Marc Vetri

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About Marc Vetri
Marc Vetri is the chef/founder of Philadelphia's critically acclaimed Vetri Cucina. In addition to his storied career in the kitchen, Marc is also the driving force behind the Vetri Community Partnership, a non-profit organization whose mission is to empower children and families through fresh food, hands-on experiences and education.
A Philadelphia native, Marc initially pursued a career as a guitarist before realizing his true passion came from cooking. Spending his formative professional kitchen life in Bergamo, Italy, working alongside some of the region's most noted chefs, Marc has become known the world over for bringing a bold, contemporary sensibility to classic Italian cooking. In 1998, he and business partner, Jeff Benjamin, opened the eponymous, fine-dining restaurant, Vetri Cucina, to universal acclaim. Vetri's outstanding pastas, innovative flavor combinations and artful presentations captured imaginations and propelled Marc to the culinary forefront. Within two years of the restaurant's debut, he was named one of Food & Wine's "Best New Chefs" and received the Philadelphia Inquirer's highest restaurant rating. In 2005, he was given the James Beard Award for "Best Chef Mid-Atlantic."
Following years of continued success at Vetri, Marc launched Osteria in 2007. Larger and more casual than Vetri, Osteria's menu of traditional Italian thin-crust pizzas, homemade pastas and wood-grilled meats and fish quickly won over the dining public.
Marc and The Vetri Family's third restaurant, Amis, opened its doors in 2010. Inspired by Rome's neighborhood trattorias, this intimate and energetic restaurant specializes in small plates such as handcrafted pastas and house-cured meats. In November 2010, Bon Appetit named Amis one of the top "10 Places for Pasta" in the country. Amis has since opened a second location in Westport, Connecticut, and expanded the brand to also include Bar Amis (formerly Lo Spiedo), located in Philadelphia's Navy Yard.
2013 saw the debut of Pizzeria Vetri, Marc's most casual eatery to date with two locations in Philadelphia, as well as an outpost in Washington D.C. (June 2016).
In addition to his beloved restaurants, Marc is the author of Il Viaggio di Vetri (Ten Speed Press, Oct. 1, 2008), a collection of more than 125 of Vetri Cucina's most-requested dishes. His second cookbook, Rustic Italian Food (Ten Speed Press, Nov. 1, 2011), brought artisan cooking into home kitchens and was named one of the top cookbooks of 2011 by Bon Appetit. In 2015 he released Mastering Pasta (Ten Speed Press, 2015), and his follow up, Mastering Pizza (Ten Speed Press) is due out in 2018.
Outside of his restaurants, Marc is deeply passionate about giving back to the community, in particular his hometown of Philadelphia. In 2009, he and Jeff Benjamin created the Vetri Community Partnership. The organization's signature initiative, "Eatiquette," is a school lunch improvement program currently serving the Philadelphia and Austin areas. Culinary classroom and after-school cooking programs overseen by Vetri Community Partnership further help reinforce lessons learned in the lunchroom. Marc and Jeff Benjamin are the founders of the "Great Chefs Event," which brings together scores of the country's greatest chefs to raise money and awareness for the pediatric cancer charity, Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation.
In November 2015, Urban Outfitters Inc., a leading lifestyle specialty retail company joined forces with several of The Vetri Family restaurants including Amis, Bar Amis, Osteria, Pizzeria Vetri, and Alla Spina. Given their similar culture and vision, this successful partnership allows each of the companies to grow in new ways. After a successful transition period and advisory, Marc formally separated from the group in 2017.
Having rededicated himself to pushing culinary boundaries at Vetri Cucina, the restaurant is currently hosting a yearlong series of guest chef dinners with some of the most respected names in the industry, to mark their 20th anniversary. In late 2017, Vetri Cucina was re-reviewed by The Philadelphia Inquirer, maintaining its esteemed "Four Bell" rating, which notes the "graceful" evolution of the restaurant over the past two decades. Vetri Cucina was also welcomed into AAA's exclusive list of Five Diamond Restaurants in 2018.
2018 will bring an exciting new chapter for Vetri Cucina, as the restaurant looks towards its inaugural expansion at The Palms Las Vegas. The opportunity will introduce Marc and his cuisine to an entirely new group of diners, bringing an exciting ala carte aspect to the rustic Italian cuisine that Vetri Cucina has become so synonymous with.
Marc lives in Philadelphia with his wife, Megan, and their three children. He enjoys spending weekends cooking with his family, training in Brazilian jiu jitsu and playing his beloved guitars.
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Books By Marc Vetri
Vetri’s personal stories of travel and culinary discovery in Italy appear alongside his easy-to-follow, detailed explanations of how to make and enjoy fresh handmade pasta. Whether you’re a home cook or a professional, you’ll learn how to make more than thirty different types of pasta dough, from versatile egg yolk dough, to extruded semolina dough, to a variety of flavored pastas—and form them into shapes both familiar and unique. In dishes ranging from classic to innovative, Vetri shares his coveted recipes for stuffed pastas, baked pastas, and pasta sauces. He also shows you how to make light-as-air gnocchi and the perfect dish of risotto.
Loaded with useful information, including the best way to cook and sauce pasta, suggestions for substituting pasta shapes, and advance preparation and storage notes, Mastering Pasta offers you all of the wisdom of a pro. For cooks who want to take their knowledge to the next level, Vetri delves deep into the science of various types of flour to explain pasta’s uniquely satisfying texture and how to craft the very best pasta by hand or with a machine. Mastering Pasta is the definitive work on the subject and the only book you will ever need to serve outstanding pasta dishes in your own kitchen.
Pizza remains America's favorite food, but one that many people hesitate to make at home. In Mastering Pizza, award-winning chef Marc Vetri tackles the topic with his trademark precision, making perfect pizza available to anyone. The recipes—gleaned from years spent researching recipes in Italy and perfecting them in America—have a variety of base doughs of different hydration levels, which allow home cooks to achieve the same results with a regular kitchen oven as they would with a professional pizza oven. The book covers popular standards like Margherita and Carbonara while also featuring unexpected toppings such as mussels and truffles—and even a dessert pizza made with Nutella. With transporting imagery from Italy and hardworking step-by-step photos to demystify the process, Mastering Pizza will help you make pizza as delicious as you find in Italy.
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST COOKBOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION
“Here, finally, is the one bread book that every cook needs on their kitchen worktable.”—Andrew Zimmern, host of Bizarre Foods
The Vetri Cucina Bread Program began over a decade ago and has been part of the American movement to reclaim high-quality bread as a cornerstone of our food culture. In Mastering Bread, Marc Vetri and his former head baker, Claire Kopp McWilliams, show home cooks how to create simple breads with unique flavors in a home oven.
Included are more than seventy recipes for their bestselling sourdough and yeast loaves as well as accompaniments to serve with the breads. Their process of bread-making is broken down into three easy-to-digest chapters: Mix, Shape, and Bake. Another chapter includes recipes for enjoying breadin dishes such as Bruschetta, Panzanella, and Ribollita. There’s even a bonus chapter revealing the secrets of Vetri’s coveted Panettone. This book shares everything that Vetri and McWilliams have learned over the years about the art and science of making incredible bread. They explain how to use fresh milled and whole-grain flours as well as local and regional wheat varieties, with easy instructions for adapting bread recipes for success with whatever flour is available in your market. Included throughout are bios and interviews with grain farmers, millers, and bread bakers from around the nation.
Mastering Bread is a master class from an award-winning chef who makes world-class artisan bread easy to bake for both home cooks and professionals alike.
From acclaimed Philadelphia chef Marc Vetri comes a celebration of handcrafted, regional Italian cooking that advocates a hands-on, back-to-the-basics approach to cooking.
Slow-cooked meats, homemade breads, and flavorful pastas are the traditional comfort-food classics that Italians have been roasting, baking, curing, and making in their own kitchens for generations--dishes that people actually want to cook and eat.
Home cooks of every skill level will revel in the 120 recipes, such as sweet Fig and Chestnut Bread, rich Spinach and Ricotta Gnocchi, savory Slow-Roasted Lamb Shoulder, and fragrant Apple Fritters. But Rustic Italian Food is much more than just a collection of recipes. With detailed, step-by-step instructions for making terrines, dry-cured salami, and cooked sausage; a thorough guide to bread and pasta making; and a primer on classic Italian preserves and sauces, Rustic Italian Food is also an education in kitchen fundamentals.
In this book Marc Vetri connects us directly to the essence of Italian food.