A kitchen exclusively powered by embers. It is the choice of Hobo, restaurant at the gates of the Sirolo sea, in the Marche, with the payoff "Wild Fire", has chosen to forgo the gas stove in favor of the primordial fuel: charcoal. A raw material coming from precious woods, which gives the food aromas the fruit of long experiments. The result? A balanced mix of smoky aromas, marinades and prolonged cooking.

At Hobo the grille is lit 24 hours a day, but combustion and emissions are made sustainable by special professional filters in the hood that minimize the impact on the environment. Every moment of the day the smoke and the heat are used for something: above the coals, at different heights, or on spits that rotate in unison, are laid vegetables that will end up in the sauces and dips; then, meats or fish that are enriched with completely different aromas and consistencies, depending on the exposure to the wisely evaluated heat.

"Our motto is:" No-prescia "", says him chef Massimiliano Corvella. «No hurry, in the Marche dialect. We wrote it on the counter. We want the restaurant to be a place from which to leave your thoughts and where to devote yourself exclusively to the gastronomic experience ".

The seats, in the modern-style dining room with a friendly and informal atmosphere, are 24 and reach forty in the summer on the outdoor terrace. The menu is seasonal and rewards game and meat in winter and autumn, and then turns decidedly over the fish in the summer. Together with the chef, Michele Alvaro takes care of mixing (nice choice of gin-based offerings), craft beer and wine.

On the menu of Hobo

Researched raw materials and cosmopolitan contaminations, the result of journeys between South America, Europe and Asia. On the other hand, Hobo means tramp in American slang. Among the appetizers stand out tartare. That of venison, washed with soy sauce, yuzu juice (Japanese citrus halfway between mandarin and lime) extra virgin olive oil from the Marche region, is served with grilled chestnuts, burrata stracciatella and smoked ricotta. The surprise effect comes from cold smoking; a thick smoke coming out of the cloche once served at the table. Another tartàre that is the most popular is beef, with salted almond, tempura caper and 65 ° cooked egg. Then there is the artichoke "alla Giudìa", which is grilled inside a dome that will make it "smoky" and then drowned in the cream of pecorino cheese and white truffle of Acqualagna. The meats are carefully selected. Not to be missed, the "Vaca vieja gallega", species of north-western Spain, with its succulent density.

The hamburgers deserve to be preceded by the hashtag "Foodporn", for the richness and redundancy of the ingredients. Suffice it to mention the burger created as a tribute to the famous composer (and gourmet) of the Marche region Gioacchino Rossini: beef, mushrooms, foie gras and black truffle, all bathed in a tasty game. The wild boar is marinated with sake, citrus fruits, smoked pepper; served on the spit and sandwiched with Arnad lard. But the freshness is not lacking: in the sauces used for meat (the verde argentina chimichurri) and in the use of fresh herbs such as coriander and tropical or exotic fruits. The flavor is guaranteed by marinades, where soy sauce is the protagonist. For fish, especially in winter, a taste of grilled smoked cod is served with fennel and chipotle, raw and cooked peppers, or prawns with shiitake mushrooms dried on the grill and mixed salad.

The special grid that now makes school

Steering the heat of a charcoal is not easy, and this requires skill and experience. He put it there Errico Recanati, star chef of Andreina restaurant in Loreto, that on the coals even pasta jumps (celebrates its cacio e pepe). Together with Hobo's friends, it was Recanati who commissioned the personalized and futuristic grid. A tool that now aims to make school a must for all colleagues who need to work with embers. The design was entrusted to a technological craftsman, Renzo Burattini, who along with his team of Doric art of Ancona has forged iron and steel, adapting it to any type of work environment. The chef Recanati is the inventor of the hat technique, successfully tested over the years: a metal covering is placed over the food in mid-air. Here the smoke entertains, lingers with a circular motion, concentrates, giving aroma in a natural way during cooking. The partnership between the two Marche chefs now aims to promote the potential of cooking on the grill. The effective demonstration took place recently, when, together with the English chef Tom Bray of Country Fire Kitchen, the participated masterclass was held in the garden of Andreina on the occasion of the sixty years since the foundation of the restaurant.