Joe cares about food like Michelangelo cared about painting. A painter himself, he has special appreciation for artists. Joe painted his whole life with his love of art and food, which has brought him earned media attention. Joe has a lifetime of experience in the restaurant industry. With SaZa, he is presenting his patrons a menu which reflects his own humble beginnings featuring the peasant Italian food he grew up cooking and eating. As a young man, Joe quickly gained a reputation for his brilliant, innovative culinary creations. He began his career at his family’s hotel Biaggiâ in Bologna, Italy. It is here where Joe started washing pots and pans, until Chef Piero took notice of Joe trying to carve vegetables and saw the passion in him that would eventually help him grow into the accomplished Chef he is today. For 5 years Joe worked as apprentice under Chef Piero studying the art & science of food and cuisine.

The newest SaZa is located in the heart of the South in downtown Montgomery, Alabama. Talk to Joe for an hour, and you can’t help but see the great passion he has for the historic capitol city. In fact, so fervent is his belief in Montgomery that Joe has moved the global corporate offices of SaZa there. He is energized not just by what Montgomery is, but what it is becoming. His perception before moving was only a preconceived idea, but he believes after moving there, that it is a great city with huge potential. The journey that ultimately led Joe to Montgomery is extraordinary. His choice of vocation began in his formative years. He experienced a sort of dual citizenship growing up, spending six months a year in New York, and six months in Italy. While abroad, he gained his first exposure to the restaurant business. He vividly recalls being nine years old and watching the chef for the Hotel Biaggi. The chef cleaned himself up, walked out the front door, and got into a brand new Ferrari. From that moment on he knew what he wanted to do.