Maurizio Cutrignelli runs two downtown eateries
Published on Page 7 of the August 7, 2013 issue of Morgan Hill Life:
By Marty Cheek
When Maurizio Cutrignelli arrived in Morgan Hill from his native Italy 20 years ago, the professional chef was surprised at the horizontal appearance of our community. The South Valley town was nothing like he had envisioned from years of watching American movies and TV shows.
Maurizio Cutrignelli at the bar in downtown restaurant The Good Fork. He believes fresh ingredients make a difference.
“I was looking for the skyscrapers, but there were no skyscrapers in Morgan Hill,” Cutrignelli said with his trademark boyish grin. “I said, ‘Where are the skyscrapers?’ I was young, 25 years old, and I thought that in America there were skyscrapers everywhere.”
Although Cutrignelli didn’t find his skyscrapers in Morgan Hill, he did find a new home to share his love for fine food. His culinary journey goes back to age 15 when he entered the Instituto Professionale Albergheiro di Stato Armando Perotti, a professional restaurant academy in Bari.
Because there were no spaces available in the chef’s program, he entered as a student of waiting and bartending and learned to cook on the side. He rose to the top of his class, and then began honing his culinary skills cooking in some of the finest restaurants in Italy and Holland.
In October 1993, he left Europe and arrived in Morgan Hill. For eight months, he learned to speak English by waiting on tables at Casa Mia, an Italian restaurant managed by a friend from Bari. In 1994, he opened a small Italian downtown deli of his own called Piccolo. It quickly became a local restaurant rave for the high quality of its sandwiches.
Today, Cutrignelli runs two popular dining establishments downtown. Maurizio’s Restaurant is an authentic Italian fine dining eatery on First Street. The Good Fork is a California cuisine bistro on Monterey Road that has over the last year and a half become a favorite destination for locals who want to enjoy a laid-back lunch eating on the street-side patio, savoring an elegant evening dinner inside, or just hanging out with friends at the hospitable bar area in back.
“It’s my mentality to try to use local stuff as much as possible,” Cutrignelli said of his culinary philosophy. “I go to the farmer’s market and pick up food. Fresh makes a difference, it makes a real difference. Since we are around the country area, we have a lot of produce from Chiala farms and other farms and we try to use local as much as we can.”
This detail for freshness also goes to the drinks at the bar. The Good Fork makes its own tomato juice for the special Bloody Mary cocktails it serves customers. “Nothing is from the can,” Cutrignelli boasted. “We have a juicer in the back. Pineapple juice, lemon juice, lime juice, sweet and sour. At the bar, there is nothing in a can. All the juice, we use fresh from the kitchen.”
The Good Fork restaurant owner never found skyscrapers in downtown Morgan Hill. But he created a relaxing environment where people can make new friends. “It’s a very social place,” he said. “A lot of times, people come here as strangers and they wind up getting to know each other.”
THE GOOD FORK INFORMATION:
Location: 17340 Monterey Road
Hours: Opens at 11 a.m.
Contact: (408) 779-3200 or www.thegoodforkbistro.com
