“Cooking is my passion, and I love Italian food. It was a dream of mine to my own restaurant.”

For the last six years Sergio Garcia, owner of Sergio’s Italian Bistro, has been impressing his guests in Norman with savory, Italian-inspired dishes.

When Garcia was younger, he spent a lot of time learning to cook Italian food from both his grandmothers.

After working at an Italian restaurant while living in Mexico, Garcia had the opportunity to start his own restaurant.

“One day out of nothing, I had the chance to open my own place and that’s what happened,” commented Garcia.

Garcia came alone from Mexico to Norman back in the early 2000s and has been running his business ever since.

Garcia taps into his roots to bring a flare of Hispanic culture to standard Mediterranean foods.

“I like to bring my own touch to old Italian recipes,” said Garcia.

Garcia mentioned that he chose to pursue Italian food because he’d had more exposure with Italian cuisine and grew up eating pizza and spaghetti.