Cooking and Comedy

Chef Jenna Arcidiacono

Jenna Arcidiacono’s first job at age 14 was slinging chili dogs and root beer floats at Cook’s Drive-In in Kentwood, Michigan. Slowly, she began realizing that cooking was more than just a way to pay for her stirrup pants, music cassettes and perms. She soon moved to East Lansing where she received her BFA at MSU while working in restaurants near campus. Wanting to live in a big city after graduation, she moved to San Francisco where she fell in love with the city and a handsome Italian who was visiting from Milan. After living in Italy for 3 years and spending time in the kitchen with her new mother in law, her passion for Italian Casalinga cuisine grew stronger. Jenna worked for small businesses, corporations and also tried few of her own small entrepreneurial ideas. She finally realized it was time to take the leap and open Amore Trattoria Italiana in 2010. Her dream was to bring back the mom & pop feel by using locally sourced products and meeting her guests in the dining room much like dinner at home. Maurizio & Jenna are proud to continue winning food service awards during their 10 years of business. She was recently surprised with $10,000 from Mike Rowe on his show called Returning the Favor so that Jenna could continue to feed frontline workers during the COVID pandemic. She continues to learn by hosting culinary trips all over Italy twice a year with Onward Travel. If you see a sparkly pink suv on the streets with a “Food Hug“ license plate, that’s her.