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Walter Potenza
Providence, RI
Passion should
be Walter Potenza's middle name. His restaurants are
quite possibly the most authentic in the city of
Providence, which is now a world-class restaurant city.
He is as much a historian as he is a chef. His
attention to details and devotion to history gives his
customers a delicious taste of the real Italy.
Chef Walter
Potenza, a native of Abruzzo, Italy, is known as one of
the most passionate and accomplished practitioners of
traditional Italian cooking in the nation. Potenza came
to America at the age of 19, to live with his family and
study history at Rhode Island College, but it was clear
very quickly, his love of cooking would draw him in
another direction, directly to the restaurant business.
Potenza has led
kitchens in some of the most renowned restaurants in New
England as well as in his Italian hometown. Potenza
opened The Sunflower Café and
La
Locanda del Coccio, both located in
Providence, in 1994. Opening in 1999 to raves from
enthusiastic foodies, Chef Walter’s
Aquaviva
Eurobistro, the first tapas-style cafe in Rhode
Island was launched. History repeats itself, as is the
case with Chef Walter. Having opened his first fine
dining restaurant appropriately named
Walter’s,
in 1985, and originally located in East Greenwich,
Rhode Island, Walter was anxious to reinvent this
establishment elsewhere.
While still
guiding the kitchens at his other properties, Walter
found the perfect venue and surroundings. This new fine
dining jewel opened in 2004, housed in an historic
building on historically significant Federal Hill in
Providence. Christened Walter’s Restaurant,
the public enjoys the first-of-its-kind fine dining menu
to feature authentic cuisine derived from several
periods through out Italian culinary history. Potenza’s
unique cooking style is honed from a special love of
recreating and reinterpreting Holiday dishes and foods
traditional to the Italian Jews.
Spezia
Foodsmith’s, Organic Natural Market and Café
opened in 2006, and is the latest brainchild
from this energetic and passionate Italian-American.
Dedicated to the finest quality foods,
Spezia
offers take- out, casual setting, tasting, and a wine
bar, as well as specialty packaged foods and
condiments. Chef Walter’s hope was for his guests to
recreate a culinary experience of their own at home,
with foods lovingly created from Spezia. Many of
the produce and cheese products found here come from
local artisans and sustainable farming co-ops hand
selected by Chef Walter.
In addition to
operating his restaurants and Spezia
Foodsmith’s, Potenza is the Director of
Chef Walter's
Cooking School, operating both
in Gubbio, Italy and Providence, Rhode Island. He was
the first chef in the United States to introduce the
century’s old technique and art of terracotta cookery,
with Chef Potenza devising historically accurate food
dishes specially designed to be cooked in these clay
pots. His latest venture is a new concept / restaurant
named "Spiga"
Italian farm cooking in Cranston Rhode Island.
Potenza’s
culinary awards include the Five-Star Diamond Award, the
Porto-Novo Award, and the prestigious Insignia Award
given to Chef Walter in 2000 by the Italian government.
This award identifies Chef Walter as one of the
Ambassadors of Italian Culture worldwide.
Potenza was one
of a select group of chefs named to the Specialty Chef
Program, held during the 2002 Winter Olympic Games,
Utah. A 2002 winner of the State of Rhode Island’s, Man
of the Year, Potenza continues to teach the history of
hundreds of years of culinary experimentation to many in
his community and around the country.
www.chefwalter.com
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