When the meat grill enters gourmet restaurants
You always imagine me at a starred table, drinking great Barolos, alternating with Champagne. But you can’t imagine how much you appreciate even a simple grilled meat. In that case (but only for this reason), I put down my bespoke striped jacket and untie my tie. And I delight with friends to fire the embers. The smell of the slightly charred meat drives me crazy. That’s why when I find this beautiful combination on the tables of starred restaurants, between a typically pop dish in an “elitist” environment, I melt. An example? In the Marche, chef Errico Recanati has made the spit gourmet, elevating it with his Michelin star. He has the fire inside. He was born and raised alongside it, together with the sweet company of his grandmother Andreina, since 1959 next to the embers. Here are delicious dishes that are unforgettable: from its Cacio and 7 peppers with a slightly smoky flavor to Scampo with meat bottarga, mango and sour butter, finally L’Ostrica that gives itself to embers, which changes its version depending on the season. Luca Brasi has titled his restaurant “restaurant with butcher with hotel”: it is his Braseria in Osio Sotto, in the Bergamo area. Here is another chef who has elevated the embers to a star: in 2000 he joined the Jeunes Restaurateurs d ’Europe, and in 2002 he received the Michelin star. In 2004 he opened Ol fa, an experience in the café-pastry shop with a kitchen that touches upon the new stimuli dictated in 2008 by the move to the newborn Devero Hotel in Cavenago Brianza. And so after Bermuda, the Maldives, the French Riviera, the Amalfi Coast, Courmayeur and Cortina, Luca Brasi returns home with his “world tour of fine beef”, a surprise 5-course menu with paired wine or “everything wagyu ”with 6 courses. Unforgettable his 100% wagyu tartare with mustard grains and fried cracklings or the homemade Orecchiette with 100% wagyu ragù. Another meat master is Sergio Motta, the first high-end butcher who has now also opened a restaurant in Bellinzago Lombardo, a few kilometers from Milan. For those wishing to visit the butcher’s shop, the perfect town is Inzago, along the Martesana. Motta buys and raises its garments in the areas of Asti, Alba and in the Langhe area: its aging is excellent since the times considered by the most “impossible”. Other highlights to try at the restaurant are the bresaola, offered in two different seasonings, the great raw ham aged over 36 months, the baked ham (salted in the vein). But also abroad, embers have taken over in the Michelin world: this is the case of Ekstedt of Stockholm, a starred chef specialized in cooking over high heat; Marble in Johannesburg with chef David Higgs or Marta in New York, who blends the all-Italian tradition of charcoal with New York style or even with Francis Mallmann, who are his restaurant and the most famous chef in Argentina for charcoal. In Italy I cannot fail to mention the Grille di Varrone where the two clubs in Lucca and Milan offer a selection of the best grilled in Italy or the luxury steakhouse with a New York taste in the heart of Milan: it is STK inside the Me Milan Il Duca from the Melia group: the toppings and side dishes such as potatoes, truffles and parmesan are also excellent.
