RITA SODI

Rita Sodi is a self-taught, James Beard Award-winning chef. Together with wife and fellow chef Jody Williams, Sodi founded Officina 1397, the widely-admired family of restaurants in New York’s West Village – I Sodi, Buvette, Via Carota, Bar Pisellino, and The Commerce Inn.

Sodi established I Sodi in 2008, a classic Tuscan restaurant inspired by the small family farm where she grew up, north of Florence. I Sodi’s understated, utterly traditional Tuscan cooking has garnered extensive acclaim from such publications as The New Yorker, Saveur, Grub Street, Time Out, Serious Eats, Food & Wine, The Village Voice, New York Magazine, and The New York Times. In 2014 Sodi and Williams created Via Carota, deemed “New York’s most perfect restaurant” by The New Yorker. Via Carota earned Sodi and Williams the James Beard Award for Best Chefs, NYC. More recently, the chefs opened Bar Pisellino, a timeless Italian bar dedicated to the art of drinking, and The Commerce Inn, an American tavern celebrating old New York. Together Sodi and Williams wrote Via Carota: A Celebration of Seasonal Cooking, a critically-lauded, bestselling cookbook, and launched Via Carota Craft Cocktails, award-winning, ready-to-serve cocktails inspired by the beloved restaurant. The New York Times has called Sodi and Williams “one of the great partnerships in the New York restaurant scene.” All of their restaurants are steps away from each other, creating an enchanting culinary enclave in the beautiful, historic West Village.

At Sodi’s family farm in Barberino de Mugello, green olives are harvested and pressed at the local frantoio every autumn. Sodi ships the bright-green extra-virgin oil to her kitchens in New York, showcasing its clean, bright aroma in classic Tuscan preparations.