Avril BYOB has been a longtime dream for husband and wife team Christian Gatti and April Lisante. The two met in 2003 when April, food editor for the Philadelphia Daily News, was reporting a story about Philadelphia's hottest, most talked-about chefs. Christian, a longtime Philadelphia chef and pastry chef, was one of twelve chefs featured in the story. The two met at the Daily News photo shoot for the story, shook hands, and the rest is history.
April ran the food section at the Daily News for seven years, crafting weekly feature stories, chef profiles and editing columns. But her dream, as a lifelong cook and food-lover, was to have her own restaurant. And Christian was her ultimate match, sharing the same passion and dream.
Christian first fell in love with cooking at age 15, when he took a job as a dishwasher at a local bakery in his hometown of Havertown, Pa.