Argentine by birth with a little Italian blood in his veins (his great-grandparents were from the Marches) Mariano Guardianelli studied economics in Cordoba before choosing the way of cooking, then attending the cooking school. After all, in a restaurant measuring, combining, reaching a point of equilibrium, balancing budgets and calibrating stocks (pantry and cellar, rather than warehouse) matters a lot. And he knows how to do it really well. In the restaurant he opened in Rimini with his life and professional partner Camilla Corbelli, he also plays a lot on the economy of the encounter between distant but synergistic ingredients. And it wins hands down, so much so that in just 5 years from the opening it took over Michelin star (2019). He and Camilla met a Valencia in the kitchens of famous Ca 'Sento during the years of his training as a chef around Europe. When it came to choosing where to set up her home and shop, Rimini doc with two generations of restaurateurs behind him, he decided to go back to basics. They called the place Abocar Two Kitchens, that is to “bring together” the two gastronomic styles. So that's what they do from the menu peeping aromatic herbs of the Sierras de Córdoba and syncretic dishes like celeriac, coconut and passion fruit; roasted cauliflower, black mole and cashew; sole, truffle and parsnip. In the dish that we propose, then, Mariano rediscovers the traditional cooking techniques of the mother land, marrying them with local products, in this case the fresh mascarpone from a nearby manufacturer. Among the classic proposals of Guardianelli, then, there are tapioca chips with shallot and soy mayonnaise, leavened with guava jam, but also many recipes based on blackberry from Romagna, fish from the Adriatic, mushrooms and vegetables at 0 km. The goal is to choose the best and use every part of it (such as pumpkin skins): for a creative and anti-waste cuisine.

The restaurant

The Guardianelli restaurant is in historic center of Rimini. Mariano in the kitchen and Camilla in the dining room, with five other colleagues who make up the restaurant team for 25-30 seats, accompany the guests on a tasty journey. The atmosphere is relaxed: wooden tables, crocheted placemats, "fishing rod" lamps that hang from the ceiling evoking the sea and overlooking the internal garden (abocarduecucine.it).

Curiosity and joy

One of the things that chef Mariano Guardianelli likes most is being among the people, exchanging information or advice and sharing emotions. For him alone you don't go anywhere or, at least, it's not stimulating. And in Jre he immediately found the right atmosphere, made of solidarity and the desire to always learn new things, even if he never really met his colleagues. Having joined the association in 2020, in fact, meeting (for example at the annual Jre congress) was not possible due to restrictions. But thanks to his empathic temperament, distancing did not create distance. Rather.

JRE Italy