"I look for dedication, I look for passion, I look for how they watch and listen. I watch their eyes and their gestures. "

He was named one of Food & Wine's Ten Best New Chefs and in 2005, won the James Beard Award for "Best Chef Mid-Atlantic." Although he never went to a formal culinary school, Chef Vetri started cooking with his Sicilian grandmother when he was just a young boy. As a young adult, he cooked his way through school while learning business and music.

He moved to California and worked at Wolfgang Puck's famous restaurant, Granita but wanted to get back to his culinary roots and moved to Bergamo, Italy to work and learn his craft by immersing himself in Italian food. It is here where he learned the skills that he took back to Philly to open two of the most successful restaurants in town Vetri and Osteria.

In 2008 he published his first cookbook with Ten Speed Press called Il Viaggio di Vetri: A Culinary Journey.