Meet Cristian D’Oria | Food connoisseur. Family man.

We had the good fortune of connecting with Cristian D’Oria and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Cristian, what do you attribute your success to?
It’s a combination of several factors as to the success of my business. I treat my staff and customers with kindness and respect. Soya e Pomodoro has been around 20 years, many of my customers have been coming for lunch for years, many of them coming in everyday, so it feels like family having a meal at home. And last but not least, I love what I do. I take pleasure with cooking simple yet delicious food from my region of Italy, Puglia.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
My cooking career started at a very young age in Italy. At 14 I left my hometown of Sava for Emilia Romagnia to work at a restaurant as an assistant to the chef. This I did for 5 summers while attending a culinary college in Puglia. After graduating and with an ample resume I moved around for work to places like, Dyerba, Bahamas, Canada and finally, Miami in 1999. Once here, I worked mostly in South Florida, mainly, South Beach and Ft. Lauderdale. Around 2006 I became co-owner of a little place called, Soya e Pomodoro that was being run by my friends, Armando Alfano and Julie Johnson. A few years down the road I became sole owner of the restaurant which can be tough as being a small business I have many hats. I’ve had challenges like Covid, thankfully surviving it, because so many loyal and beloved customers coming through and keeping us alive. Another challenge has been the 20 years I’ve experienced through the ups and downs of the downtown community, but I am committed to stick around and see our downtown’s full potential. Over all these years I’ve learned that hard work is key, but also being a decent person and being true to myself is important as customers can recognize a sham.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
So many places to choose from! I would start with our beautiful beaches, any of them, like South Beach up to the powdery sands of the west coast like for example, Anna Maria. But if I am keeping local after South Beach I’d take them to Joe’s Stone Crabs for crab claws, then have a drink at SLS with my favorite bartender, Nieves Degrati and for dinner we’d go to Soya e Pomodoro for a nice dinner while listening to some live jazz, then go around the corner to Lost Boy to shoot pool and have more drinks.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Shout out to, Celinda Constantino! And shout out to the downtown community of small businesses.

Website: soyaepomodoro.com

Instagram: soyaepomodoro

Facebook: Soya & Pomodoro