Wayne Chef A Finalist For Culinary Award

WAYNE, NJ — Viaggio chef Robbie Felice is a finalist for a 2018 Garden State Culinary Arts Award.

Felice is up for the Rising Star Chef Award. The award is given to a chef 30 years old or younger "whose accomplishments and talent already have served to inspire and impress and promise to set standards for years to come."

Felice, 28, certainly seems to have done that since he and his father opened Viaggio in the summer of 2016. He is a Mario Batali disciple and worked at restaurants in Manhattan, Las Vegas, Colorado, and Europe.

Elisa Ung, the former restaurant reviewer at NorthJersey.com, gave Viaggio three and a half stars out of four, the highest rating she has ever given a Passaic County restaurant.

Viaggio, which means "journey" in Italian, has a nearly five-star rating on Open Table.

"What emerges from Felice’s open kitchen can be astonishing," New Jersey Monthly magazine said of Felice. Antipasti consistently hit it out of the park, from the pate-au-choux-coated cauliflower fritti, with their gutsy romesco drizzle, to the jumbo slabs of ultra-crisp bruschetta, heaped with intensely flavorful caponata, red pepper, basil and house-made pork pastrami."

Award winners will be announced at a gala ceremony and reception April 29.

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