From the time I was a young boy growing up in an Italian household in Cicero I had always wanted to cook. Even before I was tall enough to reach the stove! My mom was a very big influence in my love of food. I would wake up in the morning on the weekends to the distinct aroma of onions and garlic sauteing in the pot and meatball’s frying in a pan.  Oh, it was a wonderful smell that to this day sends me back to my childhood every time I recreate it.

As I grew older, I would always ask my mom a lot of questions on how to cook. She loved that I took an interest and was always excited to share her secrets with me. One by one through the years she taught me her recipes and to this day I still create her authentic dishes just the way she did plus a whole lot more of my own. As I grew up, I went on to Chef school and honed all of my talents to become the cook I am today, known as Cicero Joe.

You see, the true lesson my mom taught me wasn’t a recipe. It was passion. I’ll always remember her saying, “Joe, anyone can follow a recipe from a piece a paper, but the real flavor comes from your heart. You must love what you are cooking. Cook from the heart and people will taste the difference”. To this day I include my mom’s words in every dish I make in the hope that you too will taste the difference.