Our New Chef
The Osaka restaurant group is proud to announce the addition of chef Kevin Lacivita to our team. We believe that Kevin’s stellar culinary track record brings us amazing new opportunities. After months of working with our top Asian chefs, Kevin is introducing his new menu at Sushi-O. View Kevin’s Menus
Kevin Lacivita - Bio
Like many professional chefs, Kevin LaCivita got his start in his parents’ kitchen-cooking and observing his parents, both of whom are great cooks-but his mother made sure he didn’t stay there.”My mother dragged me to job interviews when I was in high school,” says the Midlothian High School grad, who nabbed his first job as a line cook at the age of 15.
After high school, LaCivita studied business at VCU for a couple of years before heading to Hyde Park, N.Y., to attend the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) in 1988.While at VCU, he worked at The Butlery.”I wanted to get a couple more years under my belt as far as working before I went off to the CIA,” says LaCivita, who refers to his time at the Institute as “boot camp.”(The 18-month program featured 12- to 14-hour days, six days a week.)
LaCivita’s externship brought him back to Richmond, where he worked as chef garde manger at the Jefferson, helping with the legendary brunch.
After graduation, LaCivita worked at a series of private dining clubs and country clubs from Reston to Charlotte, N.C. Including the Harbor Club in Norfolk and the Chickasaw Country Club in Memphis, Tenn.
In February 2001 Kevin opened Pomegranate, immediately garnering accolades for his culinary wizardry, wining Best restaurant awards for 2002 thru 2005; People’s Choice awards 2001 thru 2006 ,as well as a continuing string of outstanding press reviews from Richmond to New York.
2009 brought a serendipitous meeting between Kevin and an old friend, Ren Mefford, the general manager of the Osaka restaurant group. “we had the idea of finding a top American chef to learn the Asian way and then interpret those flavors using classic European flavors and techniques” With Kevin onboard we knew we had the right person.
What the press says:
Joseph W. Cates, “Style Weekly”
“I was so impressed with my experience at Pomegranate that I had to speak to the chef in person afterward”
Randall Stamper, “Style Weekly”
“Style Weekly’s readers and Richmond Magazine both declared Pomegranate the city’s best new restaurant in their respective 2002 food issues. Richmond Magazine threw in best downtown restaurant and best business lunch for good measure. And the awards don’t lie”
“The Artful Diner”
“Chef Kevin LaCivita’s enticing bistro fare with international flair is as delightfully “down-home” as it is creatively charismatic. Should your sojourns take you to Richmond or the surrounding area, be sure to place Pomegranate at the very top of your dining agenda”
Dana Craig, “Richmond Times Dispatch”
“Unexpected flavor combinations, a cozy, unassuming setting and the repeated presence of a fruit well-known as an aphrodisiac: Pomegranate was obviously created by a man well-versed in the art of culinary seduction”
