Vincenzo Lo Verso

Chef

Osteria Panevino

As the owner and executive chef of three of Downtown San Diego’s most popular Italian restaurants, including Osteria Panevino which claims the prestigious title of one of the Gaslamp District’s oldest Italian restaurants, Chef Vicenzo Lo Verso clearly knows his way around the kitchen. Since he has been consistently impressing diners for 20 years, I was eager to sit down with Chef Lo Verso to discuss his favorite dishes, his culinary beginnings in Sicily, and what has led to his success in the competitive culinary business. As he strolled out from the back, greeting regulars with a traditional kiss on both cheeks, I was introduced to a man who could easily be one of Tony Soprano’s crew with his thick accent, relaxed manner, and disarming smile. And like the traditional Italian family man, he warmly invites diners to pull up a chair and get to know the man behind the menu.

Tell us a little more about the menu. Is it region-specific?

No, there are some items all the way from Northern Italian to South Italy. The polenta is a Northern Italian item, to the mashed potatoes, which are from the South. In the South flour is used more, and in the old Italian cooking breads and pasta were more common. So, the menu is made from the best of all over Italy.

What is your favorite dish on the menu?

My favorite dish on this menu is the Ossobuco. Another favorite dish is pasta ­-- my pasta’s pretty good actually. I like all pastas. I got a good pasta. The one I like a lot is the paccheri.  It’s like a big tube pasta like a rigatoni, but quadruple-size -- like a huge tube -- so the paccheri on the menu’s really good. It’s got a really creamy sauce.

So it’s homemade pasta?

We have a bakery so we bake all the bread, we make all the pasta-- we do everything. We change the menu every three to four months; about twenty-five percent of the menu is changing all the time. Actually, if you would ask me what is the best thing on the menu, I would say pasta, but I don’t want to get full of myself and say, “Oh, the pasta!”

Did you have a mentor that helped you get interested in cooking?

I got an uncle who’s a chef in Italy. I aspired to become a cook so he gave my first job. I worked in the restaurant, in the supply shed, daily from when I was young. I started when I was 13, so I’ve been cooking all my life.

Do you feel like you knew you always wanted to cook?

I hate to serve people; I love to cook. I don’t like to be in the front; I like to be in the back. I used to cook all the time. I mean, I got three restaurants, I’m opening a new one, so I’m always spending at least a couple days a week in the kitchen. I love to cook, I love the kitchen.

Do you still cook at home?

All the time. I’m not gonna wait for my wife to cook dinner to eat, so I cook all the time. Always. On the weekends, usually on Sunday, I cook for my family unless we go out.

Do you cook the same kind of things at home?

I can do anything. I mean, I don’t wanna get cocky now. I can do sushi, anything.

So you have a new restaurant opening?

I have a new place called Oregano, in Hillcrest on 5^th and Pennsylvania. It will have more wood-fired pizza, so I’ll make, like, a gourmet pizza. A lot of stuff we’re gonna cook in the oven, like roast chicken, mushrooms, potatoes, everything will be cooked in the pizza oven. So it will be a little bit more of a rustic place, real authentic Italian. We’re going to have more meats and cheeses, like cured meat, speck and salami, and cheeses.

What do you think makes you so successful?

I’ve been here 20 years. Many people come and go. I’m always one of the most busy people in the city. So many owners, they have a restaurant, they have a manager, they have employees to run the place. I always oversee everything. Really, I mean I work every day, six days a week. I take Sunday off. Sunday I’m with my family.

I try to keep things authentic. Ninety percent of my staff and all of my servers are Italian. I like when people come in to this kind of restaurant and it’s all very Italian. I also make sure to buy quality food.  I tell my employees what to buy or where to buy. If they’re going to change an item, like meat or fish, I always have to approve it. I always know what’s going on. I want to ensure the quality. It all depends what the market can offer.

If you want me to brag about me, I don’t wanna. I mean, the food is really good too. In downtown, it’s hard, but we still have a lot of repeat customers. We are one of the first Italian restaurants in San Diego, in Downtown, and we’re still busy. The kitchen is the most important thing. I’m always involved in the kitchen. I’m always staying on top of the menu. When something comes up, I’ll go back in the kitchen to fix it. The key is to always be involved.