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Lex Chutintaranond Lex Chutintaranond and Flaminia Cervesi fell in love over food. He, from Thailand, is an IBM engineer turned restaurateur. She, from Italy, is a devout pastry chef turned Cornell linguist. Together, they overcame oceans to meet in Ithaca. Lex was opening ZaZa’s Cuccina at the time, his fourth successful Ithaca restaurant, and in keeping with the project he decided to learn Italian. Flaminia took him on as pupil. It didn’t work. Lex failed language class but over Pappardelle Bolognese and Dark Chocolate Sicilian Orange Torte, he discovered his soul mate. Now they’re married and working on Lex’s newest project, Mia, where Flaminia’s pastries star on the dessert menu. “Thailand and Italy seem worlds apart but we found so much in common,” Lex said. “That’s one of the nice things about Ithaca. You can meet people here from anywhere in the world. The perspective is international.” Which makes it a great place run a restaurant. Or eat in one. Or fall in love.
photo Sheryl Sinkow