|
THE CHEF
BACKGROUND:
Chef Luigi
Diotaiuti was born in Italy, and after completing his
degree at the Culinary School of Maratea, Italy, he attended
the famous
Ritz Escoffier Ecole de Gastronomie Française in
Paris. He worked at many European restaurants including the
Hotel
George V (Paris), the Grand
Hotel Bauer Grunwald (Venice), Trattoria Italiana Plymouth
(England), and the Yacht Club Restaurant (Porto Cervo, Sardinia),
to name just a few.
In 1990, Luigi arrived
in Washington, D.C., where he worked at Donna Adele, Primi
Piatti and Duca di Milano. In March 1996 he opened his own
restaurant, Al Tiramisu®. His trademark outfit is a red
bandanna around his neck, colorful pants, and bow tie pasta
buttons on his jacket.
Chef Luigi is always
in search of a birthday to celebrate or a song to sing along;
you will come to Al Tiramisu® as a customer and leave
as a friend. It also helps that, besides his native language—Italian,
Chef Luigi is fluent in English, Spanish and French, that
is what makes Al Tiramisu® a big favorite among the diplomatic
crowd.
ACTIVITIES:
Chef Luigi and Al Tiramisu® have always been very active
catering local receptions and benefits (see list below). Lately,
Chef Luigi has also ventured outside of Washington to demonstrate
how to cook gnocchi di ricotta and tiramisu at the recently
opened cooking school of La
Cucina Italiana in New York. His reputation went as far
as Albuquerque, New Mexico, where he prepared, together with
brother Giovanni, a "Big Night" dinner to benefit
the New Mexico Symphony.
- Italian Cultural Institute
(Official caterer for all the major events)
- Smithsonian Institution
(Workshops on regional Italian food)
- La Cucina Italiana (Festival
of the Sun, Washington D.C.; cooking classes in New York)
- Big Night dinners (Anniversary
and evocation of the famous movie, sponsored by Antinori
wines, both in Washington
and Albuquerque, New Mexico)
- Lezione di Grappa (Lecture
on the history of the oldest Italian liquor at the Sons
of Italy dinner)
- Scuola di Cucina (Cooking
classes regularly offered at the restaurant)
- The Gourmet in you (Quarterly
newsletter at the second year of publication reaching over
1,800 readers)
- Cooking demonstrations (Borders
Books)
|
