31-08-2016
Italo Bassi with Masaki Inoguchi, a great master in the art of sushi, and young and talented Ivan Bombieri. The two cooks joined him in his adventure at Confusion in Verona. The chef, previously at Pinchiorri, opened in Porto Cervo too and will soon arrive in Rome, as he tells Identità Golose
“Confusion Lounge is an exclusive concept in which excellent cuisine blends with an elegant and luxurious setting. Food and design, elegance and extravagance. Confusion represents the Wine-Gastro-Hedonism philosophy in the best possible way”. Put it this way, gourmands are caught a little off-guard: what has got to Italo Bassi’s mind? When you get to Verona, to his Confusion Lounge, you’re even more puzzled: the decor and design – overseen by his wife, the very cordial Tatjana Rozenfeld (an interior designer by trade, and the maker of fabulous cocktails) – are so “rich”, fanciful, almost over-the-top, they look like they’re meant for trendy VIPs rather than real food lovers. When you find out that Bassi opened in Porto Cervo too, suspicion becomes damning evidence.
Not true. In fact, the author of this piece includes Bassi’s place in Verona among the best ten meals of the year. Indeed, it was the very best lunch. Style, technique, elegance, ingredients: there’s everything. Plenty of seafood, excellent raw materials, Baroque and elegant aesthetics, oriental inspiration … Lightness, harmony, taste: A+.
Dawn at Confusion in Porto Cervo
One step back. Italo Bassi, born in 1969, has a lively and authentic personality. The kind you’d expect from someone from Romagna – he’s from Fusignano, which is also Arrigo Sacchi’s hometown – who then spent a long time in a refined place such as Enoteca Pinchiorri, since 1989. This came after experiencing, still very young, the atmosphere of that incredible lab of ideas that was Igles Corelli’s Trigabolo. He later flew to Tokyo to follow the Japanese adventure of the tri-starred restaurant from Florence. Then when in 1993 Carlo Cracco left Via Ghibellina to rush to Marchesi’s court, patron Giorgio called Italo back to Florence. In between, the devastating fire, the following loss of the third star, which was conquered back with credit ten years later, in 2004.
Two of the many extraordinary dishes we tasted at Confusion in Verona
If you listen to him speaking, it almost looks as if lately Pinchiorri had choked his creativity… We ask him, this is his reply: «Today I have more freedom, of course. Enoteca is an institution and we had to follow many commands. At Confusion instead I do as I wish: I like using local products but if an excellent product comes from France, or wherever, I use it. I have no issues with national borders. This said, bear in mind: Pinchiorri is a great place for cuisine. It has acquired an influential position over the years, and this was in part also thanks to me. But the moment arrived when I realised I could grow no longer. I needed new stimuli, I needed to challenge myself».
To the spiteful people who might think that while Enoteca without Bassi would nonetheless confirm its high standards, and Bassi on the contrary would struggle without Enoteca, he says laughing: «Come to Verona, at Confusion. Taste the food and let me know».
Meanwhile he added a – seasonal – place in Porto Cervo to the one in Verona. It was launched last 9th June, «The idea was born in two months, at the Salone del Mobile in Milan. We got this idea of creating such a beautiful place on the Costa Smeralda in such a short time and we made it. It’s a big satisfaction». The cuisine is similar to the one from the headquarters in Verona, but of course the products are Sardinian.
Italo Bassi at Identità Expo
For sure at Confusion in Porto Cervo lobsters are very popular («I must consider guests demands, and in Sardinia tourists often fancy lobsters, it’s a known fact»), yet Bassi also presents raw materials that are less predictable, «rockfish, tub garnard, mullet. And plenty of bluetailed fish: mackerel, anchovies, sardines. And herbs that are born close to the waves, like salicornia. I also serve many anemones, and fantastic sea truffle, mussels. The ones I find here are the best in the world».
Finally, having already mentioned Rome, any more projects? «I was asked to create a line of high-end products to be exported to the United States». More work in progress.
An outdoor trip or a journey to the other side of the planet? One thing is for sure: the destination is delicious, by Carlo Passera
by
journalist born in 1974, for many years he has covered politics, mostly, and food in his free time. Today he does exactly the opposite and this makes him very happy. As soon as he can, he dives into travels and good food. Identità Golose's editor in chief