, he got his first job in a restaurant. Along the way, he trained with world-renown chef Pierangelo Cornaro in Bergamo, Italy, and after immigrating to the United States, worked for years at the famous Valentino in Santa Monica. After that, he joined the Il Fornaio chain, launching the Walnut Creek establishment in the late '90s before taking over the reins in Palo Alto.

For all his expertise, however, Scotti's definition of "good food" still has its roots in those meals at his mother's dinner table: Keep it simple.

"Really, try not to mess it up. Try to enhance the flavor of the food you're eating instead of covering it up with flavors that are not existing in the food," he said. "Some things I like to enjoy by the way they are."

--Jocelyn Dong

E-mail a friend a link to this story.

[an error occurred while processing this directive]

Just like mama used to make Just like mama used to make (February 25, 2004)In the reality TV show, "The Restaurant," chef Rocco di Spirito featured his Italian mama's meatballs on the menu and even employed her at the business.

Just like mama used to make Just like mama used to make (February 25, 2004)
In the reality TV show, "The Restaurant," chef Rocco di Spirito featured his Italian mama's meatballs on the menu and even employed her at the business.