Sparks Fly at Fiamma: Chef Couple Puts
Passion on the Plate

“A house of moments.” That’s what the owners call Fiamma, their Sun Valley, Idaho restaurant.
Sure, those owners are famed Food Network chef Britt Rescigno (above left) and her now-wife, Chef Kinsey Leodler-Rescigno (right). Yes, it offers Italian-inspired cuisine and open-fire cooking with a focus on all things seasonal and locally sourced. The pair also crafted a true open-concept space for guests. But what matters is how Fiamma (‘little flame’ in Italian) makes guests feel: warm, safe, welcome. That feeling isn’t just by design; it is rooted in the intentionality and
authenticity of two queer women who trusted their guts and each other.

Fiamma opened in March 2025 and has already been awarded the Wine Spectator Award of
Excellence in 2026 and a AAA Four Diamond designation. It was also named in FSR
magazine’s list of Top 50 Independent Restaurants.

Chef Britt Rescigno won Food Network’s Chopped in 2019, placed second in Chopped
Champions in 2020, took down Bobby Flay with her grandmother’s chicken and dumplings,
and reached the final four in Seasons 4 and 5 of Tournament of Champions. From South
Jersey, Rescigno graduated from the Culinary Institute of America and has worked at
acclaimed restaurants across the country.

Chef Kinsey Leodler has worked under renowned chefs, managed high-volume sports
restaurant locations, served as Director of Operations for a Seattle celebrity chef, and, in 2023,
co-founded Communion Bay Supper Club, a traveling pop-up dining experience created with
Rescigno.

Respect and Passion

Together, they are a force to be reckoned with. The reason is simple: respect. Respect for one
another, for food, for the people they work with, and for the guests. The couple credit their
success to being both business partners and life partners. The key, they say, is that they met in
a professional capacity.

“Our first interaction together was working together,” Leodler said. “The relationship came
later, and by then we kind of had that professional foundation and always been a little bit of
kind of shuffling and shifting and figuring out whose role is what.”

The two agree that being in a relationship with the person that you’re running a business with
provides something really special—a safety net.

“If I’m having a 60% day,” Leodler said, “Britt brings the other 40%, and vice versa. So, I think for
us, it’s not as hard as it might seem for some people because we did start off with that kind of
professional relationship first and foremost.”

“You have to respect each other, not even just as business owners, but as your partner,”
Rescigno said. “And sometimes you have very emotional responses in the restaurant industry
because it’s so hard.” In these situations, Rescigno will “take a second, process what’s
happening, and then I’ll later react or not even react, just give a response back in a timely
fashion.” It has taught her to be a better leader.

“The egos go out the door when it comes to us, which is crazy,” Rescigno said. But without the
big egos known to chefs, there is room for another vital component of a successful
relationship: passion. They both have a lot of it and, thankfully, for the same things: hospitality,
food, cooking, and, of course, one another.

“We share our biggest passion, which strengthens our personal relationship,” Leodler said.
“Because I don’t come home from work and start talking about something that Britt doesn’t
understand, we’re always on the same page.”

But living, loving, and working together can blur boundaries. Leodler said, “We definitely have
times where we’re like, okay, we’re going to talk about this for 30 minutes, and then we’re
going to talk about anything else. No more work, just us. Literally anything else. We really do
have to work at that because it’s so easy to bring the work home for sure.”

“I definitely think I’m the one that sets that boundary a little bit more,” Rescigno said. “There
are times I look at her, and I’ll be like, ‘Honey, we just worked for 14 hours. Now we are home in
bed. We’re done. Put your phone down. No more emails. We’re going to enjoy some time
together that has nothing to do with Fiamma.’”

“It’s much easier for me to hear now. ‘You’re right. We’ve agreed on this. Let’s follow it,’” Leodler
said.

“I think the harder thing is being a woman in this industry and getting respected by men or
even women, because sometimes they think that there should be a man in charge,” Rescigno
said. “I think the biggest challenge for me in my career has been just being a woman, being
young, being very driven, and knowing exactly what I want.”

That’s intimidating for some people, she explains, which makes it the hardest challenge she’s
faced. “But I have to say, where we are, where we live, where our restaurant is, they’re so
accepting,” Rescigno said of Sun Valley, Idaho. “We have such a beautiful community. They’ve
made it a little on the easier side for us.”

If You Build it They Will Come

Still, Leodler added, “I think there are a lot of folks who are like, ‘Wait, you own the restaurant?
What do you mean?’ There are people who are just maybe in shock or disbelief that the two of
us built what we’ve built, which can be a little hurtful,” Leodler said. “But it’s also surprising to
people. And shocking people can be fun as well.”

“Look, we are just us existing and doing what we’re doing, and we’re not quiet about it,”
Rescigno said. “We try to introduce ourselves to the world and show people what we’re doing.”

The fact that two married women living in Idaho are doing what they’re doing speaks volumes.
They trusted themselves despite what the world thought they could or could not do.

“If you build it, they will come,” Rescigno said. “And that is so true for so much of how we’ve
built Fiamma and the whys of everything. You set a standard, an attainable standard that
people want to achieve. And if that’s their goal, then they’re the right fit. I feel like Kinsey and I
have set a standard. We’ve built what we’ve always dreamed of. And the culture that you get
from that, that you build from that, is what’s going to help you succeed in making those
dreams a reality.”

Their vision for the restaurant was clear from the beginning. “We wanted something that was
at the same time rustic, but also elevated and exciting,” Leodler said. They built an
open-concept restaurant where you can see into the kitchen from every part of the dining
room. There is no bad seat at Fiamma. “Every seat’s a chef’s seat,” Leodler said. “It’s like
walking into your grandmother’s house for Christmas dinner every day. We talked a lot about
walking into Nonna’s kitchen.”

Rescigno’s grandmother owned a restaurant and treated everyone with respect. As a result,
everyone respected her.

“She’s had people work for her for generations. My mom’s friends worked for my grandmother,
and then their kids who were my age came and worked. It’s okay to be strict, but you have to
be respectful,” Rescigno said.

The pair know that the hospitality they show their staff is the hospitality their staff will show
guests. That means treating their staff also with respect and creating a culture of true
hospitality.

“The second piece was to really put our stamp on it because Britt and I have high expectations
and high standards, but we’re very much regular people. We know what we want when we go
out to eat,” Leodler said.

They also know exactly what they don’t want. “We don’t want to feel like you feel at a fine
dining restaurant, ‘Oh, thank you for the opportunity to eat here,’” Leodler said. “That’s not
what we’re looking to do at all.”

From the Military and TV to a Dream Come True

Leodler’s journey began in hospitality at a queer women’s bar in San Diego. She had just
gotten out of the military and was still a little lost. “I was definitely still discovering myself. And
I walked into this bar, and it was the greatest thing that I’ve ever seen in my life. I had never felt
so welcomed,” Leodler said. “I’d never felt so at home and so at peace in a space. And that was
my first lesson in hospitality.”

For months, she said, she banged on the owner’s door until she agreed to give her a job. Over
the several years she was there, she worked her way up through the ranks. But perhaps the
most important thing she learned was what she felt, not what she learned to do. She felt
welcomed and safe, and those were feelings she knew she wanted to recreate wherever her
journey in the industry took her.

“That lit my fire and my passion for hospitality,” Leodler said.

Rescigno said the part of her journey that really shaped her vision was being on television,
which gave her the confidence to do what she does today.

“If you had met me 10 years ago, before I started on TV, I was very shy, very angry. I was one of
‘those’ chefs even three years ago. Now I know my strengths, and I also know my weaknesses.
I very much honor both of those.”

She knew that she could not reach her life goal—owning a restaurant—alone.

“For me, it was this sense of, I can only grow so much unless I have a partner or a business
partner that can do the other half that I can’t do,” Rescigno said. “And so you feel a little
stunted in your growth, but it’s also a really good realization because if I did it on my own, I
would fail. I know this about myself.”

So, when Rescigno and Leodler met, it was just like everything clicked. “I was like, ‘Yeah, we’re
going to go into business together.’ And this was before we were even together,” Rescigno said.
“And she was like, ‘Yeah, we are. You’re my other half. I’m your other half. This all works.’ And
so we started running a business together. And then the feelings started developing.”

There was definitely an adjustment period for the two at the start, Leodler said, because
Rescigno was actually doing some consulting work for a couple of concepts Leodler was
working on in Seattle.

“I was really at the peak of my career,” Leodler said. “I was the star of my show. Britt was on her
trajectory, but hadn’t quite hit the Food Network fame yet. But she was about to be there.”

They had to work on their individual ego and pride. Running day-to-day restaurant operations
together helped them discover who was best at what, and they celebrate successes within
each of their wheelhouses.

“Britt’s wonderful,” Leodler said. “She provides a lot of gratitude constantly. And, so, I feel very
loved in our relationship, and I think that really helps our professional relationship as well.”

And how their relationship works is a huge part of what makes Fiamma work. “There’s really
nothing that we do in the restaurant without each other. We write every single menu together,
make all decisions together. Everyone thinks that because I’m the one that’s on TV, that I’m
the sole chef. And I’m like, ‘No,’” Rescigno said.

“We do everything together. We create together. We love together. We make decisions
together. We write the checks together.”

The two are grateful for how far they’ve come and are eager to share one very specific piece
of advice that got them to this point in their journey: “Dive in, learn to swim later,” Leodler said.
Chef Maneet Chauhan gave them this advice.

“That advice absolutely 100% changed our lives because I think if we had waited for the
moment where we felt ready to open Fiamma, we would not be sitting here right now having
this conversation,” she added. “We have learned so, so, so much. But you won’t learn that stuff
until you dive in and start doing it.”

“The perfect chance doesn’t come to you,” Rescigno added. “You have to make your perfect
chance. And you have to take that shining star and make sure that no clouds ever cover it.”