Fabio Viviani might have caught the public's eye during season five of Bravo's Top Chef, but he's been in the restaurant industry since he was a teen. The Florence native began cooking in family kitchens as a child before landing his first job at the age of 14 at Trattoria Il Pallaio. Now the handsome chef is the owner and executive chef of Cafe Firenze and Firenze Osteria (both in California) and Siena Tavern in Chicago, with a Siena Tavern outpost set to take over the old China Grill space in South Beach this fall.
Viviani recently chatted with New Times about Siena Tavern, fame, and why paying a lot for a bottle of wine is absolutely ridiculous.