A once-renowned chef from the Bay Area, famous for his sophisticated Italian dishes and prominent dining establishments, has been detained following accusations of committing three bank robberies in the span of a single day.

It marks a stunning fall from grace for a man once hailed as a rising star of California’s culinary scene.

Valentino Luchin, aged 62, who was a former executive chef at the illustrious Rose Pistola in North Beach and had managed the now-shuttered Ottavio in Walnut Creek, was apprehended by the San Francisco police amidst a tumultuous day of thefts.

Authorities report that Luchin targeted three banks consecutively last Wednesday within the city’s Central District, handing handwritten demands for money to intimidated bank tellers.

Witnesses at one of the targeted banks, located along the 1100 block of Grant Avenue near Chinatown, told police the suspect handed a teller a note that simply demanded money. 

Out of fear, the teller complied, handing over a bag of dollars before the suspect fled. 

Within hours, police linked Luchin to two additional bank robberies that day, all within the Central District, which includes North Beach, Russian Hill, and Union Square.

With the help of community tips and SFPD ‘ambassadors,’ authorities identified Luchin, who lives in the neighborhood, as the suspect. 

He was booked into San Francisco County Jail on multiple counts of robbery and attempted robbery and remains in custody as he awaits formal charges.

This is not Luchin’s first brush with the law or indeed a bank robbery.

In 2018, he was arrested in Orinda on suspicion of robbing a Citibank, where he allegedly walked out with $18,000 in cash. 

Surveillance footage showed a man in black sunglasses, white gloves, and a hoodie, reportedly brandishing a semiautomatic BB gun while demanding ‘large bills.’ 

Luchin was also apprehended the same day at his home. Authorities recovered the cash and the BB gun. In a jailhouse interview at the time, Luchin offered a mix of remorse and rationale. 

‘I thought it was a good plan… but it was not,’ he told the East Bay Times. ‘My action wasn’t aggressive. It was a fake gun. I don’t even know how to load a real gun.’ 

He even claimed to have written an apology letter to the bank teller he threatened.

Luchin, who immigrated to the United States from Italy in 1993, earned praise early in his career for his work at Rose Pistola, a restaurant once recognized as a cornerstone of San Francisco’s Italian dining scene. 

He later launched Ottavio in Walnut Creek with his wife. But after six years, the restaurant shuttered in 2016, leaving the couple in what one outlet described as ‘dire financial straits.’

Bankruptcy filings show the couple defaulted on a Chapter 13 repayment plan in 2015. At the time, they owed over $110,000 while reporting assets totaling just $27,000.

In the 2018 jailhouse interview, Luchin blamed his decision to rob the bank on a spiral of desperation and financial ruin following the restaurant’s collapse.

‘Desperation leads you to do things you never thought you were capable of,’ he said.