Daniela Craciun

Private Chef • Caterer • Cooking Instructor

My passion for cooking began in Romania as a little girl hanging around my mother in the kitchen, curious of how the food made it from ingredients to dishes on the table. I loved everything from rolling cabbage leaves and stuffing peppers to getting dough all over myself making doughnuts and spaetzle. Growing up in a communist Romania was always challenging when it came to putting food on the table, but at my mother’s side I learned to be creative. Eventually I learned the joy of smiling faces when it became my responsibility to cook for our family while my mother was at work.

In 1999, I ventured to the city of Bologna located in Italy, known as the pasta capital, where I started my formal training in Northern Italian cuisine. I began experimenting with new ingredients and dishes, looking for ways to further my culinary foundation. I spent years overcoming many obstacles of allergies and special dietary needs, but it deepened my knowledge and allowed for a more diverse group of people to enjoy my food. With over 30 years of cooking experience, I adapted all the traditional recipes when I moved to Naples and opened my restaurant in 2009.

As the years past I felt it wasn’t enough that people could only experience my cooking in the restaurant. Believing everyone should learn how to prepare nutritious meals, I decided to offer cooking lessons. For those who did not have the time or desire to cook, I began providing my services as a private chef. I could think of nothing finer than a gathering of friends and family with delicious cuisine prepared in your own home.

My foremost principle to cooking is making healthy dishes from scratch using only the freshest ingredients, just as I learned from my mother. Although I can’t grow my own ingredients like my family did, I buy only from local organic farms so I know exactly what is going into my dishes. My desire to see the smiling faces of those who try my cuisine remains, just like the curious little girl of Romania.

We have closed Daniela’s Restaurant

On November 11th, 2017 we closed the doors of Daniela’s Restaurant. This was a hard choice for me, but I decided after 8 years to change my focus to offering private chef and catering services. This will allow me more time to focus on my family and to work more closely with the wonderful people that I have met over the past years at the restaurant. This is a new adventure in my life, and I am excited to get started!