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Joseph Massaglia, proprietor of Mama Mia's in Seaville, had "no choice" but to wind up in the restaurant business, after growing up in the family's trattoria in the Piedmonte region of Italy.
"There were no babysitters, I was raised in the kitchen," said Massaglia. He was soon working in that kitchen, learning the skills that have lead to his owning the “Best Italian Restaurant” in southern New Jersey, according to the readers of Atlantic City Magazine.
As a teenager, he spent his summers working at the resorts in and around Portofino and Lake Como. Then came an apprenticeship at the Hotel Brilla, a five star hotel in St. Vincent-Valle D'Aosta, where Massaglia moved to "the front on the house" learning service techniques, table settings, wine selection and other skills needed for a first class waiter and maitre'd to succeed.
Accepted to the Villa D'Este culinary institute at Lake Como in 1970, Massaglia chose to leave after one semester to join his brother in the kitchens of a luxury cruise liner.
"At the institute I was learning theory, when what I wanted experience," says Massaglia. During his five years on board the Pacific Princess, a.k.a. "The Love Boat" on which the television series was based, he continued his education in culinary arts, wine and service.
He also met his wife Christine and in 1975 the Massagilas settled in America. He then became maitre'd at the Ballietsville Inn in Allentown, Pa. Shortly after, he was selected by Peter Von Stark to manage Le Panetiere in Philadelphia. Massaglia then came to Atlantic City to oversee the dining rooms of Victoria's Restaurant at the former Golden Nugget Casino.
From there he moved to the Beef Baron Restaurant at what is Trump's Castle Casino. Massaglia then decided it was time to go out on his own, putting his lifetime of experience and a belief that preparing, serving and enjoying fine food and wine are "the most exciting things in world" to the test.
Mama Mia's opened as a pizzeria and small trattoria in 1988, but within one year expanded to a full service gourmet restaurant. Massaglia credits his immediate and continuing success to an "experimental attitude” towards food. "We are always experimenting, creating in the kitchen. Cooking from our hearts," he says.
Today, he spends much of his time handling the daily operations of his restaurant such as selecting and ordering for the kitchen and the other business operations. Many days you may find him at Mama Mia's juggling duties like these alongside tasks such as firing up his recently added brick pizza oven, whipping up a lunch order of linguine and red clam sauce for a regular customer, or checking over everything front and back before the dinner hour. |
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