Angelo the chef
Angelo comes from the tiny village of S’Agata sui due Golfi. It sits high on a hill between Sorrento and Positano in southern Italy, pretty close to heaven really. I met him nearly 40 years ago and I briefly lived in S’Agata too.
He has lived in Australia since 1974 and has only once been back to visit his family. He is the youngest of 7 children. Some of his brothers and a sister still live in the village. I have visited them a few times and it feels as though I never left when I sit at the kitchen table with Agata and Maria and their children. These children were actually children when I was there all those years ago. Now they are middle aged like me, with grown children of their own.
I am doing this post so that his family can see him and a little of what he does. He has become a very successful and popular chef in Brisbane and the Gold Coast. He will soon retire and perhaps go back to Italy.
I went to visit him at Va Bene, the restaurant in Brisbane where he works and he rustled up some yummy food for me.
chopping
chopping the mushrooms
These were quickly pan fried and plated to wait patiently for the steak to be ready.
the mushroom base
doesn't this look delicious?
As well as cooking the steak, he had the sauce for some gnocchi bubbling away and the gnocchi steaming in a big pot.
gnocchi sauce
cooking the gnocchi
all in together
Angelo probably learned to cook at his mother’s knee. He was quite a lot younger than the others and spent lots of time with her while the others were at school or work.
concentrating
Take a look at the finished dishes.
Yum!
Yum! again
Angelo with his kitchen mates, Robert and Ignatious
Angelo in his kitchen
If I close my eyes and listen to Angelo speak, he still has black hair and I am 19 and living far away from home in a small village in Italy.
This is for Maria, Agata, Rosa, Annamaria and all the others in S’Agata. I’m coming to see you in October.
Click here to meet some of the family and see a beautiful part of the coast near S’Agata.
Delightful post. Love his cooking. Yum indeed.
By: Liz Golding on August 2, 2011
at 1:25 am
Thanks, it was delicious.
By: bagnidilucca on August 2, 2011
at 1:32 am
Deb, amazing, you should add a couple of photos of when you were both married. I recently suggested Va Bene for a story for the new mag I am writing for, now I know some more I will persue it.
By: Roz on August 2, 2011
at 1:34 am
I have no photos of the wedding. We were married at the Comune in Massa Lubrense and there were no photos. Let Angelo know that you know me when to go to Va Bene.
By: bagnidilucca on August 2, 2011
at 1:43 am
It looks delicious! I can only imagine how popular he must be!
By: Rene on August 2, 2011
at 1:48 am
He is a very popular chef and does a great job in the kitchen. He can be a lot of fun too.
By: bagnidilucca on August 2, 2011
at 2:58 am
Deb – Wonderful to again see Angelo, the gentle soul! Nifta
By: Anonymous on August 2, 2011
at 1:50 am
Yes, he is that.
By: bagnidilucca on August 2, 2011
at 2:58 am
How many husbands have you had Zsa Zsa Gabor?? I love that restaurant but it has moved from Broadbeach… where to????
It was lovely to see you & Liz on Saturday night. We must catch up for a Saturday brekky again…… e dobbiamo parlare solo Italiano….
By: Sandra Larkin on August 2, 2011
at 3:20 am
I’m just working through my second one now. Va Bene is in the Windsor Hotel, near the Royal Brisbane Hospital, where I was born. I’m not sure that it was ever at Broadbeach.
By: bagnidilucca on August 2, 2011
at 3:35 am
yum yum yum…that looks DELICIOUS!!! Angelo is a QT!!!
By: darylbutler on August 2, 2011
at 4:13 am
I’m sure he would be happy to hear that.
By: bagnidilucca on August 2, 2011
at 5:04 am
What a joy you bring for Angelo’s family. They will be so happy to see this post.
By: Moira Drexler on August 2, 2011
at 5:24 am
Rosa and her son will know how to show the others the blog. I hope they like it.
By: bagnidilucca on August 2, 2011
at 6:13 am
You actually let a good chef like that go Debra?? You must have gone off you food at the time LOL.
By: paul stoker on August 2, 2011
at 5:29 am
He wasn’t a chef all those years ago, he didn’t really start cooking until he came to Australia. He has done very well here. I have never been off my food.
By: bagnidilucca on August 2, 2011
at 6:13 am
Great story, Debra! Good to see that you have been able to keep the links with your Italian family. And the food looks terrific!
By: Mulino Dominillo on August 2, 2011
at 7:23 am
I try to keep in touch with Angelo’s family. They were very good to me when I was there. He is a great cook.
By: bagnidilucca on August 2, 2011
at 7:57 am
Debra, what a lovely post. I can’t even imagine what it would have been like married at 19 and living in a small Italian village. I suspect there are many stories to be listened to.
Gorgeous looking gnocchi, I’m always a sucker for a plateful.
By: cityhippyfarmgirl on August 2, 2011
at 9:42 am
It was not easy! There were great bits, but I came back to Australia. The gnocchi was excellent.
By: bagnidilucca on August 2, 2011
at 10:16 am
How nice for you to share a piece of your past with us! Angelo’s food looks wonderful.
By: paninigirl on August 2, 2011
at 2:09 pm
He is a great cook. He was very nervous about the whole thing and it was difficult to get a smile. I had to sneak up on him.
By: bagnidilucca on August 2, 2011
at 9:27 pm
OH MY GOD! HIs food looks fantastic!!!
What a nice tribute to his family.
george
By: george miori on August 2, 2011
at 2:36 pm
I think they will be happy.
By: bagnidilucca on August 2, 2011
at 9:27 pm
not sure why my previous comment came up as Anon…?
By: anniesingerart on August 2, 2011
at 3:34 pm
I loved reading this post and getting to meet Angelo! The food of course looks wonderful!
By: margieinitaly on August 3, 2011
at 3:12 am
The food from southern Italy is wonderful, and this is reflected in the way Angelo cooks.
By: bagnidilucca on August 3, 2011
at 5:22 am
Oh he really was your first husband? What a story! I’d love to see some photos of the both of you!
By: Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella on August 3, 2011
at 6:45 am
Angelo was my first husband. We were married in Italy 38 years ago. I have no photos of us, but there is one somewhere of Angelo when he was very young and very beautiful. I will search for it.
By: bagnidilucca on August 3, 2011
at 8:07 am
Great post! This post has got everything in it: personal history, travel and wonderful looking food.
Congrats on the Blogger of the Month award!
By: lisa@notesfromafrica on August 3, 2011
at 7:48 am
Thank you. We got that for the Beautiful Helsinki post. It was a lovely surprise.
By: bagnidilucca on August 3, 2011
at 8:04 am
How lovely for Angelo’s family to see this post. I was wondering what on earth Angelo would have made of the food available in Aus in 1974 – things have changed so much since then. I’ll ask my last husband if he will take me to Va Bene.
By: Jan on August 3, 2011
at 11:16 pm
PS – congratulations on the award!
By: Jan on August 3, 2011
at 11:17 pm
Thanks.
By: bagnidilucca on August 4, 2011
at 4:26 am
I think Angelo arrived after the flood. I can’t remember what month he arrived. I came first and he came a bit later.
By: bagnidilucca on August 4, 2011
at 4:26 am
Lovely food Debra…. but wait a minute, he was your husband? and you are talking about him with no anger or hard feelings?
I admire you!!!!
By: mirellamccracken on August 4, 2011
at 10:04 am
We have not been together for a long time. Angelo is a very nice man and I wish him well.
By: bagnidilucca on August 4, 2011
at 10:42 am
This is a beautiful post. (And the food looks delicious!)
By: Journey Photographic on August 5, 2011
at 5:19 pm
It was very delicious.
By: bagnidilucca on August 5, 2011
at 8:51 pm
Okay I am starving now! What an amazing post, on so many levels.
By: Julie on August 9, 2011
at 3:36 pm
He is a great cook.
By: bagnidilucca on August 9, 2011
at 7:18 pm
I was very disappointed. We called in there to have lunch yesterday. We had not booked and were turned away. It seems they only cater for their guests who are attending the seminars at the venue.
By: colin (previously colin@cnd06.com) on August 11, 2011
at 12:20 am
I don’t think they do lunch any more, but I think they are open for dinner Monday to Friday.
By: bagnidilucca on August 11, 2011
at 7:02 am
[…] here to see my earlier story about Angelo. LD_AddCustomAttr("AdOpt", "1"); LD_AddCustomAttr("Origin", […]
By: The best of Italy « Bagni di Lucca and Beyond on October 29, 2011
at 2:54 am
Vcs tiveram filhos? Vc poderia contar um pouco sobre a sua vida naquela pequena aldeia. E vc casou novamente?
Magali
By: Anonymous on October 29, 2011
at 3:42 pm
I have a post card of a tree lined lane in S. Agata dating back to the 2nd world war when my father was serving with the 8th Army in Italy.
He notes on the back “Just a small spot of beauty around here”
Looking at all the present day pictures, I try to imagine what he saw and how much or little has changed since those days, but I do know he loved the local red wine! What he thought of the food I don’t know but it must have been better than army rations!
By: paul on November 26, 2012
at 5:20 pm
I would love to see that postcard! It probably doesn’t look much different from the S’Agata I knew in 1972, but would be vastly different from S’Agata today. It is a very busy little town which sits between Sorrento and Positano and is now a holiday destination in its own right.
By: Debra Kolkka on November 27, 2012
at 11:30 am
[…] To see more of my past life in southern Italy, click here and here. […]
By: 40 years ago in Sorrento | Bagni di Lucca and Beyond on May 31, 2013
at 4:51 am
Hey Debra, I just chanced upon this post while reading your blog. I am not sure whether to ask him but is he your husband? Life takes strange turns doesn’t it. Glad you have a friendship that made you write this post!
By: Ishita on September 9, 2015
at 8:54 am