David began his culinary career at a young age while watching his Italian family in the kitchen. Growing up Italian, food was more than something you consumed -- it was a way of life. Eating a slice of pizza began with a tasting of each ingredient and then discussing the pizza making process.

This love of food was more than just the end result of a recipe, it was a way of thinking, of interacting with food and with people. David has taken his passion of food along with a desire to educate people and molded them into a lifestyle of personal interaction and education within the kitchen.

David began his culinary career working for James Beard award winner, Roxsand Scocos, at Paniolo Grill/Roxsand. Knowing that who you cooked for would serve as a life-long credential, David knew he would need to work for one of the best chefs in Phoenix. Determined to be hired by Roxsand, David offered to work one month free and then renegotiate his pay after the month was up. He was hired by Roxsand and continues today to use what he learned while working for her.

Born in New York, David has an affinity for the city of Manhattan. In the summer of 1993, David moved to the City and began working at Cal’s. Along with international cuisine, Cal’s had a very international staff and David began to understand the importance and benefit of being bilingual.

Following Cal’s, David worked at Café Terra Cotta in Scottsdale. He managed the kitchen, the inventory, and the labor report. For many employees, knowing that a restaurant is busy and making money can create a level of discontent. Often the money employees see paid into a restaurant seems out of proportion to their small incremental increases. Frequently, employees are unaware of the tremendous costs in food, labor and supplies, along with a host of other expenses. Being in charge of the inventory and labor report, David began to develop a more complete understanding of restaurant costs.

While at Café Terra Cotta, David also worked at Emily’s Market in Tempe, a high-end gourmet market providing unusual merchandise and custom-made take-away dinners.

After eight years in the restaurant business,David wanted to develop his entrepreneurial strengths and to own his own business. He purchased a portion of Beyond Pool Cleaning and began to work for himself as a pool cleaner where he learned the ins and outs of owning a business, continuing to solidify the picture of how cooking fit into his life. With the freedom pool cleaning afforded him in the evenings and on weekends, David and his wife, Kiersten, began to cater for weddings and other events. They created Nicoline Food | Catering llc in 2002, which became known as a catering company with a personal touch.

In 2004, David was approached by Lenny Rosenburg to open Lenny’s Phoenix restaurant, Delux, as the Kitchen Manager. David developed menu items, managed the back of the house staff, ordered and interacted with the food purveyors, and performed all accompanying Kitchen Manager responsibilities. In this position David found the combination of skills he’d acquired in both his restaurant work and his personal company ownership to meld perfectly, contributing heavily to developing Delux into an award-winning restaurant within the first year of business.

Business has a strong relationship component and at Delux, David was able to interact and develop personal relationships with everyone from the morning prep cook, the food critic and customers, to help them see the concept of Delux and the joy of food as a whole.

A common problem in restaurants exists as a result of the distinct separation between the front of the house and the back of the house. This schism can cause a restaurant many difficulties as the two components work separately rather than together as a team. David wanted to make sure this didn’t happen at Delux, and worked with the Front of the House manager to develop a whole and cohesive staff.

At the end of 2005, Joe Johnston approached David and asked him if he and Kiersten would be interested in opening a restaurant in the Heritage District of Gilbert, Arizona. Joe and his brothers had purchased the Liberty Market building and were looking for someone who might be interested in opening a restaurant. Unbeknownst to Joe, David and Kiersten had been driving by Liberty Market for two years hoping that whomever purchased the building would honor its historicity; a desire that Joe defends vehemently.

In May of 2006, Joe offered David a position at Joe’s Real BBQ as a manager in order to accumulate experience as Front of the House Manager. Rather than being behind a cook line, David began to work outside of the kitchen, interacting with customers on the restaurant floor as well as with staff, and office management. Daily numbers tracking, report generation, and computer skills, expediting contact with and understanding of the overall workings of a restaurant are completing David’s training and experience in advanced restaurant management.

As Liberty Market develops on paper, elements of David’s experiences are finding their way into the plans. From the location of the pizza oven to the make up of the kitchen ranges and double walk-ins, his experiences are helping to mold Liberty Market into a restaurant that focuses on people, good food and a nod both to the past and to the future.