Biography – Russell Johnigan

When Russell Johnigan was fourteen years old, his mother would call him from work and ask him to get dinner ready for his brothers and sisters. Growing up in New Orleans, Louisiana meant that dinner was usually Cajon – Creole and very spicy. Russell learned to cook it all at a young age.

His first job as a dishwasher gave Russell the opportunity to experience a restaurant kitchen first hand. He loved being in the kitchen, but it was a the carving station of a large party at the Petroleum club in New Orleans where he worked for three years that his career path was cemented.

Russell moved to San Jose, California in 1992 and began cooking for Il Fornaio. Russell met Maurizio Mazzon, Executive Chef of Il Fornaio, who was impressed with his experience and enthusiasm and promised to teach him all about Italian cooking. At Il Fornaio Russell worked side by side with a legion of native Italian chefs and found that he was actually beginning to think like an Italian chef. Maurizio agreed, and in 1998 promoted him to Chef Partner at Il Fornaio in Sacramento.

Russell was invited to go on the highly coveted Chef’s Tour, a ten day trip through Italy led by the Il Fornaio Executive chef. The group of eight began in Campania, in the south of Italy and worked their way up the boot to Venice, eating in what seemed like nearly every trattoria, salumeria and gelaterea along the way. But Russell fell in love with Rome, with the energy and history that he experienced there supplied an essential piece of his Italian education. A whirlwind late night tour after dinner tat Nino Ristorante included the Vatican, the Coliseum and the Forum ended at the Trevi Fountain where Russell and his fellow chefs threw in coins to ensure their return to Rome.

In 200? Russell opened his own catering business, Cooking with Style, where he specialized in Cajun, Creole, French and Italian cuisines.

In February 2008 Russell joined the team of Formaggio Taverna and Patio as Chef de Cuisine where his vast experience with Italian food is not only continuing Formaggio’s tradition of utilizing fresh local products, but taking the quality a step further with an exciting new menu of flavorful Italian dishes.