Rosario Romano was born and raised in South Philadelphia, and learned how to cook the Old Italian way – watching great chefs in the kitchen, and working by their side.

Romano started working when he was sixteen, with his first job as a busboy at Palumbo’s, one of the city’s legendary Italian restaurants. He also worked different food stations at Franceso, Villa Di Rieti, and Spinelli’s. It wasn’t until Alfredo’s though that his fate was sealed. Asked to help out on the line on a busy night, Romano caught the eye of executive chef Angelo Ciaranini who pronounced him a “natural.” Ciaranini, now at Disney’s Epcot, took Romano under his wing, and taught him “the right way to do everything.”

Romano explains that “The reason people love Italian food is because they can understand it. Too much food today is over complicated, and overcooked. I want to give people the best, freshest ingredients, and cook them simply to bring out the most flavor.” As executive chef at Ristorante Panorama, Romano personally checks all the produce daily to assure quality—a job other chefs mistakenly give away, but one that his mentor insisted was the critical foundation of a good meal.

“Another key to a great Italian restaurant,” notes Romano, “is the spirit of the place. It’s got to have a happy heart. People have to feel good, and that doesn’t just happen by accident.” Romano works hard to make sure that the typical enmity between front and back of the house doesn’t exist at Ristorante Panorama. “I try to treat the waiters as if they are the customers – they are my link to the dining room, and carry my attitude along with the food at every table.”

Romano and his wife have three children, and live in South Jersey. He keeps up the Italian tradition of cooking Sunday supper for all the relatives, and loves to make the rounds, just like he did when he was growing up, for all the ingredients… Claudio’s for bread, P&S for ravioli, Giordano’s and Anastasio’s for vegetables. And of course, he makes his “gravy” at home from scratch.