Chef Travel Diary

Baltaire’s chef shares the best meals he ate while travelling through Rome, Venice, Cinque Terre and Florence.

If you’re about to go on vacation, you should definitely talk to a chef who knows the area because they always know the best places to eat when you’re there. Baltaire’s chef Travis Strickland just travelled through Italy with his wife on a selfguided culinary tour that spanned Rome, Venice, Florence and the Cinque Terre. Along the way he ate some food that was so good it’s even influencing his work as he’s returned to the US.

Strickland originally came to Southern California after stints at steakhouses in Chicago. At Baltaire, he’s fused his past work with current influences to make the restaurant a more modern, West Coast take on a classic cuisine.

“We’re very much a steakhouse and proud of that. But most steakhouses just do meat and potatoes and side items; vegetables are kind of an afterthought,” Strickland says. “I’m very influenced by Southern California and the produce we have here, and adopted more vegetableforward cooking.”

We sat down with Strickland to discuss his favourite places to eat across the country so you’ll know exactly where to go on your next trip.

“I’m very inf luenced by Southern California and the produce we have here,

and adopted more vegetable-forward cooking.”

Buca Mario passes on its ancient culinary codes and hospitality from generation to generation, and is still run today, in traditional Florentine fashion, by the Pasquetti family.