Profiles – Saverio Posarelli

The Culinary Performances Series

But that colorful bit of family history, does not in itself tell the real story behind Saverio’s love for all things culinary. That actually came to pass, from watching his grandmother Nonna Dina teach him generations of secrets of Tuscan cuisine.

Brought up outside of Florence, on a Tuscan farmhouse, young Saverio literally learned how to prepare food before the age of ten, cooking for his grandparents and family members, making simple, but tasty treats like Fettunta, the famous Tuscan ciabatta rubbed with garlic and first press olive oil that his family would go and buy from the local farmer. This grilled bread, rubbed with a garlic clove, drizzled with the best olive oil in the world, and sprinkled with coarse sea salt set the tone for a culinary style he still employs today: simplicity, the best and freshest ingredients you can get your hands on and a uniquely uncomplicated, yet exquisite palette of hearty flavors that harken to the romance of the best Tuscan cuisine.

After graduating from restaurant and hotel management school, Saverio cut his teeth in the simmering hot trenches of fine restaurants across France, Germany and Italy until getting his first real career break back in Florence, with the Wolfgang Puck of Italy, Fabio Picchi of internationally known “Il Cibreo” and “Teatro del Sale.” Fabio saw a promising young man, with remarkable talent in the kitchen and entrusted his protégée, still only in his early 20’s, with opening a sister “Il Cibreo” restaurant clear across the planet in Tokyo, Japan.

Eventually making his way from Asia back home in Florence, Saverio crossed paths with an American girl studying art and Italian abroad. In a page straight out of “UNDER THE TUSCAN SUN,” this young woman would change the direction and the geography of young Saverio’s life forever.

A true romantic, the Italian up- and-coming chef followed his heart, and came to America to spend his life with LA native Devon, the woman that would become not only his wife, but the mother of his three children.

Bringing to bare his now well honed skills in big kitchen, Bob Morris of RJ’s for Ribs, Paradise Cove and Gladstone’s fame gave Saverio the chance of a lifetime, having him open the massively successful and popular Universal CITY WALK GLADSTONES, one of the biggest restaurants in the United States. Now an established and proven entity, Saverio was nabbed by Jean-Louis De Mori and Antonio Tomassi the creators of some of the most famous and iconic Italian eateries in Los Angeles: “Cabrea,” “il Moro,” “Locanda Veneta,” which led to partnering up with them in 1998 to open the amazingly successful “Padri Restaurant and Martini Bar” in Agoura Hills.

In 2004 Saverio opened Cafe Fiore in downtown Ventura which offered an open kitchen with rustic design and an outdoor tree house lounge with live music, followed in 2012 by a second Cafe Fiore in Woodland Hills with an intimate bar and live music.

Today, in addition to mentoring up and coming young chefs (just like he used to be,) Saverio splits his time between the two Café Fiores and PLATA in Agoura, a new twist on healthy authentic MEXICAN food with Italian influenced crossovers like Ossobuco and Mexican Cioppino.