CHESTERLAND, Ohio — Cooking hits close to home for chef Talia Trovato. 

“My mother, my wonderful mother, had a little bout with cancer and she’s a survivor and I started cooking for her,” Trovato said. 

Trovato is a 2017 graduate of the International Culinary Arts and Sciences Institute (ICASI) and has cooked at various restaurants since then.  

When Trovato began cooking in Florida, things changed. 

“I was working at Disney where I met chef Hedy (Pastran) and had the opportunity to work for incredible chefs and was lucky enough to bring one of them with me,” Trovato said. 

Trovato and Pastran met while cooking for Disney World restaurants and are now the new managers of the restaurant formerly known as Sapore, now known as Sapore + Coppia. 

Sapore is part of chef Loretta Paganini’s food domain, which is next to the Paganini School of Cooking, where her consumer classes take place. It’s also near ICASI, where professional chefs, like Trovato, are trained.  

Pastran has also traveled far and has worked in various restaurants.  

“It’s been about 15 years of fun in different kitchens, mainly in Florida, new to Ohio. I just came around this year, in March,” she said. 

The chefs said Sapore means ‘taste’ in Italian, while Coppia means something special to them. 

“That means together, a couple, a pair, doing what we love to do together. This is something that clicked, once we started cooking together, once we started brainstorming about food and ideas,” said Pastran. 

The chefs said they are happy to showcase a new dinner menu, which is served from 5 to 10 p.m. on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings.  

They also said they added a Sunday brunch option. 

For more information on the restaurant, click here.