Davide Oldani

The “pop cuisine” of Davide Oldani comes from far off. At the moment, it is the winning-post of a project developed along an educational and professional way that perhaps no other Italian contemporary chef had the opportunity to follow. I remember that I knew first the name of Davide, and then his face: maybe at the beginning of the Nineties Alain Ducasse talked of him to me («c’est bien ce jeune cuisinier italien, tu connais?»), hit by the personality and determination of that boy he had with him in the kitchens at the Louis XV. Then I met him and started following him. I immediately thought that he wasn’t simply a talented chef but also a hombre vertical. Two super masters, Marchesi and Ducasse (with whom he has really worked not simply for a stage to be mentioned in the resumé), intense and constructive experiences among via Bonvesin de la Riva, Montecarlo, New York City, Tokyo, Naples, Paris, the broken dream of Giannino, the conception, opening and success, announced but not taken for granted of the D’O.

Together with the discovery that «that handsome big boy» not only is able to cook but can also think, speak, brilliantly manage his business and plan new developments for it, can be the coach-player of a team of young skilled and motivated professionals, is able to communicate and present products and technologies …. If it is true that we go to San Pietro all’Olmo to eat the caramelized onion or the lung pavé, it is really a pleasure – at least to those who don’t go to the restaurant only for food – to know and understand who and what is behind and inside this or that dish. And what is it? As said, besides a real cook, a honest and resolute man who always knows where he is and where he wants to arrive, a structure and a work organization of an unthinkable rigor in such a small business, the cult and practice of total quality, the respect and involvement of the people who, together, make the project and the group winning. Simply onions?