Mama Ricotta’s has a new executive chef. Paul Cruz, most recently executive chef at Midwood Birkdale, is now in charge of the kitchen at the longest-operating restaurant in the FS Food Group portfolio (Paco’s Tacos, Yafo Kitchen, Midwood Smokehouse). Former executive chef Tom Dyrness has been promoted to the restaurant group’s corporate chef over Mama’s and Paco’s.

Cruz comes to Mama’s from Midwood Smokehouse, where he’s worked nearly five years. A graduate of Johnson & Wales Charleston, Cruz moved to Charlotte after graduating in 2004 and took a job with Harper’s Group (Harper’s, Mimosa Grill, Upstream). He’s very familiar with Italian cuisine, growing up in the restaurant industry. His parents opened an Italian restaurant in 1996, and Cruz worked all over the restaurant, from the dish pit to the dining room.

“Whatever the old man said, we did,” Cruz says with a laugh.

At Mama’s, Cruz doesn’t anticipate making many changes to the traditional Italian menu. Next week, you’ll start seeing some specials that reflect his personality as a cook, which Cruz describes as “very rustic, not frou-frou — just straight good-eatin’ food.”

There will likely be more seafood options added to the menu, too. The kitchen will start serving a Kobe meatball served with organic spaghetti in the spring, and Cruz says he’s playing with a Heritage Farms pork osso bucco. Most diner favorites, however, will still remain on the menu.

“This place has been here forever, so the core items are not going anywhere,” Cruz says. “We’ll play around with specials and stuff like that, but Tom and I are very similar with our cooking styles.”

Cruz officially took over the kitchen January 1. —Kristen Wile

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