Since May, the Italian chef has arrived in the kitchens of the AC by Marriott hotel in Nice. After Alain Ducasse and Thierry Marx, the cook has taken on the challenge of conquering Mediterranean cuisine. A look back at a prodigious career, driven by unwavering determination.
“It’s a new project, we’re going to try to steer it in the right direction,” says Vincenzo Tuccillo. Newly arrived at the Nice hotel, the chef displays his ambition with a smile. Now managing the “Farago On The Roof”, the 600m2 rooftop, the goal is to bring a touch of “freshness and lightness” to the restaurant’s menu. At the AC by Marriott Hotel, he is aware of the responsibilities his position entails: “Let’s not forget that we are in a four-star hotel”, he says.
He first learned alongside the best
His cuisine is a mix of influences. From his beginnings at the Meurice with Alain Ducasse, to the Mandarin Oriental with Thierry Marx, and more recently at George V with Simone Zanoni, Vincenzo has trained in very different cooking styles. And it is thanks to this that he defines his own touch today: “I’ve known kitchens where it was a race, others where it was calm, and I liked both. You have to try all cooking styles, but above all the different ways of working.” For him, the atmosphere within the team is very important. Vincenzo Tuccillo is pleased with the cooks around him at the moment: “Here, we have a good team. The young people are motivated and rigorous, that’s very good.”
“Cooking, it was like an education”
Before the Michelin-starred kitchens, there was mostly his mother’s. Originally from a small town near Naples. The chef talks about his childhood with a very emotional smile. It was so evident that after attending a hotel school in his native country, he chose to leave everything at the age of 22 to move to Paris. “Two days later, I found a job in a bistronomic restaurant. I knew I had made the right decision,” he testifies. Ultimately, it doesn’t take long to understand that his passion comes from childhood, but his success from relentless determination.
