Chef Valerie Albanese began her culinary career as a private chef in New York City, while simultaneously staging under Chef Marco Canora at his celebrated restaurant, Hearth. She then attended The International Culinary Center, formerly the French Culinary Institute, where she was a student in the Italian Culinary Experience program under renowned Italian Chef Cesare Casella. During this program,
she became dually trained in French technique and Italian cuisine and spent three months studying in New York City before moving to Italy where she trained and worked for five months. Based in the Tuscan city of Lucca, Valerie worked under Chef Maurizio Marsili, who showed her what it means to have true passion and love for food and its preparation. Upon graduation from culinary school, Valerie moved to Colorado where she managed the Café at the acclaimed Frasca Food and Wine in Boulder, owned by former Chef de Partie of The French Laundry, Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson, and Master Sommelier, Bobby Stuckey. However, after realizing how deeply she wanted to pursue her own endeavor, Valerie made the difficult decision to leave the restaurant to focus on The Salty Peach, her online food journal extraordinaire. Valerie currently resides in New York City where she works for a hedge fund by day and cooks for The Salty Peach by night. You can often find her roaming the streets in search of the best biscuits, IPA and fried pickles the city has to offer.
