In seven years, the Camanini brothers have made a beautiful place one of the meccas of gourmets all over the world: the 15th place in the most important ranking is only a consecration. An Italian story, simple and incredible. To tell
Now all to say that it was taken for granted after 2019, when Lido 84 was awarded with the Miele One To Watch Award 2019, recognition that highlights the rising stars of the kitchen, making it enter the 78th place of the The World's 50 Best Restaurants. Yesterday, the consecration: the restaurant Lido 84 of Gardone Riviera rose to 15th place with a prodigious leap – which also earned him theHighest New Entry Award – in the most prestigious ranking on the planet. Just to understand each other, the Osteria Francescana is out of the question – because Massimo Bottura is in the Hall of Fame – the Camanini brothers' restaurant has become the best in Italy. In an edition like the one in Antwerp where we did well in general: the Reale by Niko Romito jumps from the 51st to the 29th of this year, Le Calandre by Massimiliano Alajmo climbs five positions, from 31st to 26th, while Piazza Duomo by Enrico Crippa passes from 29th to 18th. But the cover is all for the Camanini brothers, sons of the Iseo adopted by the Brescia Garda: the chef Riccardo and the man of the dining room Giancarlo.
Pupil of Marchesi
When they opened in 2014, recovering the restaurant of the old bathhouse on the lake – Lido 84 in fact – it was the classic bet on the future. It is true that at 19 Riccardo was at the Albereta with Gualtiero Marchesi ("The teacher who guided my career" he always remembers) and the education continued between France and England, but no one would have thought that the ex-young man who came out of Villa Fiordaliso for fifteen years, Michelin starred with specialization in banquets, he would become one of the top twenty chefs in the world. Especially since the place was sober to say the least, with the dishes of the old restaurant and six employees in addition to the cook and his brother Giancarlo who to follow the adventure gave up a safe job as manager of the Fondital di Vobarno: he became so good at manage the room (and not only) which in 2017 was awarded by Gambero Rosso as number one in Italy. He took us, since at the end of 2014, Lido 84 was already Michelin star: it still is, incredibly. But we doubt that the next lap will not become two: it would be grotesque.
The Camanini Method
The awards – many, in Italy and abroad – and the evaluations of the guides please the Camanini. But less than the system they have developed, the work they ensure. Now the brigade has exceeded twenty units, all hired for an indefinite period, with holidays, permits and contributions. “Obviously with board and lodging at our expense. It is truly the result that makes us most proud, since we started with the goal of being completely sustainable without external help, which made everything slower and more difficult. I do not forget that Giancarlo and I did not earn a salary for two seasons says the chef. On the other hand, a Camanini method which briefly is based on the responsibility of individuals – in every aspect, not only related to the specific role – which starts from the creation of individual projects at the beginning of the season up to the reading of the books recommended by the brothers. Seen from the outside, Lido 84 looks like a cross between a convent (serene, not gloomy) and a social center (apparently chaotic but far from anarchic) as we were the first to define.
Iconic dishes
Season after season, slowly but surely, everything that does not concern cooking has changed its face. The internal room is filled with design objects, the dehors is characterized by a large counter that helps the service, the mise en place is well cared for without exercises in style, the paper is hand-printed … Lido 84, also and above all for frequenting with the world of The World's 50 Best Restaurants, he found the right mood to end up where he ended up. Of course, those who work there are all Italians and Gardone Riviera remains a beautiful town on Lake Garda, which has always been loved by foreigners: but especially in the 'holes' of the pandemic and its reopening, there is a feeling of being in the world. For customers and for the kitchen, always in positive tension and with a whirlwind of recipes perhaps unique in Italy: we are close to 400 recipes, all set up in the database, from the day of opening. Some already iconic such as the Spaghettone with butter and brewer's yeast that bewitched Ducasse and is part of the menu of the restaurant inside the MoMa in San Francisco, the one that replicates the most famous dishes of international top chefs. Or the Cacio e Pepe in the bladder which confirms Riccardo's passion for the past and culture in general. The sequence of ideas, flavors and combinations has few rivals on the market. There is no culinary technique that is excluded.
Continuity
Silent genius (he practically disappeared in the hard times of the pandemic, dedicating himself to reading and testing in the kitchen), the chef Camanini will hardly lose his way even after the great result in Antwerp. "We had sensed that we could be in the top 50, but we weren't hoping for much: such a high position will make us continue to work with the responsibility we have in representing Italy – he said – the '50 Best 'is a tool for dialogue between cuisines from all over the world and we will try to best represent our country, our micro cultures, our wealth, the province, mothers, homes ". He's not wrong: recently, we tasted one of the 2021 recipes that is Rice, caprifico and walnut husk. The second product is a wild fig from which Camanini obtains an oil for creaming. A technical and fantastic dish as it was in 2014 on Rice, stracchino and sardines: direct and simple homage to pure health care. Everything has changed since Lido 84, or maybe nothing has changed.
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