thePULSEBrian Manzi, Age 26,
Chioda’s Trattoria
December 2005 –
631 Franklin St.,Worcester
508-459-6035
Pulse: Where have you worked prior to coming to Chioda’s?
Brian: Primo’s, Flying Rhino, and Bread & Pasta.
Pulse: Where did you learn to cook?
Brian: I started out as self-taught, and then I cooked in the Army while I was in the 82nd Airborne.
Pulse: How many years have you been cooking?
Brian: Since I was 12, so about 14 years.
Pulse: What is your cooking philosophy?
Brian: Make people happy. Cooking is my passion, I grew up in it ~ and I love coming to work because that’s where I can make people happy.
Pulse: What is your favorite item to cook?
Brian: Seafood, lots of seafood ~ especially mussels and clams.
Pulse :What is you favorite flavor?
Brian: Spicy ~ fra diavolo
Pulse: What is your favorite spice?
Brian: I don’t have a true favorite, I use them all ~ but I do really like basil.
Pulse: What is your favorite ingredient?
Brian: Again, I don’t have a favorite, but I like to use specialty ravioli.
Pulse: What is your favorite cuisine?
Brian: Italian. But I also like middle eastern food ~ hummus, grape leaves, kibbee.
Pulse: When you go out to eat, where do you go?
Brian: I like Biaggio’s and I go to El Basha a lot.
Pulse: What are 3 things in your home refrigerator?
Brian: I’m never home, but there’s milk, soda, and haddock.
Pulse: What is your greatest accomplishment as a chef?
Brian: Opening Chioda’s and creating the menu.
Pulse: What was your greatest disaster?
Brian: Cleaning out the Fry-o-lator with a plastic bucket that promptly melted through. I thought the Fry-o-lator was off.
Pulse: Who is the most famous person for whom you’ve ever cooked?
Brian: Don King at the Flying Rhino a year ago.
Pulse: If you could invite any three people to dinner, who would they be?
Brian: Tom Brady ~ he’s my favorite. And Emeril Lagasse and my mom, who passed away when I was younger.
