We of the other Cheek
Guancia, despite being a typical dish of Roman cuisine, has lost its original luster over time in favor of dishes that are now iconic of regional culinary tradition.
We therefore decided to enhance it to rediscover, with pleasure, the flavors and taste of a key dish of our gastronomic culture, an excellent complement to lunches and dinners respecting great tradition.
The Other Cheek Team
We are three restaurateurs with experience and expertise in Roman cuisine. To distinguish ourselves, we decided to add veal cheek to our dishes as a distinctive feature of our menu.
Fulvio de Simoi (Owner – Waiter)
He began his career as a young man in a pizzeria during the winter of his first year of hotel school, and then worked the summer season at the same restaurant. After completing his second year of hotel school, he spent four months on the Adriatic coast during the summer season. After his third year of hotel school, he completed his military service in the Italian Navy, working in the Admiralty mess halls in La Spezia and Taranto, before completing his service aboard the training ship Amerigo Vespucci. After his discharge, he returned to hotel school to earn his high school diploma. Between his fourth and fifth years, he gained work experience in France (Avignon) and England (Guilford).
He then moved to Australia where he stayed for 3 years.
He combines his work with various specializations, obtaining a diploma in Hospitality Management from an Australian college.
Massimiliano Palozza (Owner – Chef)
She was born with a passion for cooking, taking her first steps in the kitchen with her grandmother.
It was natural, during the many Sundays he and his family spent at his grandmother's house, always busy in the kitchen, to don an apron and help her knead bread, pasta, and desserts. As he grew older, his passion for good food developed, often leading him to prepare lunches and dinners for friends. In 2004, he decided to turn these skills into a profession by attending a professional cooking course at a renowned school in Rome.
He subsequently embarked on a successful professional career, working in renowned restaurants in the capital, and gaining further experience during the summer seasons at renowned resorts on the island of Ponza and the Ligurian coast. Twenty years of passion for cooking and professional experience led him to develop the idea of taking things to the next level, and so it was a natural decision to start his own business, along with trusted companions, to express with love and dedication all the energy and creativity in the art of cooking, which are often stifled by pressing commercial demands that have little to do with the pleasure of good food.
Massimiliano Mola
(Owner – Room Attendant)
His professional career began at a very young age. He entered the restaurant industry at the age of eighteen in Ticino, Switzerland, where he remained for four years. Given his young age, he gained initial work experience in pizzerias and pubs, later moving to several cantonal hotels, where he specialized in dining room service. He subsequently returned to Italy, to Rome, and began working in several well-known restaurants in the capital specializing in Roman cuisine, completely changing his environment and professional approach, and learning to understand and appreciate typical regional cuisine in all its nuances. These experiences allowed him to thoroughly understand the finesse of ingredients and the distinctiveness of local flavors, enabling him to offer his customers excellent dishes, whose simplicity reflects the glories of a great culinary tradition, renowned throughout the world and universally appreciated. The daily work carried out alongside experienced, helpful, and dedicated professionals has shaped his character, making him aware of the hallmarks of success: competence, courtesy, and quality. The partnership with Fulvio and Massimiliano was born in this context and has grown stronger over time, imbued with mutual respect and esteem. It is therefore no coincidence that they decided to combine their skills for an initiative that, while respecting simplicity and tradition, expresses innovation and creativity in the rediscovery of the flavors and aromas of times gone by.
