A Bay Area chef once applauded for his exquisite Italian dishes and noteworthy restaurants has been detained after allegedly carrying out three bank heists in one day.

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

Valentino Luchin, 62, previously an executive chef at the renowned Rose Pistola in North Beach and proprietor of the now-closed Ottavio in Walnut Creek, was apprehended by San Francisco police following a frantic robbery spree over the course of a single day.

Authorities report that last Wednesday, Luchin hit three banks in succession in the city’s Central District, handing handwritten notes to alarmed tellers demanding money.

At one bank on the 1100 block of Grant Avenue near Chinatown, witnesses recounted that the suspect presented a note simply commanding that money be handed over.

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

Within hours, police managed to connect Luchin to two more bank robberies occurring that same day, all situated within the Central District, which encompasses 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.