Tag: rebirth

Eating in via Veneto, waiting for the rebirth of the sweet life – Italian Cuisine

Eating in via Veneto in Rome, the most famous street in the capital, was not easy. But something is changing. Because via Veneto is being reborn after years of oblivion and it is doing so starting from the kitchen. Roman and Italian-American.

The first scandalous striptease

It all began, officially, on 5 November 1958, with the party for the twenty-fourth birthday of Countess Olghina di Robilant at the Rugantino in Trastevere: here the Turkish-Armenian dancer Aïché Nana performed the famous striptease, ending up half naked in all the newspapers of the time. Rome had become the international capital of entertainment and social life, and its epicenter was Via Veneto. Due to the presence of the most luxurious hotels and clubs open until dawn, Via Veneto has been the meeting point for VIPs, actors, night owls and paparazzi for twenty years. Here they stayed and spent their evenings, among the bars, lobbies and hotel rooms that made the history of the street. AtHarry’s Bar Frank Sinatra played the piano and even today in the evening we dine with the background of the piano bar. Since 1962 he has animated Rome by Night and hosted Hollywood actors visiting the capital, but it has nothing to do with Venice, so there’s no point in looking for a plate of carpaccio.

The great beauty: a construction site

In 2013 it was the set of The great beauty by Paolo Sorrentino, a film that photographed the upper class of Roman salons, good and even decadent. «The great beauty It is to The sweet life like the Via Veneto of today is the Via Veneto of 1959. Now it is just a street of luxury hotels where it is in vain to seek the nocturnal atmosphere of the past” wrote Alessandra Levantesi Kezich, film critic for “La Stampa”, on the occasion of the his exit. Well yes, because it really is it is useless to come to via Veneto in search of cafés crowded with artists, intellectuals, stars and photographers. Over the years, other neighborhoods have made their way into the preferences of Romans and tourists and Via Veneto has remained comfortable on its laurels. Today Via Veneto is a construction site.

Between public and private, there is the project (already started) of redevelop the urban planning aspect and to relaunch the historic premises to bring back Via Veneto great again. Many prestigious hotels are currently closed or under renovation: the first hotel on via Veneto, the Hotel Majestic, inaugurated in 1889 and designed by the architect Gaetano Koch, author among others of the nearby American embassy building and the Bank of Italy building (Palazzo Koch), has closed its doors and has been acquired by Boscalt Hospitality (Rothschild) and will be renovated. The Westin Excelsior Rome, designed by architect Otto Mariani in the early twentieth century in neo-baroque style, has been bought and will close shortly for renovations. The Grand Hotel Via Veneto will be transformed into a Nobu Hotel and Restaurant, although it is not yet known when. Not far away, in via Boncompagni, work has begun on the new Mandarin Oriental. The only discordant note, for the Cafè de Paris, however, after the seizure and ten years of closure, the shutter still remains lowered and everything is silent. The street is still divided in two, to the south apart Signorvino it’s still all a construction site or bars serving American Breakfast for a few euros, whereas towards the north the rebirth has already begun.

Make Dolce Vita Great Again

First to lead the rebirth consortium, the InterContinental Rome Ambasciatori Palace, named in honor of the nearby American embassy. Built as the ambassador’s residence, then transformed into a library, it is the first five-star hotel to inaugurate the new course of the most famous street in the capital. One hundred and sixty rooms with a pure leisure vocation, a design that takes inspiration from the Roman style, a rooftop with a view and a restaurant NYC shoe which attracts an audience of American and local tourists; which in via Veneto still means Americans. Scarpetta NYC is a short circuit: a restaurant serving Italian-American cuisinewanted by a New Yorker, inspired by the concept of The sweet life, hence the name of the LDV Hospitality group. A foreign format that embodies Italianness abroad, and not an attempt to bastardize Italian cuisine to meet the tastes of others. Homemade pasta and bread, spaghetti with tomato sauce (and butter, very creamy) and steak house menus, just like in the United States. Much loved by expats, diplomats, American citizens of Rome and even traveling tourists who thus rediscover the flavors of home and a place where they feel transported to New York. Via Veneto is in fact an American outpost in Italy, it is no coincidence that the first Italian Hard Rock Cafe opened here, way back in 1998, and one of the most famous nightclubs in the capital (opened in 1972) is right in the area and is called Jackie O’ , named after the iconic Jacqueline Kennedy, JFK’s widow, who became Mrs. Onassis in 1968.

The rebirth of bread – Sale & Pepe – Italian Cuisine

Restart from bread. Because changing our idea of this atavistic mixture of flour, yeast and water, you can change your view of the world. He is convinced of it Davide Longoni, born in Brianza and Milanese for years, leader of that new generation of bakers that is revolutionizing white art. “Bread is above all a agricultural product, which arises from the transformation of the cereal: the raw material is wheat, not the flour”Explains Davide. “To make a good bread, therefore, technique is not enough, first of all it is necessary to recover the relationship with the earth. A modern baker must make conscious choices, know and control the entire supply chain, starting with the cultivation methods ".

Longoni a Chiaravalle, on the outskirts of Milan, grows on its own rye and spelled, with which he realizes the 30% of the flours of its products. An urban regeneration project of abandoned land, today worked with organic method is crop rotation, an ancient practice that does not impoverish the soils, keeps them fertile and protects them from parasites and weeds. The other flours come from farms that follow the same philosophy: from historic and indigenous grains (Longoni does not like the now abused definition of “ancient grains”), such as Perciasacchi, Tumminia, Senatore Cappelli, Solina, Verna; stone ground, not very refined. This new sensitivity is naturally reflected in the processing of bread, where the other protagonist, in addition to flour, comes into play yeast: for Longoni it means mother yeast, the spontaneous and natural one of a simple dough of flour and water, where the wealth of yeasts and lactic bacteria that develop during the fermentation gives bread very varied aromas and flavors.

It requires though long leavening (6-8 hours at least), slow processing and great dexterity, because the mother must be preserved and refreshed to keep her alive, she is sensitive to temperatures and less strong and stable than the brewer's yeast. But the end result is another bread. Fragrant, tasty (the taste of wheat is clearly perceived), digestible and durable, up to 5-6 days (acidity protects against molds and some enzymes slow down stale). And mainly large format, loaves and loaves 500 g, made to be stored and shared; Furthermore, technically, large pieces retain moisture better and dry less. “It is a return to origins but it is not the bread of the past, it is the bread of the future"Underlines Davide, who has always been open to sharing and teaching: many young people have trained in his workshops, some of whom have followed his path by opening new workshops, from Brisa oven of Pasquale Polito to Bologna to the Modern Bakery by Matteo Piffer to Trento, to LePolveri by Aurora Zancanaro in Milan. All followers of a new vision of bread: with Davide and many others they gave life to the movement of the gods in 2018 Urban Agricultural Bakers (PAU), which recently published its manifesto.

Today in the large Longoni laboratory in Milan, in the former industrial warehouses of Via Tertullian transformed into cultural spaces and ateliers, 10 people work, all between 22 and 35 years old: employees at bread, focacceria and pastry (coordinated by pastry chef Mauro Iannantuoni, former right arm of Ernst Knam). The laboratory has a production of 400-800 kg per day between country loaves, rye, ancient cereals, the Bourbon (with self-produced flours from the Abruzzo supply chain) and other special ones, such as the alle chestnuts of the service and the challah, Jewish specialty of Saturday. In addition to focaccia, pizza tongues and desserts: brioches, croissants, tarts, babka in the weekends. Finally, a surprise. In the laboratory office, copies of The Integral, Magazine of bread and culture, a novelty of which Longoni is editor. But it's not a house organ. He wants to provide the tools, to bakers, but also to enthusiasts, to understand reality through bread.

By Marina Cella
photo by Michele Tabozzi
Find 3 Panificio Longoni recipes on the magazine Salt and pepper January 2021

rebirth of a glory of Turin pastry – Italian Cuisine

Among the historic chocolate and pastry shops of the great Turin tradition. It is Pfatisch: certainly the most loved. It returns now under a new leadership, but bringing with it the sweetness of a glorious past

The pastry shop was founded in 1915, thanks to the master Gustavo Pfatisch, of Bavarian origin, born in Fossano in 1887.
Pfatisch for all the Turinese was and is synonymous with tradition and quality products. Of tradition of the city.

A beautiful story that risked ending forever if it wasn't for Francesco Ciocatto, which in the fall of 2019 decides to take over the pastry shop, starting with the company lease.
We had a chat with him, to let him tell us about the present, the future and Pfatisch's new projects.

Tell us how you got here.

"Pfatisch's business had not been able to take off for some time, many expenses, difficult management, years of ups and downs. We started with the company lease last fall. Then the business was declared bankrupt, in the meantime we continued to work.
In April 2020 the announcement came out, in full lockdown, you can imagine: we made the offer, but we were the only ones present. We believed it. And now we are here.

When did you start work again after the first lockdown?

At the end of April. Things were starting to go well, the shop has a lot of potential, it is one of the historic places in Italy, known and appreciated not only by the Turinese.
During the lockdown we remained open, but only with delivery service, not even take-out for coffee or pastry.
In the meantime, the old customers have returned, the work has increased, so much so that I have taken over all the employees who worked here, those of the old management. In total we are now 9. But we plan to increase.

When did your job as a pastry chef start?

I worked at Gerla, a historic pastry and chocolate shop in Turin (a stone's throw from the monument to Vittorio Emanuele II), I was very young and I loved my work very much.
In 1987 I bought the shop that saw me grow professionally. I was 22 and had a great passion: the desire to continue the work of my two masters, who after many years of work no longer felt like continuing.
I have held the pastry shop for almost 30 years; I sold my shares in 2014, after 27 years.
If I think back to when we started, in 1987, we were 3; when I sold Gerla there were almost 60 employees in total. Important numbers.
After the sale of Gerla I devoted myself to consulting for some time, especially in the field of chocolate.

New projects on the horizon?

In recent years I have been working on a new project that I care very much about, a product that goes through history: that of the gianduiotto cut with a spatula, just as it was done in 1865, the year of its birth.
Currently, most of the gianduiotti are extruded or made with special molds.
In reality, the real gianduiotto is made with a knife, a special spatula. A new patent for a semi-automatic machine, which allows us to make small gianduiotti, about 5-6 grams, in the original form. It will also have a special wrapping.
The project will see the light, we hope, between March and April of 2021; but it could also slip in autumn 2021. Obviously Covid permitting.

How do you see the world of pastry in Turin and beyond?

In my opinion the world of pastry is evolving a lot. A lot of work is done on single portions, slices, packaging, the aesthetics of the cakes. There is less work, however, on the traditional one, which in recent years has been put a little in the background.
In my opinion we will return more and more to traditional pastries, to the more classic cakes, to the tray of pastries, among the most popular desserts on Sundays: they like it because it pleases everyone, many different little tastings.
Our customers love traditional pasta trays, cakes for 2-3-5 people, not five single portions.
People look in admiration at these designer creations, but then buy classic cakes and trays of assorted pastries, just the right size. In the seventies, pastries were practically single portions, perhaps a little excessive.
We work a lot with the classics. Among Pfatish's flagships is the Festivo, one of the best-selling cakes: it is made up of two discs of meringue, chocolate chantilly and puffed gianduja, almost a cloud of chocolate.
It has been produced for 50 years and has been one of the most popular cakes ever for 50 years. And it is the only one we make in single portions, there are many singles who ask for it!

We are resuming all the old Pfatisch pastry tradition, thanks also to the two historic pastry chefs who have returned to work here. The recipe book is a precious compendium, with many classics to rediscover.
We are expanding all the savory pastry, which is more than 60 years old, an old Pfatisch tradition. They were truly precursors of the times, they anticipated the fashions of finger food; mignon, they already made them in the fifties.

Pfatisch, it's not just pastry, but also chocolate, right?

The chocolate here was and is traditional: under the shop there is a real chocolate factory, the laboratory, the old original machinery, which we are trying to fix for another nice project, which at the moment I cannot reveal.
Many historical recipes, pralines, chocolates, dragées, truffles, gianduiotti. And the gianduia cream, in the classic or dark version.

You just have to go and discover the latest news from Pfatisch in via Sacchi 42.
In compliance with the anti Covid regulations, the shop will remain closed to the public; it will be possible to order the products by telephone and go to collect or request home delivery.
Telephone 0115683962, opening hours 10-13 15.30-18.