South Philly Review

“It’s my grandmother, she’s very strong, and my mother, they pretty much taught me from the beginning,” Chris Scarduzio, the man behind the kitchens at restaurants Mia, Brasserie Perrier and Table 31, said. “I would come home from school, you know you had a lunch break, and I’d be coming home and when I’d go back I’d have flour on my shoes from making the pasta.”

Scarduzio, whose family settled at Seventh and Fitzwater streets after emigrating from the Abruzzo region in Italy, grew up eating and learning about the art of good food. His “training” has been put to good use and Philadelphians can pull up a chair at any one of his fine-dining establishments from here to Atlantic City.

Locals are in for a special treat this weekend when Scarduzio will be serving up a number of culinary treats alongside celebrity chefs such as George Perrier, Guy Fieri and Paula Deen at the second annual AC Food and Wine Festival, which is taking place today through Sunday at various venues.

“I’ll be there all weekend, cooking and having a great time,” Scarduzio, whose featured dish for the event is a smoked mozzarella ravioli with chanterelle mushrooms and arugula, said. “It’s a great event. There is tons of talent and tons of networking. It’s great for the city, great for Philadelphia, because these other cities have these huge events, but you aren’t going to go to Chicago, this is the closest one you can get.”

The event, sponsored by Harrah’s Entertainment, Condé Nast Traveler, the Food Network and others, features a la carte tickets to wine tastings, food shows, demonstrations and other food-themed fun for anywhere from $30 to $1,000.

“Well I’m going to be working in the booth. I’ll be at The Pool [at Harrah’s] at the Condé Nast event,” Scarduzio, who is participating in events Friday through Sunday, said. “At the restaurant [Mia], throughout the whole weekend, we have a tasting menu.

“I’m looking forward to seeing a lot of people and having a great time in the restaurant and doing what I do best.”

Scarduzio grew up in West Philadelphia, though many of his family members remain in the Bella Vista area today.

“Oh, ya, absolutely, my father, my aunts, my uncles are still down there,” Scarduzio, whose entire genealogic tree originates from Italy, said. “[They are] Italian, from Abruzzo.”

The Abruzzo region, whose western border is about 50 miles from Rome, has a unique food culture. Stateside, the Scarduzio clan continued their cooking traditions and a young Chris took notice.

“It was me, I was interested. I wanted to cook,” Scarduzio said of how he became involved with his family’s meal preparations.

Cooking was something Scarduzio had enjoyed for as long as he could remember, and after graduating from West Catholic he continued his passion outside the family home.

“Well, I was still cooking, bee-bopping around with trying different things, still working in the restaurant,” Scarduzio, who held a job at the Monte Carlo Living Room, Second and South streets, said. “I registered with CIA in New York and graduated top of my class.”

Traveling up the turnpike to the Culinary Institute of America, Scarduzio turned home-taught kitchen prowess into finessed craftsmanship. Shortly after graduating, he was offered a job in paradise.

“I got a job offer from the Sheraton [in Kauai, Hawaii]. It was awesome, it was great and very expensive, like paradise,” he said. “It was something for me, I am greater for the experience and I learned a lot about seafood out there. But it was time to come home.”

Coming back to the City of Brotherly Love, Scarduzio began putting his stamp on Philadelphia’s high-end dining, opening the Grill Room at the Ritz Carlton before becoming part of the opening team for Brasserie Perrier in 1997.

“I wanted to be in Philadelphia, my girlfriend was here and I wanted to get married. It’s where I’m from, where I’m most comfortable,” Scarduzio said.

Reaching outside his comfort zone, Scarduzio ventured to the Shore playground in Atlantic City and opened the doors to Mia — named after his only daughter, now 6 — in 2006. The Mediterranean-focused menu won critical and customer praise.