Felice Sgarra

Felice Sgarra is Apulian, born in Andria on the 6th February. I mention this because on Sunday February 5th he will be among the speakers in Milan during Identità Vent’anni, the day dedicated to chefs not yet 30. He will celebrate his 30th birthday the following day, thus being still 29 for a handful of hours, no more. The same applies, of course, to his twin brother, Riccardo, sommelier at Massimo Camia's Locanda del Borgo Antico in Barolo, Piedmont. And then there's Roberto, the youngest brother, born in 1988, who's cutting his teeth between the dining room and the cellar of his chef-brother's restaurant Umami in Andria, a place opened on February 11th 2011, a project still in swaddling clothes that, come next spring, will be enriched by an extraordinary kitchen garden, 500 square metres called Orto à porter, with vegetables ready for splendid use in the kitchen.

Felice has studied in the restaurant and hotel studies' institute of Roccaraso, in Abruzzo, his classmate being William Zonfa now restaurant manager at the starred Magione Papale in L’Aquila. The two, however, worked side by side for a long time, always in this town hit by the earthquake in 2009, in the kitchen of Vinalia. Andria is a town surrounded by a sea of oil, of the Coratina variety, to be precise, with a strong culinary tradition, common to a large part of the region, and the Adriatic sea, over the horizon. Sgarra's cuisine abounds in colour, every dish shines and stands out for its richness. His dishes have plenty of passion and ingredients, to highlight their deliciousness to their highest. His cuisine is innovative and has the constant urge to renew certain proposals and formulas, following vocation and the desire for originality, in comparison with the many places that look all alike.

There's no betrayal, there can't be any doubt that Umami and Sgarra are in Apulia. The Burrata di Andria with red oyster, for instance, is totally Apulian, only we're not accustomed to seeing them in the same plate. An important detail: Felice also knows how to make fine desserts – as a chef, he knows how to go beyond the savoury in a restaurant