06-09-2017
Gennaro Di Pace (photo by Gabriele Tolisano)
Our nice dinner in the photos by Tanio Liotta. Starting with the appetizers: Wafers of rice from Sibari (black and whole rice) with ketchup and 'nduja
Buckwheat biscuits, blue cheese, salted nuts
Salted codfish croquettes
Hemp wafer, cucumbers, pecorino, kiwi and mackerel
Cow’s milk ricotta, tomato gel, vinegar, dehydrated and powdered black olives
Courgette roll with potatoes from Sila, egg yolk, mustard sauce, cream of blue cheese and anchovy and courgette flower
Tartare of Podolica, mustard mayonnaise, marjoram, fig molasses and toasted olive mousse
Seared octopus, cream of almonds, rocket salad water, wafer of potatoes from Sila with squid ink
Rabbit terrine, crispy pan brioche, onions from Tropea, reduced broth of licorice
Rice from Sibari, late orange from Trebisacce in powder and mousse, ginger, seared squid
Fusilloni di Gragnano cooked in pea water, cream of pecorino, powdered tomato and crispy peppers
Tongue of Podolica, pear fermented in vinegar, sour yogurt, lemon grass, red fruits
Peach sorbet with lime, vodka, cream of limoncello and mint meringue
Rice cooked in milk, candied citron, caramel wafer, gel of Moscato di Saracena, dehydrated hemp
Semifreddo with torrone di Bagnara Calabra, cream of lemon, caramelised and toasted almonds, powdered sweet pepper
You have to venture in the narrow alleys, what with winding staircases and backstreets, in the heart of the medieval village. A gourmet restaurant? Here? Are you sure? Saracena is indeed a special place, a spiritual one: oozing history and authenticity, with a vocation for hospitality and friendliness. It has discovered wine and food as its saving vocation to fight the growing depopulation and the structural job hunting difficulties. The famous Moscato Passito wine is surely the point of reference. The village has always shown this wine can attract people, especially in its deepest and most famous celebration connected with the festival dedicated to patron saint San Leone, celebrated in February and August; in the Saracena Wine Festival, in the little roads of the Arab-looking historic centre; in the events organised by networks of towns grouped in associations (Città dell’Olio, Città del vino).
Gennaro Di Pace, born in 1984, one of the Cooking Soon chefs who are revolutionising the image of Calabrian food decided to return here, and set his restaurant, against all odds. «Why open a gourmet restaurant here?» his partner in life and business Rossana Gallo asked him perhaps. Half Calabrian and half Apulian, she was born and raised in Bologna, in a completely different context: «What’s making us do this?». The answer must have been: pride, initiative, perhaps even a touch of madness. And a thought: «At night, there are more people in the streets in Saracena than Bologna», it’s a lively place that is. With courage, they overcame every hesitation: let’s begin.
Beautiful Saracena
There’s truth, at Osteria Porta del Vaglio: like the one that urges Di Pace to acknowledge his mother and grandmothers were his true masters, or to say his passion for cooking derives from the fact «they self-produced almost everything at home, they had hens for eggs, and pigs for cured meat, olive trees for oil, cattle… And then my aunt opened a restaurant in Germany. Something comes from there too».
Giuseppe Lamenza, dining room man, Rossana Gallo, Gennaro Di Pace and sous chef Cesare Grazioli (photo by Tanio Liotta)
A short summary, after the usual photo gallery with pictures by Tanio Liotta: the bread was excellent (delicious bread sticks with licorice, sesame and fennel and chilli pepper; rolls with milk, black olives, onions from Tropea, spinach-lemon-pink pepper – delicious – with semolina and whole wheat, baked in the wood oven with mother yeast).
In the restaurant, many works by artist Claudia Zicari
It is with meat, however, that Di Pace gives his best: the Tartare di Podolica, mayonnaise with mustard, marjoram, fig molasses and mousse of toasted olives was majestic. The Terrine of rabbit, crispy pan brioche, onion from Tropea, reduced broth of licorice (the rabbit is cooked in the same broth) was perfect (and so delicious!), the same goes for the Tongue of Podolica, pear fermented in vinegar, sour yogurt, lemon grass, red fruits.
Desserts were also very good, a passion of Di Pace’s: especially the Rice cooked in milk, candied cedar, caramel wafer, gel of Moscato di Saracena, dehydrated hemp.
So do go to Saracena. It’s worth the trip. Translated into English by Slawka G. Scarso
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