Owner and Executive Chef Andrea Froncillo
was born in a small seaside town outside of Naples, Italy. He was taught to cook by his “Nonna”, who passed on a deep passion for life to her grandson. From his early experiments with simple, basic foods grew an appreciation for the sensuality of texture, presentation and fragrance.
Andrea received his formal culinary training in the early seventies and graduated with honors from the E.N.A.L.C., in Trieste, Italy, followed by a six-month internship at the Hotel Foresta in Genoa, Italy. He then worked for several years on luxury cruise liners and eventually found his way to the United States in 1978. His resume ranges from a post as captain and sommelier at the landmark Ernie’s restaurant to opening a dozen acclaimed venues in Nevada, Alaska and California.
In the early 80’s, Andrea and his friends and co-workers lived in North Beach (the Italian section of San Francisco). His friends, Juliano Serrano, Mario Ascione and Giovanni Scala, to name a few illustrious chefs of world renown, used to cook, hang out together playing fuse ball and talking food. They were all chefs who enjoyed cooking together.
Through the years, they have continued their friendship founded upon food and cooking as later they went on to open their own restaurants—Giovanni opened Piatti, Table 29, Scala’s Bistro and Bistro Don Giovanni, Mario opened Café Macaroni, Juliano, after opening Sutter 500 with Hubert Keller, took over Masa’s in Union Square and later opened Picasso at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. While they all expanded and opened new restaurants, Andrea became the Executive Chef of Calzone’s, The Stinking Rose, the Crab House at Pier 39, The Dead Fish, Bobo’s, the Franciscan at Fisherman’s Wharf, The Old Clam House and Salito’s in Sausalito.
They have all stayed in touch throughout these restaurant incarnations and still enjoy cooking together when time permits.
Andrea has made many appearances on national and local news channels and cooking shows, including Now You’re Cooking (NBC), Woman 2 Woman (CBS), Good Day L.A. (FOX), La Cocina (LA Univision) as well as radio shows including Merrill Shindler’s Restaurant Show on 97.1 in Los Angeles; Dining Around with Gene Burns on KGO, and appearances on KABL, KMEL and K101 in San Francisco. His recipes and recommendations have been featured in several Bay Area newspaper articles. His web site, Sex and the Kitchen is filled with recipes for two and recommendations for romantic travel and dining throughout the world.
Froncillo currently resides in North Beach. He travels to Italy several times a year in search of new trends in food.