The story and the cuisine of the Abbruzzinos

We’ve lately written about some of the most significant generational passages: Moroni (here and here), Rizzo (here), Cerea (here and here), Colleoni (here), Franceschini (here)… None of these, however, resembles that of the Abbruzzinos, which is unique. This is one of the reasons why they got the Young Family of the year award from our Guida Identità Golose 2017: because their story is truly very different from the others, much shorter than the above mentioned ones. [For the record, they follow Santini, winners in 2011, Colleoni, 2012, Tinari, 2013, Spadone, 2014, the above mentioned Rizzo, 2015, and Uliassi, last year’s victors).

«In Italy people often find it hard to pass the baton to the younger generations: there’s always a good reason to postpone – said Paolo Marchi from the stage – They’re inexperienced, they say». So they remain in the shadow, they don’t handle responsibility and are condemned to endure their supposed inexperience. Yet mum and dad Rosetta and Antonio, the faces of two passionate, real people, chose to step aside when they could have lingered some more. By doing so, not only did they confirm their genuine character, they also proved their intelligence.

For eight years now the Abbruzzinos have been running their restaurant in Catanzaro Lido, half this time with dad Antonio in the kitchen. The quick change of responsibility, in 2012, was propitiated by something even mum Rosetta, a lovely dining room woman, found clear: young Luca, born in 1989, 23 at the time, not only had (and has) a crystal clear talent, but he was also precocious and anxious to do more. Yet he also had the serious attitude of the good son with his head on the shoulders, someone who deserves trust, we add. «Given his kindness – his father added in this article by Gabriele Zanatta – I thought he’d prefer to stay in the dining room. But he’s so passionate about cooking that I stepped aside, leaving him my place».

He’s always shown this passion and he gradually built his technical skills too (thanks to Gennaro Esposito, Enrico Crippa, Mauro Uliassi, Pier Giorgio Parini) which he added to his personal sensitivity, capable of going beyond any territorial boundaries: «Food is everything. The rest has no importance».

So food has the very main role: and the chef is thus free to experiment without neglecting local produce but making use of its excellence (in terms of freshness, seasonality) with an open mind. He calls it “Local Fine Dining”, that is to say local products are blended with wider fine dining logic removing preclusions: bergamot is followed by fermented blackberries, and acidity – on which grandmothers were hardly keen – often appears in totally contemporary recipes. He explains: «I believe valorising the territory is about unearthing and working with its real pearls, not with traditional recipes. It would be an unpardonable limit»

This attitude not to be imprisoned by what surrounds him is also mirrored in the restaurant itself, which is being fully renovated, so it’s currently closed. They aim to open before Christmas. The changes are in line with Luca’s choices, that is to say looking ahead: no more fireplace, cement instead of stone walls, a testimony of a break with the past. And then wooden floors, lights shining directly on the table. Calabria is all around, but at the Abbruzzinos’ restaurant it is only in the dish.

And the food! The cooking is free of preconceptions. He might use local catch in a recipe (say mackerel), but with an oriental approach to marinating, and then add mozzarella which, following the same parallel, takes the place of tofu, and soak all this with a broth made with the same mackerel, but using a sort of katsuobushi made with dried and salted fishbone.

Finding so much awareness and soundness in terms of flavours is rare in a young man of 27. But then when you ask him what is his product of the future, on what he’s researching, he doesn’t reply with some weird seaweed, or exotic plant, or a Presidium for few. Instead he says: «A rib-steak eye». And then, despite being so young, he already has a classic, delicious and made with the above mentioned meat: the impossible to match Manzo 65 giorni with sea anemone sauce, «there’s the essence of Calabria in here». Not being from Calabria, what I do find is the essence of flavour.

In the photo gallery, all the dishes tasted during a recent dinner, shortly before the renovations began. Photos by Tanio Liotta.