De Feo, there’s love in the winebar

His passion for food began when he was a child, while he watched his uncle cooking for the whole family, at the weekend, «he cooked as a hobby, he certainly wasn’t a professional. I watched him as he prepared scallops, I observed his gestures, to me it was like magic... I wanted to learn myself ». So he attended catering school in Recoaro. Then came some ups and downs: 33 year old Giulio Grotto, from Schio, in Veneto, after Dolada (both on Alpago and in London), he worked for a long time in Japan and beyond, and then arrived at Enoteca De Feo (Romano De Feo is Antonia Klugmann’s partner but he sold this business, even though the name stayed, Editor’s note) in Cividale del Friuli in December 2012, tel. +39.0432.701425, with the idea of staying here only a few months, «I had had a few disappointing experience, I really wanted a career change. I wanted to import Japanese knives».

Something unforeseeable happened (or perhaps it was already written in the plot of destiny): in the splendid town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Grotto’s passion came back and now he’s running the kitchen in Cividale, and when we ask him how he would define his style he says: «My cuisine is now a cuisine of love. Love for this magnificent and tiring profession: I was losing my interest, luckily it came back». Good for us as we can now taste – together with some fantastic selections of cured meat and cheese (D’Osvaldo, Bagatto, Jolanda de Colò, to name a few, on top of some small local producers) – a reviewed territory, made lighter with intelligence (as in the case of the Warm frico with courgettes, with the various ingredients separated and stratified in a Martini glass), but also dishes with a wider inspiration.

Of course there’s still work to be done, the results, however, seem to be all there: for instance there’s a delicious and balanced Lamb tagliata with the aroma of cherry smoke (Grotto orders the chips from his beloved Japan) with an aubergine and courgette millefoglie, a fine demonstration of his technique and skill in mixing the aromas harmoniously. It is also a proof that the double approach works («sometimes I look for classic, sometimes for fusion pairings»), opening the horizons is good for the creativity of the chef from Schio, and his spotlights today are set on Friuli, the region hosting him: «I want to understand the essence of this cuisine, with the aid of some great masters such as Emanuele Scarello and Raffaello Mazzolini».

Networking, on the other hand, is bringing luck to an area which, over a few kilometres, can already boast many restaurants of the highest quality: besides Scarello’s Agli Amici, in Udine, and Enoteca De Feo, there’s also Joe Bastianich’s first restaurant in Italy, Orsone, also in Cividale, then the talented Ana Roš just on the other side of the border, at Hiša Franko in Kobarid (Caporetto), Klugmann’s new restaurant in Dolegna del Collio is really close by (L’Argine, in the hamlet of Vencò will open at the end of October), not to mention Joško Sirk’stimelessSubida in Cormons…