Meet the Team Behind Revé / The Founders
More Than a Restaurant, A Dream.
Every restaurant has a menu and a dining room. We wanted to create something with meaning.
Revé was built on the belief that hospitality is about creating moments people remember long after the last course. It is where exceptional food, genuine service (or what we call unreasonable hospitality…shoutout to Will), thoughtful design, and meaningful connection come together to celebrate the art of gathering.
Founded by the four of us, four business partners with backgrounds spanning Michelin-starred kitchens, luxury hospitality, event design, business operations, and trades, Revé brings together decades of experience under one shared vision: to create a destination restaurant that provides a journey like no other. Where we can fully express our passions, share our stories and bring people together over life’s greatest simplicity – the dinner table.
Inspired by the warmth of European hospitality, Sicilian heritage and the abundance of Niagara’s farms, vineyards, and producers, every detail of Revé has been intentionally designed—from the tasting menus, vendor partners and wine program to the music, lighting, and service philosophy.
Our hope is simple: that every guest leaves feeling they had an experience worth remembering.
Meet the Founders
Adriano Cappuzzello
Executive Chef | Co-Founder
Born and raised in Sicily, Adriano discovered his passion for cooking at an early age, inspired by the traditions and family gatherings that define European culture. His culinary journey has taken him around the world, training in some of the most respected kitchens in Europe and Canada.
Adriano began his career in Michelin-starred restaurants, most notably at Locanda Don Serafino, a two-Michelin-starred Relais & Châteaux restaurant in Ragusa, Sicily at the time. Then he continued his education through internationally renowned kitchens, including The Fat Duck in England, Tim Raue in Berlin, and Langdon Hall in Ontario. These experiences shaped his philosophy of combining technical precision with deep respect for ingredients, seasonality, and storytelling.
At Revé, Adriano leads the culinary vision, creating ever-changing tasting menus inspired by the seasons, local Canadian producers, and memories from his Sicilian upbringing. Every dish reflects both innovation and tradition, balancing refined technique with genuine warmth.
His ambition has never been limited to becoming a great chef; it has always been to create experiences that leave a lasting impression long after guests leave the table.
Nicole Pisarenko
Director of Hospitality Operations – Wine & Service Lead | Co-Founder
Nicole has dedicated more than a decade to the art of hospitality.
After completing Culinary Management and Italian Culinary Arts at George Brown College, she built her career working across both the kitchen and front-of-house, developing a unique understanding of every aspect of the guest experience. Nicole believes exceptional hospitality is found in the details. From the moment guests arrive to the final farewell, her focus is on creating a seamless, thoughtful, and memorable dining experience.
Her passion lies in thoughtful, intuitive service—the small details that make guests feel welcomed, comfortable, and genuinely cared for. Nicole brings a global perspective to wine and hospitality while remaining deeply rooted in genuine human connection.
At Revé, she oversees the wine program, overall operations, service standards, daily guest experience, and staff development, ensuring every visit feels effortless, elegant, and personal. Nicole also contributes to the bar programming, events division, new initiatives, and the continued growth of Revé’s hospitality culture.
Nicole’s philosophy is simple: genuine hospitality is about making every guest feel welcomed, cared for, and completely at ease.
Anna Katherine Kruusi
Director of Hospitality Operations – Experiences & Strategy Lead | Co-Founder
For Anna Katherine, hospitality has always been about creating experiences that people carry with them. She believes every detail matters—from the first impression of the brand and the excitement of making a reservation to welcoming guests back for their tenth visit. Every interaction is intentionally crafted to make guests feel celebrated, connected, and inspired to return.
As a local to Niagara and having completed the hospitality program at Niagara College, Anna brings decades of experience in business and hospitality operations, events, design and marketing. She has built her career helping people celebrate life’s most meaningful moments over her favourite passions – food, beverage and genuine hospitality. Her passion for storytelling, events, thoughtful details, and genuine hospitality naturally evolved into Revé.
Anna brings together strategy, creativity, and operational excellence for Revé, leading overall operations, marketing and business strategies, team and guest experiences, the events division, while also overseeing bar programming, contributing to front-of-house leadership, the evolving wine program and growing brand vision.
Anna believes that extraordinary hospitality isn’t found in grand gestures alone, but in consistently making people feel seen, celebrated, and cared for.
Kevin Gillingham
Director of Projects & Operational Support | Co-Founder
Every memorable restaurant depends on countless details working seamlessly behind the scenes.
Born and raised in Niagara, Kevin brings years of experience in project management, operations, trades, management, hospitality and events. As a licensed tradesman and experienced business owner, he has played an instrumental role in transforming Revé from an idea into a reality.
From overseeing all projects and expansion, property standards, renovations and infrastructure to maintaining daily operations, Kevin ensures every part of the restaurant functions to the highest standard. Kevin has a genuine passion for hospitality.
Whether he’s behind the scenes keeping Revé running seamlessly, expanding the Revé vision, providing operations support, or leading the events division, he’s committed to creating exceptional experiences for every guest.
His practical expertise, attention to detail, and calm leadership form the foundation that keeps Revé running every day.
Our Philosophy
At Revé, we believe that dining is one of life’s greatest ways to celebrate.
Whether you’re joining us for an anniversary, a birthday, a quiet evening together, or simply because today deserves to be celebrated – our team is honoured to welcome you.
Thank you for becoming part of our story. We look forward to being part of yours.
The Story of a Chef & Partnerships – How the Four Came to Be Revé in Niagara
Chef Adriano’s journey began in his hometown, Ragusa, Sicily — where he was born, trained and worked in a two Michelin-star restaurant, starting at only 14 years old, earning less than minimum wage but gaining lessons that would shape his life. From Sicily, he went on to cook in kitchens across Europe — Spain, Malta, England, Germany, and Italy — before a new chapter began.
After meeting his now-wife, Nicole, Adriano made the brave decision to leave everything behind and move to Canada. It wasn’t easy — he spent months saving just enough to buy his ticket and arrived with only €300 in his pocket and a dream of one day opening his own restaurant in Canada.
In his first week in Canada, Adriano turned to Nicole for help finding work. Determined to apply his fine-dining background, they researched the best restaurants in the country and set their sights on Langdon Hall — one of Canada’s top culinary institutions. Without a driver’s license, Adriano carpooled every day, enduring long 18-hour shifts, but those early days changed everything. At Langdon Hall, he saw that fine dining and true hospitality were alive in Canada — and that his dream could exist here too.
From there, Adriano continued to push forward. After years of hard work, he joined Sofia Yorkville in Toronto under Chef Robert LeClair, a mentor who recognized his talent and encouraged his creativity. “Chef Robert was the first person who truly believed in me,” Adriano recalls. “In an industry where people often tear each other down, he showed me what leadership and trust could look like.”
That mentorship reignited Adriano’s confidence, leading to a Head Chef position at a new restaurant on College Street — a Sicilian fine dining concept that was set to be his breakthrough moment. But just one week after opening, the pandemic hit. Overnight, the dream shifted from tasting menus to takeout lasagnas. “It was heartbreaking,” Adriano says. That same year, he lost his beloved Nonna Gina — one of the people who inspired him to cook. Taking time off, he and Nicole moved to Niagara to reset and reconnect with their dream.
In Niagara, Adriano found something familiar like home — the warmth of community, the rhythm of the seasons, and the proximity to the farms, the land that reminded him of Sicily. Even during the pandemic, he could feel the spark of a culinary movement starting to grow. The farms, the people, and the emerging fine dining scene reignited his purpose. “I realized this was the place where fine dining could truly take root again,” he says.
Adriano began knocking on doors, meeting local farmers, and reaching out to anyone who shared his vision. It was through this persistence that he and Nicole eventually crossed paths with Anna and Kevin, two Niagara locals also with vast backgrounds alongside Nicole & Adriano and most importantly, equally passionate about hospitality and equally determined to build something meaningful with experiences in many restaurants, hotels, marketing and events, they were ready to begin their dream too which happened to be the same as Adriano and Nicole’s… Creating a restaurant and a business with soul.
They shared the same values — work ethic, ambition, and an unwavering belief in creating something special from nothing.
The connection was instant. Within months, the four of them built a partnership and a plan — combining their experience, grit, and creativity to bring a shared dream to life. And from that, the dream was here…
Revé was born: a restaurant built on fire, friendship, and faith in what hospitality can still be.
So when we designed the space, we wanted the front door / the very first thing guests see – to be a reminder of how and why Revé exists.
A reminder of the dream that brought us here—a dream shared by four underdogs who finally decided to take the risk, and with enough passion, hard work, and courage, they could build something extraordinary together and something they truly believed in.
So, now every guest who walks through those doors becomes part of that dream.
Written by Anna Katherine – Owner & Head of Media
