Wine educator, author, sommelier, chef – San Francisco, CA
Joe LaVilla brings a diverse background to his hospitality experience. Joe’s hospitality career spans fine dining at Windows on the World–and its famed Cellar in the Sky–in New York City; working with Wolfgang Puck at Spago-Las Vegas; opening a brewpub; to catering the Phoenix Open, NASCAR races and The Tradition golf tournament; and casual dining for Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises. In academia, Joe has taught restaurant operations, management and front of house service at the Art Institute of Phoenix, where he eventually became academic department director of the culinary program. He has written numerous articles on food science, food and wine pairing and wine tasting for magazines and internet publications. He has led seminars in Italian wines, pairing international cuisines with wine and wine education for retail salespeople. He is the author of The Wine, Beer and Spirits Handbook: A Guide to Styles and Service (Wiley). He is a certified wine educator and former certified executive chef. His professional blog, DrinkatJoe’s, is a site for wine tasting notes, trip suggestions and more in the Northern California area. Joe earned his Ph.D. and B.A. (cum laude) in organic chemistry from the University of Rochester and Cornell University, respectively. He holds an A.O.S. with honors from The Culinary Institute of America, Hyde Park. Joe is also a sommelier pin holder from the International Sommelier Guild.