With a flamboyance deeply rooted in his Italian roots, the food connoisseur behind downtown’s Cucina Toscana restaurant sets out each day to give customers an eating experience that illustrates Salt Lake’s ability to match prominent cities when it comes to fine dining. And it’s delivered by a local work force that he thinks is second to none in terms of friendliness.
Because tourists and conventioneers account for a sizable percentage of the business drawn to his restaurant across from Pioneer Park at 300 S. 300 West, Nassi’s welcoming style was honored recently by the Salt Lake Convention & Visitors Bureau.
He received its highest honor, the Tourism Achievement Award, which in past years has gone to Salt Lake City luminaries such as the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Larry H. Miller and the Utah Jazz, Jack Gallivan, Little America’s Earl Holding and right-hand man Kenneth Knight, former Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. and another group of restaurateurs — the Gastronomy triumvirate of Tom Guinney, John Williams and Tom Seig.
“Since coming to Salt Lake, Valter Nassi has championed our city like no other individual,” said CVB President and CEO Scott Beck. “We are grateful to have hospitality partners with such passion.”
Passion could be Nassi’s middle name.
The native of Monte San Savino, a medieval Italian village outside Florence, launches into an operatic description of flying into Salt Lake City International Airport, thinking of himself as a tourist.
Describing the sight of families in the airport lobby and people holding welcoming signs, Nassi is holding his head in his hands one moment, painstakingly searching his bilingual mind for just the right words of praise for the hospitality of his adopted home. Then he’s leaping to his feet, having found them.
“I have lived in every part of the world and never found something so welcoming like that,” said Nassi, 64. “I’m in love with this beautiful city. We are the cleanest town in the world. I perhaps exaggerate because of my electricity for the city, but I don’t believe I do too much.”
In his opinion, Salt Lake City is on the verge of taking another big step forward in the big-city maturation process, accelerated a decade ago by staging the Winter Olympics. The LDS Church-driven downtown renovation project, City Creek Center, expands on that theme, enhanced by the restaurant industry’s growth over the intervening years.
“We are becoming a culinary city. See how many restaurants have opened, how many young chefs are coming here. We need that,” he said, waving his hands wildly and brushing back his flowing white locks. “Listen carefully: This town is ready to have a massive amount of tourists coming and saying we are good, because we are good.”
Eager to do his part to propel the welcoming bandwagon with food and friendliness, Nassi emphasized that “if you give food without love, it is merely a meal. You only feel the taste if you receive it [delivered] with love.”
Nassi’s approach resonates with visitors, said business partner Ken Millo, because it quickly becomes clear that “it’s sincere. It’s not merely a marketing campaign.”
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