Filippo grew up in the town of Frattamaggiore, Italy in Napoli. He trained as a chef at the Silver Spoon Institute of cooking in Italy, specializing in vegetarian dishes, fish pastry, but his expertise mainly came from his mother’s teachings. He attended several different cooking schools through his travels, receiving multiple internships in restaurants in London and Paris. He worked at London’s Spaghetti House, Picadilly Pasta Bar and Kensington Pasta Bar. Chef Filippo always aspired to come to America. That dream was realized 15 years ago and Filippo has worked in Carlucci’s and Angelina restaurants of Chicago as the opening chef.
With the dream of opening his own restaurant, Filippo began his quest be opening a wholesale bakery and “Pasta Cheria Masinello” named after an Italian war hero in 1990? The bakery distributed to a variety of restaurants including Langolo di Roma of Chicago where he met his wife and business partner, Annette Simon. This became a winning combination of Annette’s business savvy and Filippo’s savory cuisine. Annette is a Chicago native and was the General Manager of Langolo and in 1991 became partners with Filippo in the bakery. They worked day and night, Annette was then the General Manager of St. Germain and Filippo was the chef at Paradiso, at night and early mornings they worked the bakery desserts and confections.
In 1993, their dream was finally realized when the doors of Filippo’s Ristorante opened its doors at their Chicago location on Clybourne Ave. This near North Side trattoria has offered homemade pastas, fresh salads, risotto, and a variety of delicious dishes made from recipes that originated in the kitchen of chef Filippo’s mother for more than ten years. Offerings like the Valdostana, a chicken breast wrapped in prosiutto and finished with smoked mozzarella and the ricotta and spinach stuffed ravioli finished in a delicate cream sauce will be offered.

Filippo’s has won many awards for their cuisine including Zagat’s Best Neighborhood Restaurant Award, and maintained a four-star rating from Chicago diners on Metromix