Tag: dining

the perfect combination for dining with music – Italian Cuisine

Reopen the Blue Note and go back to dinner with music. And so to taste the "holy trinity" of Cajun cuisine, based on green peppers, onions and celery, you no longer need to fly to Louisiana. Just book in Milan

In New Orleans they call it the "holy trinity" of cooking: green peppers, onions and celery. Almost impossible not to find them in the typical Cajun dishes of Louisiana, a land of jazz and a history of great contamination. Here music and recipes have the same sound, the same story to tell, the same warmth: spicy and intoxicating. But if the United States is far away, the Blue Note of Milan it is in the heart of the Isola area and has been bringing the best of jazz and blues music to the city for years now. Now Cajun cuisine too.

Jazz and Cajun cuisine, the soul of New Orleans

Jazz was born in New Orleans and from slave labor songs it becomes itinerant music played in street brass bands, made to dance, to have fun, to escape, and only at the end does it end up in clubs and then recorded on records. It is the same story of Creole cuisine, born from the meeting of different cultures, origins and traditions that took place in these lands. A poor, robust cuisine, made with local ingredients, made inviting by spices and aromas from afar. Cajuns were the French colonists who emigrated from Canada to lower Louisiana at the end of the eighteenth century, bringing with them very particular culture, ingredients and recipes that are still recognizable today after three centuries and part of the tradition of those lands. The city takes its name from Orléans along the Loire, but is on the Mississippi River and is known for its French Quarter and Old European-inspired architecture. The cuisine also reflects centuries-old history: Cajun cuisine is a combination of French cuisine and tradition of the Southern United States in which smoked meat, spicy pork sausage and rice known as boudin or crayfish are cooked in a single pot: the jambalaya. But French culture was evidently not the only one to cross this area, and Creole culture is strong, the product of European and African, Caribbean or Hispanic descendants that make up the majority of the population here. The essence of Creole is found in rich sauces, local herbs, red tomatoes, fish and seafood.

At the Blue Note you can dine to the rhythm of music

The Blue Note celebrates its 17 years of activity in which it has brought jazz, blues, gospel and African-American inspired music to the heart of Milan, adding a new note: to be the first Cajun restaurant in Milan. Along with international cuisine such as the inevitable burgers, it also offers dishes born right in the streets of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the deep south of the United States, one of the most incredible cities in the world: with its Caribbean tones and its typical mixture of cultures that have left their mark in almost three hundred years of history. Chef Federico Tronci of Blue Note Milano, after careful research among the historical testimonies of the time, has outlined an ad hoc menu proposing reworked dishes that will vary seasonally. "Cajun cuisine is the result of the ingenuity of those peoples who have learned to survive in unknown and inhospitable lands, made of swamps and marshes and have been able to wisely mix different gastronomic traditions – French, Spanish and Caribbean – with poor local products – rice, crustaceans, molluscs , says Federico Tronci. "With this new menu we want to go back to the historical roots of jazz and focus on a simple cuisine, with few ingredients, but all easily recognizable". We start with i fried: tender chicken marinated in spices or prawns battered in beer and served with homemade creole or smoked sauce. Typical of Criolla cuisine, the Shrimp gumbo, a slightly spicy soup served with white rice and fried bread or the brisket BBQ with white rice and red beans in sauce. For those who want to taste just one sandwich, you can order the brisket and mustard one, but the important thing is not to miss the dessert: Banana foster, with caramelized banana and vanilla ice cream (which comes here directly from one of the best ice cream parlors in Italy, Artico, a few steps from the restaurant).

The evening of the reopening

Celebrate New Orleans will be held on Tuesday 22 September to celebrate one of the most incredible cities in the world, the cradle of jazz. The evening will be dedicated to Creole culture at 360 degrees: on stage the Domenico Mamone Quintet will make the public savor the dawn of jazz, from the sessions with Louis Armstrong, to the blues and dixieland echoes, retracing the stages of the musical career of the jazz legend Sidney Bechet ; while those who will also enjoy dinner, will be able to savor traditional Cajun dishes.

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Outdoor dining in Milan, 6 restaurants with terrace or outdoor seating – Italian Cuisine

Eating outdoors in the city? Mission more than possible, even in Milan. Between panoramic terraces and welcoming dehors, in the city there is no shortage of addresses to enjoy an outdoor lunch or dinner

Of course, there is no sea on the horizon, but the view and atmosphere are not bad. And never as this year do they make us go out to the restaurant with more carefree.

The menus? From the most traditional to the most creative proposals, without forgetting the pleasure of attentive and friendly service.

Originally, dehors in the city center

Can you dream of a plin ravioli dish in an experimentation kitchen? Maybe not always, but you can at the All’Origine restaurant, the creation of young chef Fabio Titone, from Turin with experiences in starred restaurants behind him.

"Only" 26 years old but the awareness that one cannot fly without roots, and then the "origin" is never lost sight of. Bread and pasta are made at home, as our traditional cuisine requires. And this does not prevent, however, from experimenting, from developing the technique, from daring combinations and experimentations, from playing with textures and colors. Beetroot becomes ice cream, butter is flavored with citrus fruits (and accompanies freshly baked hot bread), lavender enriches the semifreddo.

The outdoor area in the city center is a real treat for both lunch and dinner, but be sure to return also in winter because the atmosphere inside is truly enveloping. Tasting menu starting from € 50.

Via Lamarmora 36

Clotilde Brera, the romantic terrace

In Milan there is no sea, but there are terraces. That of Clotilde Brera, who overlooking San Marco square, it really tastes like summer nights, with soft lights and a loving gaze on the city.

The kitchen is that of the chef Domenico Della Salandra: there are the Milanese cutlet and the risotto, but also dishes with a Mediterranean flavor, excellent fish dishes and proposals that do not forget to satisfy the aesthetic pleasure as well. A menu that makes everyone happy, especially those who want to welcome the proposals of matching dishes and cocktails.

For those who love terraces all year round, Clotilde Brera transforms the space into a conservatory illuminated by soft lights. The interior also deserves for its atmosphere and furnishings, with its large bar counter and checkered flooring.

Milanese risotto for € 17, middle courses from € 18.

Piazza San Marco, 6

Giacomo Arengario, terrace on the Duomo

The entrance is that of Museum of the twentieth century, and if you want it to be really special, walk up the spiral climb.

Giacomo Arengario's is not a simple terrace, it is look out to the Duomo with the feeling of being at home, thanks to the always impeccable welcome and that way of being beyond time and fashions.

Better to start with a glass of wine or with a cocktail, whether for lunch or dinner, before consulting the menu. Those who can resist traditional dishes can enjoy one of the magnificent risotto on the menu, such as bergamot, Mazara del Vallo red prawn crudité and Bronte pistachio. Spoiler: keep a place for sweets. First and second courses from € 20.

Via Guglielmo Marconi, 1

The terrace of via Palestro

Hidden from outside eyes, albeit in a very central area. The terrace of via Palestro, in the street of the same name, is inserted inside the building of the Centro Svizzero and overlooks the very green panorama of the Indro Montanelli Gardens.

The "lunch in the garden" effect transforms, in the evening, into the right atmosphere for a candlelit dinner. In the lounge area, space reserved for an aperitif.

The menu changes seasonally and offers one creative and very balanced Mediterranean cuisine, such as homemade ravioli stuffed with Sicilian red prawns, ricotta and spinach with date sauce. Lovers of the genre will not be disappointed with the poché egg, an excellent address for choosing fish dishes. Appetizers and first courses starting from € 14.

Via Palestro, 2

Kitchen Society, creative outdoor area

The atmosphere of the terrace is that of dinners at the sea. Wooden tables and chairs, the simple equipment of when you invite your closest friends, when the highlight is the kitchen.

He, the chef Alex Seveso, baptized the proposal "Italian sushi": the aesthetics and technique are that of the rising sun, the ingredients and flavors are those of the Bel Paese. The result is an experience that is difficult to forget and to compare, as well as difficult to forget (in addition to the flavors) are some perfectly apt names of the dishes. As the Nigiri Rocher: peppered king prawn with grains and pistachio cream which is inspired by the pralining of the well-known chocolate. The risottos rediscover their fusion side, made with non-creamed Japanese rice also in Milan yellow version (with saffron) such as the one with prawns, avocado, peppers and white truffle cream or the one with a mix of salmon, sea bream, tuna and prawns with olives , capers and basil. Nagiri and sashimi from € 14, risottini from € 18.

Via Chizzolini, 2 (corner Piero della Francesca)

Particular Milan

A spacious garden in a large internal courtyard in the Porta Romana area, a rarity in the city that proves to be extremely precious and appreciated. One year after its opening, Particolare Milano is preparing to recreate a real vegetable garden from which to obtain supplies, in line with the philosophy of the kitchen immediately developed by chef Andrea Cutillo, careful in the choice of ingredients from small producers.

Italian cuisine that does not fear fusion cues, but without excess. Like the crispy ravioli with sausage, broccoli and provola, made with rice flour as per Asian tradition. And the encounters between north and south, like the paccheri di Gragnano, Genoese of ossobuco and gremolada.

Zero waste philosophy starting from the aperitif, entirely from restaurants, created from the menu of the day.

6-course freehand tasting menu of the chef with wine pairing for € 60.

Via Tiraboschi, 5

Roman bistronomy: gourmet dining for under € 50 – Italian Cuisine

Young chefs who made their bones in the starred kitchens and who are rewriting the list of restaurants not to be missed in Rome

One word is enough. If there is one thing that unites the talented young chefs struggling with their first solo experiences is the ability to synthesize. Zia, Giulia, Jacopa and so on. The names of the rooms that can be included in the "bistronomy" category are always composed of a single word. On the other hand, the summary of the name often reflects the offer, why the bistronomy is a gourmet restaurant, but offers a refined cuisine at affordable prices, giving up above all the frills that go beyond the kitchen. A more pop service, once the cloth tablecloth is removed, someone entrusts the customer to the mise en place and so on: costs that you choose to break down to favor a sensorial experience concentrated on a kitchen with starry echoes, but renouncing the sidereal ambitions. The young chef who chooses to open a gourmet restaurant in a bistronomy format comes from starred experiences, is able to cook at that level and manage that kind of stress in the kitchen, but is proposed to a wider audience, trying to intercept curious palates, but not fixed with formalities. To put it in football terms: he enrolls in another championship, which deserves to be followed as much as and perhaps more than that of the first category.

The forerunners

If it is necessary to do historical philology, among the first to launch the trend there are Davide Del Duca and Alba Esteve Ruiz, respectively Fernanda and Marzipan. With time Del Duca has changed location, he has refined himself in aesthetics, but he resists with his elegantly rustic kitchen, apparently an oxymoron, but his quality has always been that of knowing how to combine strong tastes, tough ingredients and exaggerated cooking, giving life to to incredibly delicate dishes. All of this probably remaining one of the best value for money places in the city. Alba Esteve Ruiz had the merit of bringing to Rome a breath of fresh air and his interpretation of Roman-Spanish bistronomy, with strong experiences in the best stars of his country. Alba arrived very young and grew up with Marzapane, but at a certain point her balance broke and Alba left her original creature for a new adventure. Left in the hands of his socio-host Mario Sansone, who entrusted the kitchen to Francesco Capuzzo Dolcetta, Marzapane has changed course, focusing on traditional cuisine and returning to more popular prices, with great critical and public success. Alba, for her part, has just settled into her new project, Ancient Foundry. Already the name consists of two words suggests that the format of the new creature of Alba moves slightly away from the bistronomy that helped launch, with perhaps even more heroic choices. In this new project the Spanish chef engages in fire, with ancestral cooking, the grill and coal, with meat from all over the world and vegetables to be rediscovered. But he does not forget his origins, his strong dishes like carbonara, and his delicately feminine hand are always there.

The new wave

Always going chronologically, the ones who broke the cards in Rome were the boys of Back Room, Giuseppe Lo Iudice and Alessandro Miocchi. They have exasperated the philosophy of "no frills", with their drawer in which to find the mise en place to set the table on their own. At the beginning they also drove foodies from all over the world with a booking ban, so customers patiently lined up on Via della Stelletta. Then they expanded to the nearby shutter, without, however, increasing the seats and from there granting the luxury of booking. Their "counter" kitchen has been a school: craftsmanship, excellent raw materials, the ability to get 100% involved by making chefs and hosts at the same time. The only flaw is that they are slightly out of the budget of 50 €, but an extra effort is enough and you can taste the tasting menu at 55. Always from the same forge of talents, the kitchen of the two-starred Anthony Genovese, comes another exponent of this new wave: Antonio Ziantoni, chef and patron of Zia. His cuisine is contemporary and exciting and we would not be surprised if Ziantoni was promoted to the higher category. Without taking anything away from the other chefs mentioned, his proposal is the one that comes closest to Michelin star conformism, both in the kitchen and in the service, never sliced, but always rigorous and careful, entrusted to the sweet hands of the companion Ida Proietti. Also from the same school, they are also establishing themselves in the heart of the gourmet of the capital the boys of Jacopa, Jacopo Ricci and Piero Drago, who are doing very well with the restaurant opened inside the San Francesco hotel. Breakfast room by day and gourmet restaurant in the evening, with a dependance on the terrace for those who want to enjoy an aperitif with some whim that comes from the kitchen. Pierluigi Gallo also passed by the kitchens of Anthony Genovese, even though his true mentor was Niko Romito. It was in the kitchens of the Reale when the third Michelin star arrived for the Abruzzo chef. Although originally from the Campania region, Gallo is also born in Abruzzo and trained and transmits his territory to his kitchen in Via Giulia. Just like the street, Pierluigi Gallo's restaurant-project is called Giulia and for over a year it has settled steadily in the heart of the capital's foodies.

To keep an eye on

On the same wavelength there are two other addresses that we have visited in recent months, less consolidated as a time of exercise, and yet promising. A common feature is that they are pleasant places, with chefs who have important experiences behind them and are able to create dishes that are remembered. It is the case of Verve inside the hotel D.O.M, with a restaurant on the ground floor and a fabulous terrace on the roofs of Rome at the top. Here they "militate" Adriano Magnoli and Antonella Mascolo, chef the first and pastry chef the second: a couple in life, the two come from the school of Riccardo Di Giacinto, chef of the starred restaurant All'Oro. Another noteworthy address is Aqualunae by Emanuele Paoloni, in the delightful Piazza dei Quiriti, in Prati. Marche origins and a pinch of Austria in the blood, Paoloni moves well with both the fish and the earth cuisine, pulling some real gem out of the hat.