Owner of one of Napa Valley’s most popular Italian restaurants, Joe Salerno and his wife Cathy are in their 9^th year of operating Piccolino’s Italian Café.

Salerno holds an associate degree in computer processing and a bachelor’s degree in psychology and has completed course work for an MBA with the University of Phoenix.

His first major corporate job was Vice President/General Manager of Public Restaurants for Manning’s Food Company in San Francisco. He successfully turned around a floundering small chain and eventually opened 22 restaurants in Hawaii, Southern California, Northern California, Oregon and Washington.

Salerno then became Director of Marketing for a division of Carnation Company, now owned by Nestle Co., opening 40 retail centers throughout the Western United States.   When that division was sold, he became the Strategic Information Manager for the Market Research Department of Carnation Company, managing information systems for the sales and marketing departments

Since moving to Napa nine years ago, he has served as a board member of the Visitor’s and Convention Bureau, The Work Force Investment Board and is currently the Property Based Improvement Development (PBID) Steering Committee Chair for the Downtown Association.  He is a founding member of the Napa Valley Restaurant Symposium.

He can usually be found at Piccolino’s talking to his customers or at one of the many Napa Valley events and charities serving up samples of his cooking skills.

 Jamie Rodriguez grew up in a town close to Guadalajara, Mexico and moved to California nearly 12 years ago. He began cooking at La Boucane restaurant in downtown Napa. Jamie’s skills as a creative chef have been featured at such notable Napa Valley eateries as Mustards Grill and The Wine Train, to name a few. His creativity is not lost on those customers who have come to love him, as well as the kitchen staff whom he manages. Jamie has been with Piccolino’s for almost 5 years and is instrumental in its kitchen management and success.  He and Joe Salerno work continually to insure that the menu at Piccolino's contains quality, authentic Italian American cuisine, including seasonal and daily specials that include fresh seafood, beef, veal, chicken and pasta.