Nicole Skillings, Executive Chef

      Nicole R. Skillings, Executive Chef, at FornoVecchio Restaurant in downtown Pleasanton, has returned to cook in her hometown.  A Pleasanton native, Nicole developed her love for cooking helping her mother and nana in the kitchen.  Together they nurtured Nicole’s ardor for savory Italian dishes and delightful desserts.

At only nine years of age, Nicole took a bread baking and pizza class at the California Culinary Academy.  It was then that she set her sights on graduating from the Academy.  Years later she accomplished this goal, graduating from the Academy’s Baking and Pastry Arts Program.

With heartfelt enthusiasm for Italian fare, Nicole traveled to Italy to study traditional dishes and desserts at the source, The Italian Culinary Institute. Despite the allure of becoming a European chef, she returned to the East Bay to begin her career, landing her first professional position as assistant pastry cook at Blackhawk Grill in Danville. From there, she held the position of executive pastry chef at Garibaldi’s in Oakland and later in San Francisco.  With growing success, Nicole was recruited as a chef for Google in Mountain View. And now you can enjoy her seasonal menu creations here in historic downtown Pleasanton.