Ezio Santin & Antica Osteria Del Ponte

Ezio Santin was born in Milan, Italy in 1937 and always loved food and wine.  As he grew up, he became a salesman selling wine and food to most of the chefs in Italy and France.  He became a foodie without going to culinary school, but instead by listening and watching his customers, the chefs, including Chef Franco Colombani and Gualtiero Marchesi. Whatever he saw that interested him, he went home to test the recipes.  He introduced new ingredients to the chefs and they would explain how they worked with it combining traditional cooking with modern cooking techniques.  

After 16 years of selling, Ezio and his wife Renata, decided to open their own restaurant in 1976.  They found a little place outside of Milano, and called it Antica Osteria del Ponte.  It wasn’t long before they won two Michelin stars.  In the summer of 2000, the Great Chefs television team showed up to tape Chef Ezio Santin for the Discovery Channel’s Great Chefs of the World television series (episodes 240 and 249).

In 2002, Chef Santin opened another restaurant in Tokyo which still operates in 2016.  In 2009, Chef Ezio and his wife rejected the Michelin Guide, and said “they have no more to write about us”.  In 2013, he sold the restaurant to his sous chef, however it closed shortly thereafter in 2014.  It reopened in 2016 and is now considered one of the top restaurants in the area.  Chef Ezio still stops by once in awhile to say hello to his old customers.