Karen and Will Gioia have been cooking professionally for a combined 28 years. Their collective experience has taken them from Rick Bayless' kitchen in Chicago Illinois, to baking artisanal breads in Michigan, from the Culinary Institute of America to the kitchens of rural France, from kitchens in private home to the jewels of the Bay Areaís restaurant crown: Oliveto, Zuni Café, and Chez Panisse. Along the way the pair have learned and practiced the fundamentals of old-world traditions such as marketing daily for the best seasonal ingredients grown sustainably by local farmers, and treating those ingredients with care and respect.
Will and Karen also credit their upbringings with shaping their culinary worlds. Will grew up in Park Slope, Brooklyn, NY, surrounded by relatives from Sicily, Naples, France and Germany, each of whom brought pieces of their culinary history into his life. Karen's love of food developed a little later in life, when she spent two years of college in France, taking long breaks from her studies to explore patisseries and restaurants, learning to love and appreciate food the way the French do.
The pair opened Gioia Pizzeria in May of 2004, with Will at the helm and Karen working behind the scenes, as well as continuing to work as a chef for private clients. Gioia has been a hit since the moment it opened, garnering favorable reviews in The San Francisco Chroncile, The Oakland Tribune and San Francisco Magazine, as well as creating a buzz among pizza lovers everywhere on such "foodie" insider web sites as Chowhound.com and SliceNYC.com. Will and Karen look forward to sharing their love of food and service to their community for a long time to come.
