The Cupertino Courier

Photograph by George Sakkestad

Villaggio Ristorante Italiano's chef, Sidney Retamoso, attended school at the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco. He also spent three months training as a chef in Milan, Italy.

It takes a Villaggio

By Justin Berton

Sidney Retamoso began his career at Villaggio Ristorante Italiano in 1984 washing the glasses.

Then he poured iced tea as a busboy. Then he waited tables.

And then he got into cooking.

Now he runs the place.

Not hard to work your way up the ladder when your parents own the establishment, but even so, the kid has come a long way.

"I was hanging around here before it was legal for me to work," Retamoso, 27, said.

His parents, Gerardo and Nilda, opened the fine Italian cuisine restaurant on Stevens Creek Boulevard in 1981.

Sidney said his father learned to cook from reading books.

In turn, Sidney learned from watching his father but also sought out more traditional training.

He spent three months at a cooking school in Milan, Italy, and then went on to the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco.

With that schooling under his belt and a creative flair to boot, he introduced a few only-at-Villaggio's items to the menu.

The fusilli siciliani entrée ($13) is a plate of homemade pasta tossed with sautéed sausages, capers, kalamatta olives and fresh tomatoes. The pollo della casa entrée ($16) is sautéed chicken and prawns topped with a Cointreau cream sauce.

The lunch menu offers the same wide range of chicken, fish and meat dishes, but also includes Italian sandwiches.

All of his dishes are made to order, and his pasta is made from scratch daily.

The large open-air kitchen adds to the family-style atmosphere.

"I might not know all of my regulars by name, but I know their faces," he said, noting that his duties behind the grill keep him off the floor.

Sydney said his tiramisu ($5) is recognized by customers as one of his finest desserts. Patrons who are traveling through often comment on its worldliness, he said.

When asked what the secret is, Sidney scratched at his brown goatee and replied, "It's magic."

Villaggio Ristorante Italiano, located at 4996 Stevens Creek Blvd. in San Jose (two blocks east of Lawrence Expressway), is open for lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. on weekdays, and for dinner from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday. 248-7191.

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