In November, he entered the Olympus of restaurant business, bringing the number of Italian three-starred up to ten. But his eyes are focused only on the kitchen and on his wife. Without her, many successes wouldn’t have arrived: “When you cook for the person you love, everything is different”
Artistic vein dorms in his heart: if he could reborn, he would be a musician. Word of Mauro Uliassi, from November the tenth three-star Michelin’s restaurant of Italy.
Electric, electrifying, in short, full of energy. It seems that the normal twenty-four hours of the day are not enough for the chef of Senigallia. Uliassi is in love with his work but much more with his wife Chantal, among the brightest stars of his firmament. In the kitchen ever since, the chef began to collect successes only from the definition of this relationship because “let’s be clear: when you cook for the person you love, everything is different”. Coming from two different gourmet schools, Gualtiero Marchese and Ferran Adrià, his cuisine is an exact mix of tradition, experimentation and simplicity. As “something that happens by itself and requires a large superstructure of knowledge”.
Uliassi’s style is unmistakable: white and minimal furnishing, piano notes that echo in the background. Elegance and refinement that exude from every space. Small clues, hidden here and there, which break the tranquillity of white. Symbols of an eclectic and dynamic property owner. The show ends on the balcony where the chef touches “the sea with his hands” and serves it at the table, without renouncing to the flavours of the earth. Uliassi’s concept of cooking acts like a trapeze artist between water and land, and has great power: “it makes people happy”.
Was all this enough to convince the Michelin inspectors?
“I have no idea – Uliassi tells us – we only tried to do our best, but it is up to them to make considerations. If the Red guide decided to reward us, it means that the level we thought we had achieved, we really conquered it”. A result awaited and dreamt for years. Perhaps more than necessary, if it is true that even Uliassi didn’t believe it until the last moment: “The public shouted my name – smiles the chef – but until I saw it on the big screen I didn’t want to believe it. Even last year I was among the eligible and then nothing happened. Needless to say, we are very happy, exuberant with happiness. I hope that all this will lead us to collect other successes, other happy situations”.
An eternally young chef, who does not like the show-cooking infatuation proposed by the TV today and who advises beginner chefs to “recognize their talent: each of us is full of it! It is important to discover it because, from then on, the passion is born”.
The same that binds Mauro to Chantal. The same that allows us to appreciate their extra-ordinary dishes.
