Toluca Lake 'Top Chef' Presents 'The Pig Meets the Chick' at The Taste

Last Sunday, Fabio Viviani, chef and co-owner of in Toluca Lake, hosted a cooking demo at the Los Angeles Times' “The Taste” food festival at Paramount Studios.

Viviani joined dozens of restaurants, wineries and food trucks all providing samples of LA’s best cuisine. In addition to feeding guests samples of gnocchi from the Firenze Osteria booth, Viviani presented “The Pig Meets the Chick” cooking demonstration.

“Master Top Chef” contestant and owner of Street restaurant Susan Feniger introduced Viviani, who cooked a crispy pork belly sandwich and nutmeg gnocchi for the crowd.

“When I was growing up in Italy on welfare and food stamps, pork and chicken were the go-to foods because they were cheap. Today, I want to remember where I came from and so I take these two ingredients to the next level with my crispy pork belly sandwich with fried egg on top,” said Viviani.

In an interview after the demonstration, Firenze Osteria co-owners Viviani and Jacopo Falleni told me that they are in the process of building a studio to film cooking segments for their Web site.   Additionally, the restaurant is offering a “Cooking with Fabio” class on Sept. 28 where participants can cook alongside Viviani and master how to make risotto.

Back in March, Viviani invited me out to Cafe Firenze. (Watch the attached videos).

Viviani was born in Florence. He is best known for appearing on season 5 of Bravo’s Top Chef and earning a place among the final four contestants. Before he was eliminated from the competition he was named fan favorite. Viviani is co-owner, with partner Jacopo Falleni, of in Moorpark and Firenze Osteria in Toluca Lake.