4th annual Our Valley Cooks Food Expo

By Sean Barron

Special to the Vindicator

It stands to reason that a love of food, a large, close Italian-American family and a penchant for performing are healthy ingredients for making a splash in the cooking business.

And it never hurts to have landed your own show on the Food Network.

“I come from a tight-knit family. My family is my most important thing, and that kind of fuels everything I do,” said Jeff Mauro, of Elmwood Park, Ill., who is perhaps best known to Food Network viewers as the “Sandwich King.”

“I learned early on the power of food and the dinner table.”

The comedian-turned-chef will be one of the highlights of the fourth annual Our Valley Cooks Food Expo, presented by PNC Bank and sponsored by Meridian Community Care in Youngstown.

Since high school, Mauro has worked in the food industry, including as a caterer and chef instructor. Mauro also had an intense love of making people laugh, so he pursued a career as a comedian and entertainer in Los Angeles, where he performed in theater and improvisation clubs, he recalled.

“I was the class clown and the clown in my extended family,” Mauro said with laughter.

“I felt another way to make people laugh could be through food.”

Mauro, who earned a bachelor’s degree in radio and television communications from Bradley University in Peoria, Ill., returned to his native Chicago after college.

Mauro soon opened a delicatessen and auditioned for commercial spots.

Mauro spent more than two years in L.A., time that included pursuing a cooking career and shooting pilots spots for a cooking show.

One thing led to another and for the past seven months, Mauro has been a mainstay on the Food Network, where he specializes in taking sandwiches far out of their traditional context.

“Just because it’s a sandwich doesn’t mean it can’t be the main event,” said Mauro, whose top recipes are chicken mole torta, Chinese barbecue pulled pork sliders, the “roast beast master” and beer-battered codwich sliders, according to the Food Network’s website.

Mauro also expressed gratitude toward several network personnel who he said helped him place the TV experience in perspective and provided helpful tips and advice.

Mauro said he’s looking forward to his first visit to the Mahoning Valley, adding that he has a positive impression of the area and residents, molded in part by fellow Food Network celebrity chefs who have taken part in previous Our Valley Cooks events.

“It is a big event for a great cause,” he said. “Anytime those two come to play, I want to be part of it.”

Mauro added that he’s a firm believer in supporting programs that help youngsters with addiction problems.