Crawfish can be boiled. But it can also be a masterpiece. In the Angelena's Ristorante Italiano kitchen on East Intendencia Street, in Pensacola, Chef James Briscione has put a unique Italian spin on a traditional crawfish boil.

Andouille sausage, leeks and mascarpone cheese are whipped until smooth and dolloped onto squares of freshly made pasta. His skilled hands form the pasta into perfect tortellini.

Then, Briscione adds crawfish tails, roasted corn and a touch of cream come together in a pan with the tortellini. The perfect bite includes a little bit of everything, crawfish tail, tortellini, sauce and crunchy roasted corn. Once in the mouth, the flavors combine to give you a hint of traditional crawfish boil in a soul-warming, perfect pasta dish.

The crawfish tortellini are a feature on the Pasta Tasting Menu that changes with the seasons and the chef's creative whims. Do not wait long to taste the unique crawfish tortellini that was good enough to "Beat Bobby Flay."

Briscione is the executive chef, chief pasta maker and mastermind behind the menu at Angelena's Ristorante Italiano. The Gulf Coast native has an extensive and impressive resume that reads like a roadmap.

His culinary journey started at the age of 16 in the kitchens of Jubilee on Pensacola Beach. Washing dishes to earn gas money evolved into prep cooking and then making it onto the line. While he enjoyed the culture and late nights, he did not see a future in the kitchen. When he returned from Samford University after his sophomore year, he moved into the fine dining kitchen of Jubilee and decided to change course.

"When I went back to school to start my junior year, I changed my degree from sports medicine to nutrition. I started asking all my friends what the best restaurants in Birmingham were. Everyone mentioned Frank Stitt in one way or another and I went and knocked on the back door at Bodega and applied to be a cook. I got a job that fall cooking at Bodega Café and spent a total of six years with Frank Stitt working in all his restaurants. I worked my way up from pizza cook in the café to chef de cuisine at Highlands Bar & Grill," Briscione said.

Stitt and his many restaurants have been nominated for nine outstanding restaurant James Beard Awards and won once in 2018. The national recognition led to invitations. Briscione accompanied Stitt on many occasions where he had the opportunity to cook in some of the top New York City kitchens and make connections.

When Briscione decided it was time to leave Birmingham and join his future wife Brooke Parkhurst in New York City he emailed Daniel Boulud directly to seek a position. He worked in the four-star fine dining kitchen of Daniel for a year and a half before being offered a position teaching at the Institute of Culinary Education where he taught for 10 years.

The teaching life gave Briscione a chance to work on other projects. He and Parkhurst wrote a couple of cookbooks and got involved with Food Network. Briscione has appeared on the competition show "Chopped" as a competitor five times and as a judge once. He also has digital cooking classes and a seven-episode digital cooking show "Cooking with Dad" on the Food Network app.

"We love New York and love to go back and visit but with two kids we knew New York was not forever," Briscione said. "We knew we wanted something a little bit different for the kids, for ourselves and to have space more than anything else."

He said he always envisioned getting back to the Gulf Coast, though he did not always think Pensacola would be the place they would land. The amazing development happening in downtown, and a perfect opportunity drew him back to his hometown.

Angelena's Ristorante Italiano is part of Great Southern Restaurants Company which owns some of Pensacola's iconic restaurants: The Fish House, Atlas Oyster House, Jackson's Steakhouse and 5 Sisters Blues Café. The beautiful restaurant located at 101 East Intendencia Street has fine dining touches without being stuffy.

"We wanted to have all those fine dining touches but make it a place that is comfortable for any occasion. There is good music playing, energy and kids can come in," Briscione said.

All the pasta, from the rigatoni and bucatini to the ravioli are made in-house every day. The menu features things you expect like chicken parmesan and pizza to dishes highlighting local ingredients like Gulf Seafood All'Amatriciana.

"We are always looking to take our great local ingredients and products and put Italian touches on them or transform them into something that is classically Italian like the crawfish tortellini. We want people to walk away with the appreciation of that experience and understanding of how it all came together and why," Briscione said.