San Antonio is a lot of things, but it isn’t a bastion of Italian cuisine. Unlike New York, Boston, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Chicago and San Francisco, the city didn’t experience the huge wave of Italian immigration that many other U.S. cities did during the early 1900s. Consequently, our choices beyond pizza or spaghetti and meatballs have been meager.

Chef Stefan Bowers knew the pickings were slim from the moment he moved from California to his wife’s hometown more than a decade ago. Prior to that, he apprenticed for a year at Trattoria Positano in San Diego to learn from the two Italian sisters who own the restaurant. The experience deepened his appreciation for the traditions of the cuisine, and soon after, he enrolled in culinary school to formalize his training. When he moved to San Antonio, he honed his skills in several top kitchens.