Six chefs, six moments of signature cuisine occurred yesterday at Eataly on the second day of the Roma food&wine festival on the last floor of that paradise of taste that has changed the appearance of a spot wedged between the railway tracks of Rome’s Stazione Ostiense and the blocks of houses in Garbatella. There’s nothing better than creating jobs to give answers to a neighbourhood that doesn’t shine as much as others.
Marianna Vitale, and her Baccalà cheese cake
And so here we are, among great wines and excellent food, plus the desserts by
Luca Montersino and
Gianluca Esposito, including a strudel by the latter which would have a well deserved place even in Trentino where, until a few decades ago, unless the pastry was an elastic veil, almost a bridal one, folded again and again around a filling of apples, raisins, cinnamon and pine nuts, everyone would boo – I don’t know if this is still the case. A pastry as thick as a bicycle tyre would not be tolerated. So well done
Gianluca.
There were three chefs at lunch time, and three for dinner in as many stations, with a continuous procession not only to get a dish and enjoy it, but also to take pictures at the chefs, at their assistants, at the various ingredients, at the final dish – of course – only to return later to praise their work but also to ask some questions and – why not – take a souvenir picture. Sitting at the table with me - very comfortably since nobody was overstaying and after finishing the dish everyone would start walking around, once again - where four elderly people who began to discuss whether Emanuele Scarello had fried or baked the chicken wing rolls. Well guessed: they were baked. The job of the chef from Friuli was a lengthy once since in Godia (Udine) he had stripped the flesh off 500 (five hundred) chicken wings in order to obtain 250 rolls served on a cream of Italian potatoes produced in Godia, with some coffee powder sprinkled on top. The chef’s recommendation? Eat the crispy rolls using your hands, and then use the spoon for the cream.
Emanuele Scarello's fagottino filled with chicken wings: the joy of eating with hands
A fork was necessary, instead, for the
Salted codfish cheesecake by
Marianna Vitale of
Sud Ristorante in Quarto (Naples), a dish which has always been part of her menu.
Marianna develops it vertically, in a cylinder shape that is placed on a chickpea cream and then is freed from its mould. Underneath, you can find the fennel seeds, while on top there’s an explosive ricotta cheese made with buffalo milk from Caserta, then the codfish and then again the aromas moving up to the lemon zest cut in very thin strips.
Then there was Heinz Beck of La Pergola, here in the capital, in Monte Mario, with a dish he conceived for this occasion and which will soon be part of his menu: Grilled tuna with veal jelly and herbs. A name which doesn’t say all since the persistence of the flavours began with a snow of tuna that froze the palate. Then, while the temperature gradually increased, so every flavour returned, until the palate was almost hot, in a continuous and effective play of hide and seek. His dish recalls the Far East, but has also the health and balance of the client in mind, since all the unnecessary calories are eliminated. It’s a question of matter, pureness, taste, and naturally a general complexity which, however, is not only visual, as everything had a very clean sensation in the mouth.
Davide Scabin and his Gnocco alla romanara, a surprising lasagna's semolina, carbonara style
And in the evening, here’s another chef from Rome, though not Roman, namely Neapolitan chef
Francesco Apreda of the
Imago restaurant at the
Hotel Hassler. With him
Davide Scabin of
Combal.zero in Rivoli, North of Torino, and
Marco Stabile of
L’Ora d’Aria in Florence. While
Marianna’s salted codfish represented the present, and so did
Emanuele’s chicken, while
Heinz created a veal with tuna sauce for the future, during the evening
Marco remained in the present with his veal in tuna sauce while
Apreda and
Scabin looked further, respectively with a
Couscous with Indian curry and the
Gnocchi alla romanara, a mix of Roman-style gnocchi and pasta carbonara.
And today, on Sunday, there will be six more chefs. At noon, Cristina Bowerman, Christian and Manuel Costardi, Alice Delcourt; at dinner time, Fabrizio Ferrari, Gennaro Esposito, as well as Luciano Monosilio, Alessandro Roscioli and Nabil Hadj Hassen to highlight the traditional pasta carbonara.
