Eileen Dunne Crescenzi

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"That's what we love about Eileen, she's got her soul in it". So says food writer Caroline Byrne of Eileen Dunne Crescenzi, a woman who, even when she was tending a little, somewhat unlikely deli in Sutton, in north County Dublin, back in 1995, already had her soul in it.

Eileen Dunne is surprising. Is it because she studied, worked and lived in Italy for two decades until returning to Dublin in the mid 1990's? She seems to look at Irish culture differently, from a perspective, though that might be explained by an interest in anthropology. Her objective take on things – food, restaurants, shopping, communicating – was underscored by her award of a masters degree in journalism and communications in 2010. Quite how she found the time to study is the question: isn't it enough to run a small empire of restaurants encompassing Dublin and snaking out even into County Kildare? The Dunne & Crescenzi brand, the Bar Italia brand, the Nonna Valentina flagship are today amongst the best known food brands in the capital, and it is Mrs Crescenzi's genius to have realised how well the Irish would take to things Italian. In a sense, she has translated Italian mores for us, she has curated them through the prism of her own way of seeing – that perspective again – and put them on a plate, in a companionable room. What a pity Fellini never found her when she was based in Rome, when she could have added vibrant colour to some of the director's later movies.

Dunne & Crescenzi, 22 South Frederick Street, Dublin 2
01 677 3815
www.dunneandcrescenzi.com