Meet Pat Bruno

So who is Pat Bruno? I gave a glimpse of who I am in one of my columns a while ago, and I got some e-mails that said something like, "Hey, it's good to know something about you other than your writing about food." OK, here is the condensed version of what I am about.

I am married with children (and grandchildren). I spent four years in the Air Force, mostly as part of a flight crew, so I got to see a lot of the world and to eat interesting food in any number of countries, courtesy of Uncle Sam. I graduated from a college in Vermont. While in college, I worked as a waiter, cook, bouncer and city bus driver. I worked for 14 years for a major corporation and, as it turned out, a good part of those years had to do with kitchen appliances and setting up cooking schools across the country.

I was once a partner in a chain of cookware stores called Cook's Mart. Two of those stores had cooking schools, so I got to meet (and in some instances work with) celebrity chefs and authors like Jacques Pepin, Julia Child, Simone Beck, Giuliano Bugialli, Diana Kennedy and Madeleine Kamman, among others.

I have authored five cookbooks, and three of them have been quite successful. I am considered an expert on pizza, having traveled to Spain, India, Canada and Mexico to set up pizza operations. I have been called as an expert witness on pizza recipe infringement (one case was so hilarious, I wish I could recount it here). There is more, but that's enough. And, along with this great gig at the Sun-Times, that's a lot of what I have been doing in the last bunch of years of my life.

Thanks, many thanks, to my loyal readers over the years. My wish is that I not only gave you a good read but also steered you in the right direction when you were deciding where to go to spend your dining dollars.

Buon Appetito!