Forkly Blog

CHEF ALESSANDRO RICCIARDI (Forkly: @alessandroricciardi)

“I use many apps that share pictures (food-based or not), but Forkly is much simpler, faster, and more intuitive. I like the activity feed, as it lets people interact in different ways and communicate. Here in Italy it’s still underused, but I’ve found some interesting users from my country. Forkly rules!”

Chef Alessandro Ricciardi’s tastes on Forkly are amazing to look at – we only wish we could hop on over to Italy to try them! His pictures, posted straight from the restaurant he owns with his family, Ristorante Caratello, are mouthwatering. In every dish you can visually see the flavors, care, and technique that has gone in to preparing it!

Chef Ricciardi was born and raised in Florence, Italy and like a sponge, he soaked up all the city had to offer–the arts, good food, and great wine. His father, a chef among the busy city streets, was a major player in Ricciardi’s passion for food and cooking.

Another great inspiration to Chef Ricciardi is fellow Chef and friend, Gabriele Bonci, or as he’s known in Rome, the “Michelangelo della Pizza.” This past February, Chefs Ricciardi and Bonci taught a cooking class at Tricolore Monti in Rome.

Ricciardi says of Bonci, he is a “hero here in Italy, a master of dough, pizza Romana and natural bread…I recommend for everyone to follow him and take his courses.” Chef Bonci owns and operates Pizzarium and other smaller restaurants in Rome.

At twelve years old, Chef Ricciardi realized what perked his interest most about cooking: impastazione, or, “making the dough.” Working with flour and natural yeast, making bread, pizza, cakes, and more, led him to find his true passion. This love affair resulted in Ristorante Caratello and his restaurant’s emphasis on pizza and all forms of dough, accurate flavors and recipes, and the Tuscan influence of his father–these dishes are most often profiled on his Forkly account!

Chef Ricciardi’s intuition has paid off and brought a new way of preparing and serving food that pays attention to the raw material, makes the dish as natural as possible, and always focuses on delivering a beautiful, fresh end result. Above all it’s Chef Ricciardi’s main goal to let the customer choose: to consistently allow the customer to have complete freedom in what they want, with respect to the season as a tool to deliver fresh products and quality ingredients.

You can follow Chef Ricciardi’s posts on Forkly — and next time you’re in Florence, let us know if you make it to Ristorante Caratello!

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Italian Explanation from Chef Ricciardi:

Sono nato e cresciuto a Firenze, culla d’arti, buon cibo e ottimo vino. Da sempre predisposto alla via dell’enogastronomia, grazie alla passione di mio padre, già Chef per le trafficate vie del centro, è verso i dodici anni che vado sviluppando quello che diventerà il mio interesse principale: l’impastazione. Lavorare le farine, scaturirne lieviti naturali, confezionare pane, pizze e focacce e interessarsi sempre più a questo mondo bianco mi ha portato ad inserire la pizza sulla carta del mio Ristorante, che gestisco assieme alla mia famiglia da una dozzina d’anni. Nel giro di pochi anni la scelta si è rivelata giusta, affiancando alla cucina espressa, dai sapori e le cotture sempre precisi e marcatamente toscana di mio padre, le nostre pizze non hanno fatto altro che esaltare un nuovo modo di fare ristorazione, fatto di continue attenzioni verso la materia prima, lievitazioni lente ed il più naturali possibile e un occhio di riguardo alla spesa finale, con in testa una convinzione sempre chiara e presente: lasciare al cliente la completa libertà di poter scegliere ciò che più desidera, compatibilmente con il rispetto, costante, verso la stagionalità di prodotti e ingredienti di qualità.