WHO'S COOKING at ... Raffaele's Gourmet Pizzeria?

Tucked away across the lawn at Orchid Village Plaza along Barbican Road, is a little piece of Italy - Raffaele's Gourmet Pizzeria.

It is said that Don Raffaele Esposito invented pizza, but it was Roger Thompson who brought the concept of gourmet Italian 12-inch, thin-crust pizza to Jamaica in August.

After going through 60 interviews, he chose young chefs Kayon Page and Jason Gentles as the men behind the oven of this one-of-a kind pizzeria. As Thompson told Food: "These two were passionate."

And they are. As Page said, simply, "I love my job." For 10 years he has been wearing his chef's hat, but in the future he may add that of a politician and a playwright (he currently writes plays). But originally he was destined to wear a doctor's hat until the day he fainted (at the sight of blood). "That day changed everything," he told Food. I went to the food and nutrition class and I was the only male in the class." He encouraged another friend of his who really liked the fairer sex to join him in the class at Dinthill Technical High School.

In sixth form, this young man who used to cook for his grandparents and help his aunt Jennifer Clunie make wedding cakes, topped his class in the exams and went on to win numerous Jamaica Cultural Development Commission culinary competitions.

He is now in the final year of completing his bachelor of science degree in culinary arts at Western Hospitality Institute and also working on a cookbook. He crossed paths with Gentles while attending Jan's School of Catering.

He immediately noticed Gentles' passion, and the two topped the class. One 25-pound cylinder of gas lasts two years at his home because this young chef prefers when the tables are turned and someone else does the cooking. When he goes out to eat, he usually orders fried chicken. "No chef can spoil that," notes the pasta lover.

As a child, Gentles always wanted to be in the kitchen. At age eight he asked his mother to allow him to fry an egg. It was not until he was 10 that he got his opportunity. This seven-year practitioner in the business wanted to be a mechanical engineer but food was ingrained in his DNA. The second of six children, his father was the one in the kitchen on weekends, and his friends always encouraged him to open a restaurant.

After attending Runaway Bay HEART Academy, he worked on a cruise ship, but prefers cooking on a smaller, more intimate setting, which is exactly what Raffaele's offers, giving Gentles the opportunity to make people smile after a good meal.

Thompson's dynamic concept is an infusion of Jamaican flavour, while keeping it credible and authentic but still relevant to the Jamaican palate. So during The Gleaner-sponsored Restaurant Week, why not treat yourself and 50 of your friends to a slice of Italy.

- Nashauna Drummond