Today we’d like to introduce you to Vincenzo Betulia.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Parents immigrated to US in the mid 70’s when I was two years old. I grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Grew up in a small midwestern home (western suburb of the city) with my mother, father, sister and grandmother who spoke no English. We never ate out, grew vegetables behind the garage on a very small plot of dirt… always ate housemade food… Nothing fast food, nothing pre-made… My parents worked in foundries and my grandmother essentially raised me and my sister… after we left for school, she would stay home and cook dinner to be ready by 6:00-6:30. My parents had me working at a young age, throwing papers at eight years old, (cousins paper route) cutting grass and shoveling snow. In the Fall, we would go pick 20 bushels of tomatoes and can them in the basement throughout the months of Sept. and October.
I got my first restaurant job at 11 washing dishes (for free). My cousin was a hostess at a pizza joint, so I would tag along scrubbing pans listening to Van Halen on a transistor radio. Then I found my way to a server assistant position at a German restaurant around 14. After I threw papers, I’d ride my bike to work and come home around 10:00. I would spend my summers with my Godparents in San Francisco. There my family had bars and restaurants so I naturally gravitated to work in those environments. Pouring AnchorSteams for old Tuscan men playing cards and dice at the bar. I felt like the character Spider in Goodfellas. I wanted to get out of throwing papers so I sold my route to a friend, and my pops asked his friend who was a chef, if he needed help in the kitchen. My dad would drop me off on Friday and Saturday nights where I washed dishes and then in the off time, help with making pre made salads (🙄) baking potatoes & chopping onions. I worked there a winter and spring… went on my annual SF trip only to come back to no work. I applied at a restaurant called Ristorante Bartolotta in the fall of 1992. Little did I realize that this is where It be life-altering. Started as a prep cook in the basement. Cutting vegetables, cleaning lettuce properly, making pasta dough, making pizza dough, making ravioli, fabricating fish, taking on deliveries through a hatch, throwing out the garbage at the end of the night, cleaning the basement prep area, organizing dry storage, organizing the coolers. I found myself distancing myself from other passions like playing soccer & guitar. I liked making money as well. I really was intrigued by the kitchen staff upstairs. They were getting crushed but it was a small place. 50 seats… they would do 230 covers. Three cooks and the chef. They would scream down the stairs… “vinnie… need seafood sets… vinnie…. need ravioli…. vinnie…. cut me three affetato misto plates… (Charcuterie in Italian). I wanted to be in that action. I was by myself in the basement isolated for hours. If I had a light prep day and done around 7:00-8:00pm I’d run upstairs and ask the guys to make me a pizza before I leave. They would give me a death stare… One day I got to work after skipping HS soccer practice and was starving. I went upstairs before the service to make myself a Margherita pizza. Small wood pizza oven, needed to roll the dough I made the night before with a wooden dowel. 90 seconds and it was done. Crispy, charred on the edges… just like I want it… I went to grab a water at the bar and left the pizza in the window. The owner walks in and sees the pizza… grabs a slice and eats it…. then asks “Who Made This?” Those were the words I heard walking back into the kitchen. I thought… Shit.. he’s gonna rip my f’ing head off. He was a yeller… I said… “me” and he started nodding in a “yes” fashion. He said… “You work Pizza” I nearly shit my pants. I couldn’t believe it. From there, I got my ass handed on Garde Manger Station and Pizza being trained by my brother in arms Dax Schaffer. After mastering that station… I was there for 2.5 years… I was moved to pasta station. This became my first love… I was there for another few years before being pushed to grill station. After grill, I was placed back on pasta cause that is a station of finesse. I became sous chef… and my passion and hunger to learn was like a raging wildfire. I would eat at the best and most expensive restaurants… On my days off, I would train to Chicago and work with the owners brother Paul Bartolotta (who is my mentor) at one of Americas best Italian restaurants. SPIAGGIA. After graduating high school, I moved to Chicago to work there full time. That was yet another level of cuisine. Pushed for perfection, high stress, lots of crying, lots of anger, no days off for months, seven days a week doubles… Hard to explain for someone who’s not in this business.
While in Chicago, with a girlfriend in Milwaukee, I went to culinary school at Kendall. Graduated top end of my class. I was far ahead of my peers. I pulled a lot of weight for my friends in school to make them pass classes. I interned at the American Club in Kohler Wisconsin… only five diamond resorts in the midwest (at the time) and then moved back to WI cause my father was ill with heart disease so I became sous chef for Lake Park Bistro under Chef Mark Weber. (This was another Bartolotta restaurant) They are probably one of the most successful restaurant groups in the midwest. They opened another restaurant where I was opening chef with another colleague… We were both “young” to the owner so once the restaurant opened, they hired a chef to take the helm and we were his sous. About a year later, the restaurant I had started as needed a chef, and the owner (Joe Bartolotta) gave me the shot to be chef. I was chef there for a few years before my longtime girlfriend dumped me. Sitting in personal crossroads, my mentor said just bury yourself in work. You will survive. I needed a change in my environment… While on holiday with my girlfriend (before the break-up) we vacationed in Naples, FL. I loved it here. I thought… I could go to San Francisco (which I also loved) or Naples. Something strange pushed me to Naples. In October of 2000, I picked up and left Wisconsin for Florida. Best decision of my life…
I took a position as sous chef at an Italian restaurant called Campiello. I immediately had an impact on their menu from day one. I went from a 50 seat trattoria to a 350 seat behemoth. A year later, I was promoted to chef of Campiello. The ownership of Campiello is based in Minneapolis, MN. As I began to make my mark in Naples, they also had me do menu development for their other Italian properties in Minneapolis. After 13 years with Campiello (there I met my wife and now have three wonderful boys) I made the decision its time to dive headfirst and achieve my ultimate goal. My own restaurant.
On my birthday 11 years ago, I received a phone call from a Blocked Number. I rarely answer my phone… but my sister is a nurse and calls on rare occasion from the hospital on a blocked number. I thought something was wrong with my dad. I answered. It was not my sister, but a man who I became friends with during my time at Campiello called Don Ienner. Don was the president of Sony and Columbia Records. We had a bunch in common musically… even though he’s old enough to be my dad. He said, “I’d like to open a restaurant with you”. IMO there is no great Italian in Naples and my wife and I moved here. He’s used to eating in the top restaurants of NYC and the world. I was in complete shock. My time had come. Someone believed in my talents. I was humbled and ready to take on the world.
After a year and a half of planning, we opened Osteria Tulia in January of 2013. I was well known in the community for being the chef of Campiello, a Naples institution, so we were shot out of a canon. You couldn’t get a reservation for months at Osteria. Our summer wasn’t even slow. We wanted to elevate the dining scene in Naples. We will always ride on the coattails of Miami, but Miami is a major American City and Naples is truly a small town. A very Wealthy town though. We did just that, getting attention from the James Beard Foundation. We had the incredible honor of cooking at the Beard House in 2015 representing little old Naples, FL. A defining moment in my career. Meanwhile, we opened the first craft cocktail bar and gastropub in Naples called Bar Tulia. We have been written up in many regional publications & blogs, national pubs like Garden & Gun, Southern Living, Bon Appetit, Eater Miami and been on television shows with Emeril Lagasse & Samantha Brown. In late January of 2016, we opened restaurant number 3, called The French. A brasserie with homage to turn of century Paris… I was following the same footsteps as my mentor Paul & Joe did in Wisconsin. The French is turning into the next Naples Institution of restaurants. Beautiful large outdoor patio under a lit oak tree… You feel like your in France. And in April, I opened my 4th restaurant in Mercato called Bar Tulia Mercato. A hybrid craft cocktail bar and restaurant featuring many of the greatest hits of the other restaurants. In a short eight years, I have four restaurants and employ 350 amazing people. I work seven days a week and rarely have time for me or my family but I try my best…
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Nothing is smooth. There has been many, many ups… but I’ve also had my fair share of downs. Building a business isn’t easy… especially the restaurant business tastes are very personal… I can please everyone and I take things personally. It’s been difficult with the growth of the internet, reviews, people have become more entitled, pandemics… You name it, I’ve experienced it…
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am a chef… I have a love affair with food and drink. I also like pleasing people through food through senses of taste and smell. Making them remember their grandmother or family recipes through “taste memory”. Cooking is an art form. It comes from within… from the soul… It’s a craft of touch, smell, taste… feel. It’s also very hard. both physically and mentally. I’m proud of all my achievements. I’m proud that I have an incredible team around me who cares. I’m proud of my staff that they are buying cars and homes because of my employment. I’m proud to have put a positive impact on the city of Naples. What sets me apart is that I very hands on. I am happy when I’m at the stoves. I run a fairly large business and I have my tentacles all over the place whether signing payables, designing menus, flipping omelettes, dealing with personal issues from my employees, managing and coaching my team. Inspiring my staff and managers through my passion. That’s all part of a days work…
Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
Cooking… being with my wife and kids.
Working.
I work so hard to give my family a great life. I don’t want my boys to do this work cause it’s too hard. It’s tiresome. Not conducive to family life. Quality of life is compromised. You miss birthdays, Christmas, easter, mothers day, fathers day, name it… If I committed my life to be a chef thats it for me. I haven’t done anything else and won’t do anything else.
I love what I do…
Contact Info:
- Email: vincenzo@rusticfood.us
- Website: www.campagnahospitalitygroup.com
- Instagram: @osteriatulia @bartulia5thavenue @bartuliamercato @thefrenchnaples @cheftulia
