With just a few black tablecloths, wine glasses, candles and flowers, Jabby’s Pizza on Old Perkins Road in Baton Rouge transformed into an upscale Sicilian trattoria. Behind the glass in the open kitchen, Albina Brahimi and Linda Roppolo crafted authentic Sicilian dishes for their customers.
Using just one pizza oven with a temperature of 750 degrees, the two women cooked a memorable meal for their pop-up customers on Feb. 11.
This Sicilian feast is a dream come true for Brahimi, a self-made chef and restaurateur who has worked for 15 years to have this opportunity. For Brahimi, feeding a crowd is her life calling.
From Kosovo to Baton Rouge
When Brahimi was 14 years old, her life in Kosovo became one of war and fear. It was 1997, and the war in Yugoslavia was raging. The Brahimi family was forced out of their city and into a village closer to the mountains. As the family settled into another home, the war escalated.
Brahimi’s mother, a nurse, helped to convert an abandoned elementary school into a makeshift hospital…