The latest edition of Top Italian Restaurants by Gambero Rosso, which is devoted to Italian cuisine abroad, has unique awards. The Chef of the Year is Antonio Mermolia, 39, who works a few meters from the White House in the refined Fiola restaurant. His Mediterranean food is imaginative and precise. Valentina Bianco's LA Puglia in Santa Monica, with its dream focaccia, faultless orecchiette, and ultimate pasticciotto, is the Restaurant of the Year. Pino Posteraro, owner of Vancouver's Mediterranean Grill & Enoteca since 1999, receives the Guardian of Tradition Award. The Wine List of the Year takes us to the Las Vegas of the East, Macau, and is that of 8 and 1/2 Bombana Macao, due to the research efforts of manager and sommelier Marino Braccu. We remain in Asia for the New Opening Award that bears the signature of the Cerea family, Da Vittorio Saigon successfully opened last June in Ho Chi Minh inside the scenic Times Square Building. The award for Emerging Restaurant of the Year goes to the historic Carpaccio restaurant in Paris, which was renovated in style by the young Oliver Piras and Alessandra de Favero, who also won the Tre Forchette for the first time. Raffaele Tromiro's skill makes Napulé on Lake Zurich the Pizzeria of the Year, with a tale of social regeneration and independence behind its outstanding dough.
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