In Rome, there’s Spazio for Romito

Giovanna, the mum, is beaming: three lines of pearls, intertwined and a smile that shines even more: «My Niko always told me: “Mum, you must have faith”». Now he has this sentence engraved on a painting, prominently hanging at Reale in Castel di Sangro. Here, however, we’re in the Roman location of Eataly and there’s also owner Oscar Farinetti dispensing smiles, which he pulls out with a pride that is highly justified: «Stazione Ostiense was a lost place. Today it gives work to 532 young people». This number is soon to be updated: today a new restaurant opens on the third floor of what used to be the scandal-building of Italia ’90 and was then turned into a temple of food. Signing the dishes, there’s the person whom Farinetti himself defines as «one of the coolest chefs, in fact the coolest one, together with Massimo Bottura» (who, it is no coincidence, a few months ago launched the kitchen inside Eataly Istanbul, «with an incredible success»): that is to say Niko Romito.

Spazio is the name of the new gourmet place in the capital: like its other two little brothers already born in Rivisondoli, in the headquarters of Reale before it moved, and in the island of Salina, they are all children of Romito and of the school that is in the building next door to today’s Reale («They are only separated by a door»): because it is run by the old students of the school and this is where the last months of internship of the students take place. Niko Romito Formazione was born in 2011, the “pilot” Spazio in Rivisondoli soon afterwards – a success, straight away. Now there’s Rome, «and it will go brilliantly», Farinetti foresees, looking ahead: «We will open the next one in an Eataly store abroad».

For now we must settle with reserving a place here: seating around seventy people, with renovated tables and venetian lamps, with a non-postcard view of Rome; a team of 12 people guided by Gaia Giordano, 42, from Rome, and Federico Campolattaro, 30, from Caserta; open six days a week (closed on Wednesdays) for lunch and supper. It will the first “metropolitan” place for Romito. Any special trick?, we ask. No, «the format can work everywhere. Only one warning: we needed a suitable service that would suit a more wide and expert audience, so I entrusted two dining room professionals», thanks to the help of Enrico Camelio, who is the “restaurant manager” teacher. It will not affect the prices, which are reasonable, between 40 and 45 euros excluding wine, because this will be a “call bird” restaurant: «Spazio aims at those people who are afraid to approach fine dining. I see there’s a larger gap with the average restaurant, contrary to what happens in France. So we want to invert this trend». The other negative difference compared to the French cousins: «We’re behind in terms of narrative capacities», Farinetti complains. The solution: it will be the chefs themselves who will bring the dish to the table, explaining it to the guest.

They will thus have the task of illustrating «complex yet not confused» dishes: Fettuccine with turnip greens and clams; Artichoke soup with celery and apples; Chicken with potatoes and artichokes, «though the chicken is incredibly delicious, you memorise it as a primordial flavour – Romito rejoices– We removed the skin which we then reconstructed together with a potato centrifuge juice»; Steamed turbot with mayonnaise and olives («The mayonnaise is made with the natural fat from the turbot skin»). This is one of the innovations: «We will put very few (*) symbols to indicate not frozen products but products with no added fat, only the natural one». In other words, this is a «young, popular, sustainable, democratic, educated» cuisine, ends Niko. His mother Giovanna is the first to toast.