Jeff Spiegel & Katie Gardner, Owners/Founders

In 2013, Jeff and Katie decided to open another restaurant--this time in Albuquerque. This was a dramatic decision, having left behind the restaurant business in 2006 after 23 years and 11 restaurants in NYC. Now, fully committed to building their business in NM, the two, together with partner John Haas, opened M’tucci’s Italian, M’tucci’s Moderno in Rio Rancho, M’tucci’s Twenty-Five at I-25 & Jefferson and M’tucci’s Bar Roma on Central Ave. in Nob Hill. 

Jeff passed away in February 2024 after a six-year battle with leukemia. While his physical presence is missed every day, his spirit and his commitment to excellence lives on at all four M’tucci’s locations.

John Haas, Co-Founder/Company President

Along with Jeff & Katie, John is a co- founder at M’tucci’s and the company’s President. John has a passion for food, having served as the company’s Executive Chef since M’tucci’s inception. One of the greatest driving factors for him is seeing the success of others around him. John is most proud of the amazing talent that M’tucci’s is able to call its work family. His focus with food is bringing overall approachability and familiarity built around clean vibrant seasonal flavors. Many of the dishes are inspired by his time with Italian born chefs in the Midwest and Italy.

Before joining the M'tucci’s family in 2013, John spent time as an Executive Chef and General Manager for much of his career in Des Moines, IA. He relocated to Albuquerque with Bravo Cucina prior to the start of M’tucci’s. He has more than 25 years of restaurant experience. We are proud of John’s natural inclination to produce food that Italians and New Mexicans recognize and love while continually bringing exciting new tastes to our plates and our palates.

Shawn Cronin, Partner/CompanyChef 

Shawn joined M’tucci’s shortly after its first year from Farm and Table, where he was the Sous Chef. He had previously worked at Farina Alto as Sous Chef as well as Artichoke Café and Farina. Along with Cory Gray, he opened and ran M’tucci’s Italian Market & Pizzeria before heading the crew that opened up M’tucci’s newest restaurant, M’tucci’s Twenty-Five.  

Shawns greatest focus has been the development of M’tucci’s highly regarded bread. He is driven to continually improve and enhance each little nuance that makes it such high quality. He carries a similar passion towards the house-cured charcuterie program, house-made mozzarella, and house-made pasta & ravioli. Chefs Shawn & Cory have spent the better part of their time with M’tucci’s focused on making sure M’tucci’s is living up to it’s moniker of “If you ate it here, we made it here”.

Austin Leard, Partner/Company Vice-President

Austin Leard joined the M’tucci’s family when M’tucci’s Italian opened in July of 2013. He began as a bartender and became the restaurant’s Manager and Partner.

Prior to joining the team, Austin was a sales representative for Favorite Brands, a boutique purveyor of fine wines and spirits. Austin worked on the sales side of the beverage industry for seven years, during which time he refined his palate and became one of the area’s leading mixologists. Austin is also the business’ beverage manager and collaborates with John Haas matching food and beverage to the taste delight of our guests.

Chris O’Sickey, Partner/Chief Operating Officer

Chris started working at Italian as a Sous Chef when we opened in 2013. After more than 20 years in the restaurant business working as a chef, managing kitchens, and opening restaurants for Lone Star Steakhouse across the country, he has found a home at M’tucci’s.

He is responsible for streamlining processes between the company’s four locations and developing standards and procedures.

Cory Gray, Partner/Chef @ M’tucci’s Italian

Prior to joining M’tucci’s, Cory was the Chef at Farina Alto in Albuquerque, a restaurant he helped launch and where he began the meat curing program for their pizzas. Before Farina Alto, Cory worked at the Artichoke Café for six years and from there went to Farina. He and Chef/Partner Shawn Cronin opened M’tucci’s Italian Market and were responsible for meat curing and the bread program used by all of the restaurants today.

Cory, much like Shawn, has always been inspired by the old world way of producing our house-made products. He is always looking back in time for inspiration in forms of preservation and fermentation. Having grown up on the east coast, Cory also developed a love for working with the highest quality seafood. Cory’s style of food is on display daily at M’tucci’s Italian, where you will find big full flavored dishes with balanced notes of acidity, sweetness, and umami.

Amanda Cronin, Partner/General Manager @ M’tucci’s Bar Roma

Amanda started her career as a bar back at M’tucci’s Italian in 2015. She has been a manager at M’tucci’s Moderno since it opened and has been the General Manager for more than a year. She graduated Cum Laude with a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of New Mexico. As a partner, she will provide insight into all management decisions, assist with overall operations, hiring and increasing company efficiency through implementation of new systems.

Ernest Nuñez, Operating Partner/General Manager at M’tucci’s Twenty-Five

Ernest has been in the restaurant business for many years in New Mexico and California. He helped us open M’tucci’s Kichina at the Hispanic Cultural Center and later worked as one of the managers at M’tucci’s Moderno. He has led the management team at M’tucci’s Twenty-Five since it opened in February 2020.

John Eidson, Operating Partner/Executive Chef at M’tucci’s Twenty-Five

John is a life long resident of Albuquerque where he has been in the restaurant business for more than 25 years. He has 15 years of experience in Italian restaurants. He formerly worked for Bravo, where he was recognized as the Executive Chef of the year for that company. He leads the kitchen team at M’tucci’s Twenty-Five

Robin Dibble, Operating Partner/General Manager at M’tucci’s Moderno

Robin was born and raised in Albuquerque. He cut his teeth in corporate restaurants such as Buca di Beppo and PF Chang’s. He left management for a few years and went back to school., becoming a CNM freshman at the age of 30, graduating in 2016. He was the General Manager at Zinc Wine Bar and Bistro (now closed).

Jorge Monterossa, Operating Partner/Executive Chef at M’tucci’s Moderno

Jorge has been in the restaurant business for many years, joining Chef John Haas at M’tucci’s Italian when it opened in 2013. He has led the kitchen team at M’tucci’s Moderno since it opened.

Damien Lucero, Operating Partner/Executive Chef at M’tucci’s Bar Roma

Damien is graduate of the culinary program at CNM. He started working at M’tucci’s Italian in 2013 as a pizza cook, working his way up to Sous Chef. He was part of the opening team at M’tucci’s Twenty-Five and as Executive Chef at M’tucci’s Bar Roma created the menu with Company Chef Shawn Cronin.

Taña Martinez, Catering Director

Taña has been with M’tucci’s since we opened M’tucci’s Italian in 2013 where she worked as one of our popular bartenders and servers. She was the catering manager a few years ago, but stepped away for awhile to have her son and spend a little more time with him during his younger years. She is happily back in charge of all of our catering.

Brianna Dennis, Executive Pastry Chef

Brianna has worked as a pastry chef for several years with stints at Dunton Hot Springs Resort, Compass and Hotel Andaluz. She has been an instructor with the Hospitality Program at CNM for the past eight years. While serving as the Education Director at NMRA for two years, she worked at M’tucci’s a few days a week. When we opened M’tucci’s Twenty-Five we convinced her to join us full-time.

Michael Lewis, Marketing Manager & Editor of La Gazzeta

Michael has been with M’tucci’s since early 2019 and is responsible for all social media, website design and the writing and photographs for the weekly online newsletter, La Gazzetta. A photographer for more than 39 years, he has worked for numerous magazines and photographed five books for National Geographic. His photos from his travels to Italy are on the walls at M’tucci’s Moderno, M’tucci’s Bar Roma and M’tucci’s Twenty-Five.