ALBERTO MORREALE
EXECUTIVE CHEF - OSETRA
During his early years growing up in Palermo, Sicily, Alberto Morreale had absolutely no inkling that he would one day become a master chef. He did, however, always possess a love for the aromatic foods that he enjoyed around the family table.
Shortly after completing the Sicilian equivalent of middle school, Alberto was 14 years old and looking for employment when a friend suggested that he contact a local restaurant that was in need of new employees. After a brief interview, he was put to work in the kitchen performing cleanup duties.
After working there for only a few months, he became imbued with a passion for the preparation of fine cuisine from watching the Owner and Executive Chef of the restaurant, who was also his employer. After noticing his enthusiasm, the accomplished chef took young Alberto under his wing and became his mentor. Today, Alberto reminisces that this early role model treated him like a son, and taught him the intricate secrets of the Sicilian kitchen.
After attaining a polished expertise with this type of cookery, Chef Alberto decided that it was time to branch out and learn more about the gastronomy of Italy's more northerly regions. His family tried to convince him to stay in Sicily, but at that point in his career the drive to evolve was far too strong to hold him.
At the tender age of 17, he moved to northern Italy and went to work for a large restaurant corporation, where he was placed in a position of overseeing an extensive staff of kitchen personnel. But, as the years progressed, the desire to visit his family in Palermo prompted him to return home.
Chef Alberto tried working at the best restaurants in the city, but still found that he was not completely satisfied. This seemed to him as if it might be the right time to try his hand at working in one of the most competitive restaurant market in the world; the United States.
As fate would have it, he happened to be related to noted Gaslamp Quarter master Chef, Vincenzo Lo Verso, of Panevino. When Chef Lo Verso became aware of Alberto's desire and well-honed abilities in the kitchen, he was summoned to San Diego to become an integral part of their highly respected restaurant group.
Today, Chef Alberto Morreale has risen to the level of Executive Chef at Osetra, one of downtown's most highly acclaimed dining establishments. Truly, A Sicilian version of the 'American Dream.'
