15-06-2016
We’ve visited D'O on the first day of activity in the new location. We asked Davide Oldani a few questions. He replied in this interview you can view above. Here are some thoughts based on this...
You just go round the corner, yet it’s like taking a big leap ahead. It’s as though by jumping in a definite and local spatial dimension, stubbornly connected with a confined territory – that of San Pietro all’Olmo, a hamlet of Cornaredo. It is close to Milan yet it projects you much further from the metropolis than what the odometer indicates – the temporal dynamics were suddenly overturned. Davide Oldani made us accustomed to think in projects, ideas and their making, not only always looking ahead, but anticipating trends.
This is what happened with cucina pop, a registered brand defining that signature bistronomy that started from the outskirts of Milan and then rapidly spread a bit everywhere around the world, often without any acknowledgement of the Oldanian origins. It’s what happened with the choice of including design in cooking, with the creation of branded tasting tools. And so on.
This updated and edited version of D’O in 14, Piazza della Chiesa it’s not only much larger (five times as big), more beautiful, welcoming and elegant than the previous one. It also represents a sort of “promise of growth” which can already be found in the food but will be more and more concrete in the next few months, let’s say as of September, after the summer holidays.
Put it simply: Oldani is ready for a change of category. Not that he wasn’t already famous, praised and established: congress organisers invite him, critics think highly of him. He is one of the big names in the Italian restaurant scene. And then (then?) there’s the people, who have been queuing all these years to find a table at D’O. That is to say the chef created the economic foundations for the next project, while very often fine dining lacks these sound foundations.
Battuta d'inizio [First hit] one of the chef’s new dishes: he’s still working on this, but it’s already splendid. It promises to become a signature dish. Goat ricotta mousse enclosed in a ball of cocoa butter and powdered saffron with a small field of sprouted teff and apple and pear chutney beside it
Dama [draughts]: a chessboard with raisin sauce and caramelised apple chocolates
The chef humbly limited himself to an unsuitable, narrow and airless kitchen. He would push an old Fiat 500 to the maximum: it was cute, reassuring, yet limited. He’s now conquered a Ferrari: we already know he knows how to use it, so he’ll quickly roar by. There’s no doubt.
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