It’s the good side of an economic crisis. When it’s too easy to make money, the brain stops working; when times are hard, on the contrary, you need to work hard, first of all by using your intelligence, creating new ideas. And in Milan there’s a huge amount of novelties: openings, innovative offers, foreseen doublings… The 2013 brood seems promising, with chefs keeping up with the times, knowing how to cook and make a revenue. Sometimes, they already deserve an applause. Two are the main trends: on one side, there’s signature cuisine; on the other, there’s often also a link with celebrated chefs, certified bistronomies that already have a more easy, young and lively approach.
Carlo Cracco doubles with Cracco a Palazzo and Andrea Berton, ready in a few weeks in Porta Nuova (photo blog.sandralonginotti.it)
Among the gods on Mount Olympus, it is impossible not to start this list but with
Carlo Cracco and
Andrea Berton. The former has just lost
Matteo Baronetto in Via Hugo, but this hasn’t led him to abandon
Cracco a Palazzo, where the palace in question is
Palazzo Parigi, a new five-star-hotel in Milan’s centre; in the kitchen there’s
Diego Giglio with the task of not scaring the international and rich clientele crowding the hotel. While the chef from Vicenza doubles, the one from Friuli gets back on the stage – after
Trussardi – with his
Ristorante Berton Milano, which will open in a month and a half in the heart of the shiny Porta Nuova area. Not that he’s been resting in the meantime: together with his three partners (
Tiziano Vudafieri,
Giovanni Fiorin and
Diego Rigatti) he has inspired as many restaurants that are already being enjoyed by everyone. We’ll talk about it some other time.
Elio Sironi said goodbye to Bulgari in 2011 when he left for Costa Smeralda; he’s now back with Ceresio 7, which is the name and address of a restaurant linked to another trendy brand, namely Dsquared2: here there’s a (beautiful) dining room with dishes halfway between tradition and re-interpretation. Another new entry, Da noi in, on the ground floor of the brand new Magna Pars, five-star-ultra-fashion hotel in Via Tortona also hints at the fashion biz. In the kitchen there’s a guarantee of solidity thanks to Piedmontese Fulvio Siccardi, already starred at Le Clivie in Piobesi d’Alba, following Cracco, and then at Conti Roero.
Sandra Ciciriello and Viviana Varese, ready to move Alice at Eataly Milano (photo foodgeniusacademy)
Perhaps it wasn’t elegant to mention the only woman at the very end, but it is not a question of merit, quite the contrary. The fact is it is not yet understood when the
Oscar Farinetti’s great Milanese
Eataly will open inside the building of what used to be Teatro Smeraldo: apparently we still need to wait some weeks.
Viviana Varese will move here together with her partner
Sandra Ciciriello, with their restaurant
Alice and their baggage full of fish delicacies. A second floor with a large open view kitchen is ready for her. While right in front of that there will be... but we’ll say more about this tomorrow.
1. to be continued
