WHAT ITALY TAUGHT US 
 A journey with Chef Raine & Sommelier Mark

01 | IMMERSED 🇮🇹

For Chef Raine Sindicich and Sommelier Mark Sindicich, a recent trip to Italy wasn’t simply a chance to experience the country’s food and wine. It was an opportunity to step away from the day-to-day rhythm of Victor’s and immerse themselves in the traditions, techniques, ingredients and culture behind the cuisine they work with every day.

They traveled to the Italian Culinary Institute in Calabria for an intensive, two-week course in the Evolution of Italian Cooking.

And “intensive” may be an understatement.

For more than 100 hours of hands-on instruction and culinary exploration, Raine and Mark immersed themselves in the many layers of Italian cuisine. The took a deep dive into regional traditions and ingredients for pasta, pizza, breads, desserts, wine and the techniques that bring them all together.

They learned alongside Chef John Nocita, an award-winning chef, certified sommelier, founder of the Italian Culinary Institute and one of Europe’s leading food consultants.

They cooked. They tasted. They studied. They asked questions. And, of course, they ate (and drank). And somewhere along the way, the experience became about more than learning new recipes or techniques. It became about understanding

Going beyond the recipe

Italian cooking can look deceptively simple.

A few good ingredients. A well-made pasta. A carefully prepared sauce. A bottle of wine that belongs at the table.

But that simplicity is built on generations of knowledge. Knowledge about ingredients, place, seasonality, technique and tradition.

The course gave Raine and Mark the opportunity to explore those ideas firsthand, while learning from people who have spent their lives immersed in Italian culinary culture.

They returned to Victor’s with new techniques and ideas, but also with something harder to measure: a renewed perspective on the food and wine they create and share every day

What Italy taught us

That’s the story we want to tell.

Over the coming weeks, we’ll take you along on Raine and Mark’s journey. From the pasta they worked with and the pizza they studied to the wines they tasted, the ingredients that caught their attention, the meals they remember most and the lessons that stayed with them after they returned home.

We’ll explore tradition and evolution. About food as both craft and art. About the importance of great ingredients. About what a sommelier drinks in Italy, and what a chef notices when he’s given the chance to spend two weeks completely immersed in his craft.

And most importantly, we’ll explore what all of that means here at Victor’s.

Join us as we bring the inspiration home. 🇮🇹