About Dante Palermo and The Broken Heart Diet

Dante Palermo is not a real person. He is the main character in a novel, The Broken Heart Diet. His restaurant, Pane Rubato, in San Francisco's North Beach is also not real. They are figments of the imagination of author, Tom Formaro. And while Tom is not a chef himself, he comes from a long line of great cooks, including his mother, Gina and his brother, George, who is chef and owner of Centro in downtown Des Moines. George, also a well-known cooking educator, has provided many of the recipes you'll find here. Other recipes come from the author's own repertoire and none of them (his own or his brother's) would be here if the author didn't think them worthy. All other musings, though coming from a fictional character, are honest. For example, if Dante reviews a restaurant, that review will be based on an actual dining experience, not one made up. And the emotions and opinions expressed come from a very real place. Of course you might suspect, at times, that what you read is tongue in cheek. You'll probably be right. If you have any questions, contact Dante.

Tom Formaro, lives and writes in the San Francisco Bay Area. His writing ranges from literary to commercial to erotica and his stories have appeared in SoMa Literary Review, A Sexy Story, and Akkadian. The Broken Heart Diet is his debut novel. A real cookbook, The Broken Heart Diet Cookbook is in the works.

© 2011, T. Formaro