Houston native Michael Toscano grew up with his mind set on being a professional golfer, until a stint at a golf club turned him on to cooking. By the age of 21, he’d graduated from culinary school and was a sous chef at Babbo, Mario Batali’s regional Italian restaurant in New York.
Chef Toscano went on to be the executive chef at Eataly’s Manzo, and in 2012, opened Perla, a modern Italian restaurant in Manhattan’s West Village that was named one of the best new restaurants in America by Esquire.
In 2015, he and his family moved to Charleston, South Carolina, where he’s working on a new restaurant project, slated to open in 2016.
We asked chef Michael to put pen to paper, where he detailed his thoughts on an increasingly introspective food community, the necessity of the kitchen spoon, and where in the world he’s dying to eat next.
Get to know all of the members of the Williams-Sonoma Chefs’ Collective, and see their latest travels, eats, and other inspirations on Instagram under the hashtag #wschefs.