Facchini, acclaimed in U.S. and Italy, to lead Visiting Chef dinner

(EDITOR'S NOTE: The Spring 2020 Visiting Chef Dinner was ultimately canceled due to COVID-19 concerns.)

Set for April 3, Pennsylvania College of Technology’s annual Visiting Chef dinner will feature Chef Fabrizio Facchini, who has gained acclaim in both Italy and the United States.

A brand ambassador for Urbani Truffles and a champion for “slow food,” Facchini’s most recent venture is the highly anticipated opening this spring of Cotto, the restaurant inside the Renaissance New York Chelsea Hotel in Manhattan’s Flower District.

During his three-day stay on campus, Facchini will speak in Penn College hospitality classes and work alongside students to prepare the menu he has developed for an elegant reception and four-course benefit dinner that will culminate his stay. Proceeds from the dinner are used to fund scholarships in the college’s baking and pastry arts and culinary arts majors.



Facchini’s menus at Cotto (which means “cooked” in Italian) serve a unique twist on authentic Italian cuisine, using the best of local and imported ingredients. In addition to the restaurant, Facchini spearheads all food and beverage operations at the hotel, which opened in February, including catering private events in its Cardinal Ballroom and two-story rooftop lounge.

Prior to his appointment at the Renaissance Hotel, Facchini most recently was executive chef at Memoria in New York and Taverna Novo in Saratoga Springs, New York. Before his move to the U.S., he was chef and owner, with his wife, of Antico Borgo, a 13th-century country house that the couple restored and turned into a boutique hotel and restaurant in Arcevia, in the Marche region of Italy. Under Facchini, Antico Borgo earned recognition in the esteemed Michelin Italy Guide and in press around the world.

Facchini and his family, which includes four children, moved to San Diego in 2015 and have lived in New York since 2017. He has received awards from the Italy-America Chamber of Commerce in New York for bringing authentic Italian cuisine to the U.S., and was invited to cook a special dinner at the prestigious James Beard House.

A longtime member and champion for the Slow Food Chefs’ Alliance, Facchini was a member in Italy and now is chair of the Chefs’ Alliance for Slow Food New York State and co-chair for the United States. He has participated in Slow Food Nations in 2018, when he cooked at the Zero Waste Family Meal with Chef Massimo Bottura and other famous chefs, and in 2019, when he created the event’s Italian Kitchen, inviting and collaborating with renowned chefs, food lovers and authors.

Facchini is an adviser for the Association of Italian Chefs of New York and is involved in several nonprofit organizations, including Food for Soul, Nature Kids in Costa Rica, and the Food Network & Cooking Channel New York City Wine & Food Festival, where he has collaborated with chef friends Rocco DiSpirito, Geoffrey Zakaraian, Guy Fieri, Lidia Bastianich and many others to raise funds for the Food Bank For New York City and the No Kid Hungry campaign.

He has appeared on Food Network and is a brand ambassador for Urbani Truffles, Pasta di Martino and DiSano Pistacchio di Bronte.

The Visiting Chef Series dinner is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. April 3 in Le Jeune Chef Restaurant, a live-learning laboratory for students in the college’s School of Business & Hospitality.

Tickets are $125. To reserve seats, call 570-320-8020, email or visit the college's giving webpage.

The menu (each course will be paired with wine):

Reception
Truffle caviar tuna tartare
Papa al pomodoro
Mini pizza alla Romana

 

First Course
Seafood salad
with squid, octopus and shrimp

Second Course
Pasta
paccheri, lobster and saffron

Main Course
Porcini short rib
braised truffles-and-porcini short rib, parsnip and sunchokes mousseline

Dessert
Bourbon tiramisu

 

To learn more about culinary arts and baking and pastry arts majors at Penn College, call 570-327-4505.

For information about Penn College, a national leader in applied technology education, email the Admissions Office or call toll-free 800-367-9222.