Listen To Your Staff

David Wizenberg fell for the hospitality industry while working in the trenches of several Oklahoma City restaurants as a teenager. In 1982, he moved to New York and attended the prestigious Culinary Institute of America where he picked up modern culinary techniques and learned to prepare transportive, global recipes. With a degree in Occupational Studies, he moved to Denver and, in 1987, graduated with a B.S. in Hotel and Restaurant Management.

"I've always loved cooking and thought I wanted to become an executive chef at a five-star restaurant or open my own restaurant one day," Wizenberg explains, "but at the CIA, I realized my future was in front of the house and in general operations."

He migrated to the West Coast where he first took an opportunity at a large restaurant group, then later, as the Food and Beverage Director at a small hotel company where he developed a life-long passion for wine and luscious food pairings. Later, David moved to the Washington, DC-area where he joined forces with Capital Restaurant Concepts and where he met his future business partners, Gus DiMillo and Chef Jeff Tunks.

Wizenberg, along with DiMillo and Executive Chef Jeff Tunks, formed Passion Food Hospitality in 1998, which pioneered a new breed of sleek, American eateries like DC Coast, Acadiana and PassionFish. Committed to imaginative cuisine and meritorious hospitality, Passion Food has received its lion's share of awards and honors over the years, and in 2014, the group earned a RAMMY finalist nod for Restaurateur of the Year.

Now, Wizenberg has partnered again with Chef Jeff Tunks as well as national restaurant industry veteran Dean Carras to bring Corvina Seafood Grill to downtown Boca Raton.

Corvina will open in late November 2021.