The opening of the Open Column in the center of Milan it is news because Antonello Colonna it's something more than a famous Roman chef. It is enough to read a definition of his site: "Maniac of art and architecture, Roman of soul and origin, he has made of the link with the territory his strong point". Indeed, its refined and original Resort & Spa – complete with a farm – located in the heart of the Roman hills, immersed in the natural park of Labìco. When he opened it, in 2012, it was a return to the origins as his brilliant career – complete with a Michelin star for two venues – began in 1985 in a family-run restaurant in Labìco, which he quickly brought to the top of the restaurant business before Lazio and then national. A place where you entered by a red door, which later became the symbol of that traditional-home cooking that Colonna has exalted over time, not only in the Capital.

In the center of Milan

That is why it is natural to ask (and ask) how it ended up just a few meters from piazza Cordusio, abandoning his beloved Rome after closing – 12 years after the opening – the Open Column in the roof garden of the Palazzo delle Esposizioni, the first example of a large restaurant within an Italian museum structure. "Since I was very young I often come to Milan, I never left it, I felt this international smell of a refined city, of style. A year ago, cooking for the opening of the Identità Golose Hub, I saw that they appreciated me here. And I could not resist the temptation to open here. When the opportunity presented itself, I seized it ". And he focused on a young team: the director Simone Dimitri, already seen by Trussardi and da Seta, the chef Alessio Sebastiani, who knows how to interpret the thought-column and Emanuele Sala, partner of Colonna and Dimitri, who is in charge of communication.

It is also a bar and bistro

The restaurant is in a newly renovated building, the entrance is in via Bassano Porrone, at number 8: the historic external walls have remained, while the interior is completely redesigned in a modern key. The restaurant, which also functions as a bar and bistro, with the non-stop kitchen open from 12 to 22, overlooking an inner courtyard, very quiet and where some tables have been placed to be used since it will not be cold. The environment is pleasant, the wines, lined up in a modern open cellar, are chosen in an unconventional paper. Given the extended time, mixology cannot be missed, entrusted to Mattia Battistelli in close collaboration with May, a cocktail-bar beloved by the Milanese. The menu includes about twenty dishes and a tasting menu with its classics. For the rest there are carbonara and lamb, mint tripe and pecorino cheese, the mythical cheese and pepper and the right homage to Milan, starting from the risotto and the cutlet that caught our attention. Too easy in his case to hit an amatriciana …

The cutlet recipe

And here we are at the preparation. We start from 250 grams of uncooked veal ("Italiana, matured by us for 7 days to facilitate the loss of water and make the meat more tender during cooking", explains the chef), which is breaded twice: the first with egg and bread, the second with eggs and bread panko. It is fried in clarified butter – with poached shallots and thyme – four minutes per side, continuously sprinkling with butter. Before serving, it is left to rest for 3 minutes at a temperature of 85º. The dish is completed by about 250 grams of potatoes cut into wedges and fried in clarified butter, a very classic Bernese sauce and the veal bottom which is enriched with lemon juice, to replace the habit of many who require the lemon to season the cutlet. A beautiful provocation, Colonna … «No, I don't want to teach anyone anything. Arrival in Milan on tiptoe, I can't care less about it of gourmet or contemporary dishes: I just want to make a good cuisine. And I am not proud of anything, for heaven's sake. But my schnitzel is not bad. And do you know why? It is the classic, Milanese, immortal … .

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