Culinary Educator. Italianist. Local Food Systems Advocate. Good Food Ambassador.

ciao, i’m jessica.

I am the owner of Cucina Sotto Il Lauro, a culinary education and special events company. I received my master’s degree in food studies from New York University and split my time between the D.C. area and New York City, where I am an adjunct instructor at NYU and in the hospitality management program at Montgomery College in Rockville, Md. My academic research focuses on Italian cuisine and culture, exploring issues around authenticity and tradition in constructing Italian identity. For a decade I was director of culinary development and training for Fabio Trabocchi Restaurants in Washington, D.C., including Fiola DC, Fiola Miami, Fiola Mare, three locations of Sfoglina Pasta House, Del Mar, and Fiola at Dopolavoro Venezia.

My culinary career has brought me into the kitchens of several James Beard award-winning Italian chefs: Chef Roberto Donna at his landmark Washington, D.C., restaurant, Galileo; and Chef Fabio Trabocchi, at his award-winning Maestro in the Ritz-Carlton Tysons Corner, Virginia, and Michelin-starred Fiamma in New York City. My first mentor in the culinary world was Chef Craig Hartman at the Clifton Inn outside Charlottesville, Virginia.

I was the chef-coordinator of the School of Italian Studies at the International Culinary Center (formerly FCI) in New York City, from 2008 until 2012, working with dean Cesare Casella. During that time I competed on Iron Chef America, participated in the Sfoglino d’Oro, an international pasta-making competition in Bologna, Italy, and coordinated editorial production, photography, food and prop styling for Chef Casella’s book, The Fundamental Techniques of Classic Italian Cuisine, nominated for a 2013 James Beard Award.

I serve as chair of the grants committee of Les Dames d’Escoffier's Washington DC Regional chapter, where I have been a member since 2013. I am on the board of Culinary Corps, the first service organization designed for specifically for culinary professionals.

Prior to my career in Italian food, I graduated from the University of Virginia, where I studied Italian literature, and specifically, the Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri. But as one Italian literary historian asked, “What is the glory of Dante compared to spaghetti?”

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