Passion should be Walter Potenza's middle name. His restaurants are quite possibly the most authentic in New England. He is as much a historian as he is a chef. His attention to details and devotion to history give his customers a delicious taste of the real Italy.
Chef Walter Potenza, a native of Abruzzo, Italy, is known as one of the most passionate and accomplished practitioners of traditional Italian cooking in the nation. Potenza came to America at the age of 19, to live with his family and study history at Rhode Island College, but it was clear very quickly, his love of cooking would draw him in another direction, directly to the restaurant business.
Potenza has led kitchens in some of the most renowned restaurants in New England as well as in his Italian hometown. Potenza opened The Sunflower Café and La Locanda del Coccio, both located in Providence, in 1994. Opening in 1999 to raves from enthusiastic foodies, Chef Walter’s Aquaviva Eurobistro was the first tapas-style restaurant-cafe in Rhode Island. Having opened his first fine dining restaurant, appropriately named Walter’s, in 1985 in East Greenwich, Rhode Island, Walter was anxious to reinvent this establishment elsewhere.
While still guiding the kitchens at his other properties, Walter found the perfect location. This new fine dining jewel opened in 2004, housed in an historic 1917 palazzo located on historically significant Federal Hill in Providence. Christened Walter's Ristorante d'Italia, the public enjoys the first-of-its-kind fine dining menu to feature "vera cucina Italiana," authentic cuisine derived from several periodsof Italian culinary history. Potenza’s unique cooking style is honed from a special love of recreating and reinterpreting holiday dishes and foods traditional to the Italian Jews. The Jewish heritage has been associated with Italy for over 2,000 years, and its culinary repertoire integrated into the land.
Potenza is the Director of Chef Walter's Cooking School, operating both in Gubbio, Italy and Providence, Rhode Island. Lately, he has added a new location for his travel and cooking. His native Abruzzo is the centerpiece of the new Italian culinary discovery, specifically the province of Teramo where the chef was born. He was the first chef in the United States to introduce the centuries-old technique and art of terracotta cookery, with Chef Potenza devising historically accurate food dishes specially designed to be cooked in these clay pots. His latest venture is a new concept restaurant named Spiga Trattoria, with Italian farm cooking the focus of the menu. The concept is to showcase the humble origins of Italian farmers who developed their own culinary repertoire. The quaint country home is located in Cranston, Rhode Island.
Potenza’s culinary awards include the Five-Star Diamond Award, the Porto-Novo Award, and the prestigious Insignia Award given to Chef Walter in 2000 by the Italian government. This award identifies Chef Walter as one of the Ambassadors of Italian Culture worldwide. His articles are published in national and international gastronomic publications. He has been featured on the Food Network, Fox, We, Travel, Rai, CBS, NBC, and is the host of two cooking shows; Flavors & Knowledge with ABC, and Stir It Up with Cox network. His Federal Hill cook book is in its 4th printing, and he is in the process of releasing two more: Federal Hill Dolciumi, and the long-awaited 19 Ghettos, the life and the foods of the Jews in Italy after the Inquisition.
Potenza was one of a select group of chefs named to the James Beard Specialty Chef Program, held during the 2002 Winter Olympic Games, Utah. A 2002 winner of the State of Rhode Island’s Man of the Year Award, Potenza continues to teach the history of hundreds of years of culinary experimentation to many in his community and around the country. Lately he is designing a new cooking school, and scouting for new locations for his travel and cooking business in Italy.
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