About Lorenzo's - A Culinary Journey

Showing a passion for food at an early age, Lorenzo began to learn from his mother. Standing in her way was the name of the game. Hungry for her food, hungry to learn how to do it...

So at 16, I got a job in a local pizzeria. I went the distance, pot scrubbing, floor polishing, etc. The crappiest of jobs and then they let me make a pizza. It was very cool.

About a year, I found myself working at Mothers Pizza on Niagara St. in Welland. It was my first experience with a 'chain' restaurant. Wow, they did almost everything for you, except dress and bake a pizza. Sauces were frozen in a bag. We'd plop them into a pot of boiling water and serve. Making pizza dough was so easy. Everything was pre-mixed...add water and serve.

Suddenly I was feeling like a cook!

Striving for bigger and better, I found myself on the opening team of Keystone Kelly's at the Seaway Mall in Welland. I WAS HOOKED!! The excitement of opening a new restaurant! It's everything the TV shows depict! New equipment, new fixtures and furniture. The planning, trying new foods...it was great! From that point, the journey was officially underway!

As I was going through senior high school and college, I served under the tutelage of some fine chefs and restaurant owners. Parkway Inn and the Katzmans, White Oaks and the Wakils, Casa del Toro and Hermas Gervais, the Banff Springs Hotel and Chefs Luthi and Tanaka, and many others along the way.

Fast forwarding to my early adult life, I found myself seeking a new path and so I ventured into the field of working with people with disabilities. To this day, it was a most amazing experience having worked with all these people who were now my friends! But I knew where my passion lay and I found myself drawn back to food and the hospitality industry.

That passion has taken me from a resort in Northern Ontario, to a popular destination in the heart of the entertainment district in Toronto, being given the daunting task of running a kitchen that would oversee food for up to 700 people at one time. I had the privilege of serving many that would include Elle MacPherson, Bob Dylan, Sir Anthony Hopkins, a host of sports celebrities, TV personalities and the like. I even got to have my 15 seconds of fame, as a 'Chef' in the movie 'The Last Don Part 2'. All in all, a life changing experience, now knowing that I was doing what I loved.

Those experiences brought me back home, where I was given an opportunity to ply my trade...my way, in my hometown. So it was born, The Venice Café and Ristorante. A great little nook in the north end of Welland that introduced a wood-fired oven cranking out some delectable pizzas, along with a terrific menu that was full of deliciousness! Great food, good wine, terrific people and cool jazz were the orders of this place that became a destination in the city.

Jumping ahead to 2008, it was time to establish a new type of take out food idea. Taking all of that deliciousness and making it available to take home. Having a place where quality food is prepared, much like what you would go to a Chef operated restaurant for, but to take home and enjoy. And so began Lorenzo's Fine Foods.

Welcome and enjoy a re-defining of the take home food and catering experience.

Enjoy the sights, the words and the sounds of our exciting web home! And...

Buon Appetito,
Chef Lorenzo