The Vite restaurant in the San Patrignano Community returns to its original ambitions, calling on a chef who held a Michelin star for 8 years on Vulcano, trained by the best masters in the south. A guaranteed success.
The story
It seemed like there couldn't be a better place: a consistently Michelin-starred restaurant in one of the most beautiful places in the world, the island of Vulcano, within a resort closed for 5 months a year. However, while he gathered his laurels, Palermo-born Giuseppe Biuso led a double life: a successful chef in his Sicily, but also a husband and father of two children, 8 and 4 years old, in Cattolica, during the rest of the year. It was to balance work and private life that he finally decided to seize a tempting professional opportunity, continuing his dream in Romagna, not without regret.
"It happened that during a collaborative dinner, I met the director of the San Patrignano Community, and we exchanged phone numbers. I liked the project, but it still had some limitations. For example, everyone working there were internal youths, except for the chef and his assistant. So when this year Davide Pontoriere left after receiving the green star, I was contacted again, but before accepting, I made my conditions clear. I wanted teams of professionals (except for kitchen and dining commis, who come from the end of the program but coincidentally already worked in this field in life) and certain opening hours. We reached an agreement, I resigned, and finished the season in Vulcano to start here on November 15. The Community owns it, of which I am an employee, so all profits stay within."
The restaurant
The structure had started with ambitions of excellence: the dining room is very beautiful, embellished with furnishings often made in-house, as well as many trinkets; the kitchen is entirely open and the cellar is downstairs. But the advantages continue outside: San Patrignano is practically a self-contained world, where everything is produced.
There's the dairy, ready to meet any request from Biuso; and there's the butcher (but for ethical reasons, they no longer slaughter animals; the meat comes from outside). And then there's a lot of land, where it was easy to carve out a garden for the restaurant, with Biuso determining the spring planting; the wines and the oil. So much so that there are plans to open a second vegetarian restaurant, possibly next year, also under his supervision.
But in territoriality, some homage to Sicily survives: Modica chocolate, red shrimp, sumac, almonds; in the amuse-bouche stand, an arancino, actually composed of broccoli cream and Catania wine, without rice. Contaminations in which some exotic digressions also make their way, due to the chef's passion for spices and vinegars. The guest has the option to choose from 3 tasting menus with 4, 6, and 8 courses, respectively priced at 75, 85, and 95 euros, with the alternative of a small à la carte. Giuseppe Biuso is accompanied by the longtime sous-chef Gianluca Sottile and the young sommelier from Liguria, who is reimagining the wine cellar. In addition, already present in the establishment are the junior Marco Celentano and pastry chef Ambra Serenelli.
The dishes
The appetizers served in the stand made in the Community (the aforementioned 'arancino,' the wafer of squid tagliatelle, the marinated mackerel taco, the cod cone, the veal tartare and Cajun) focus on freshness to activate salivation, and spiciness. This is followed by dishes where vegetables play a leading role, studied and tasted to achieve ecumenical goodness, free from the constraints of revisitations and repertoire, both Sicilian and Romagnolo. In the bread basket, breadsticks, crispy piadina, and a warm sourdough roll with the restaurant's logo, a vine leaf, reproduced with black garlic butter.
For instance, the prawn competes equally with the whole tangy shallot: presented unilateral, raw/cooked, it is served with slightly burnt onion and tangy goat cheese sauce with sea asparagus, in a nice balance.
Some signatures remain, for example, the house-smoked duck breast with marinated fish, tamarind for citrusy acidity, and smoked paprika, around the mirror of Sicilian tahini sauce, without a protagonist in the whirl of tastes. 'I wanted a complex dish that combined meat and fish,' comments Biuso.
Another signature is the cannolo, in winter version with a wafer of mushroom puree and isomalt, filling of mixed mushrooms, cardoncello, dill, pungent blue cheese, and a dusting of Modica chocolate, bringing a bitter and aromatic note without pushing sweetness, emphasizing umami.
The in-house extruded spaghetti with walnut sauce, nettle chimichurri from the father-in-law's countryside, razor clams for the iodine note, and sumac powder are excellent. 'I wanted to make a tasty spaghetti, but I couldn't find the pairing for the walnut sauce. One morning while picking herbs, I found nettles, I was looking for something mineral, the razor clams, and added sumac for acidity.' In fact, dried fruit, a true Mediterranean and specifically Sicilian fat, is a common thread of the meal; however, Romagna is a land of walnuts, which, combined with fish, leads to a result reminiscent of the Sardinian buridda. Also delightful is the risotto born in San Patrignano, made with its own products: smoked squacquerone cheese and balsamic vinegar, along with mandarin to refresh with a nod to the origins and the Community's guanciale. Simple, well-balanced flavors.
The dried fruit returns in the form of a sauce made from toasted almonds, which Biuso dusts with black garlic and pairs with eel double-cooked in cider and apple vinegar, possibly a dish to lighten. Then the sumptuous pigeon with the breast almost raw but compact, cooked sous-vide and then in a light butter carcass, the thighs stripped in stew, breaded in the shape of an egg in the nest of julienne black cabbage for bitterness, the reduced pomegranate sauce for acidity, and the beetroot for additional sweetness, in chips and in cream.
After the pre-dessert of parsley, carrot, and ginger, sliding between salty and sweet, the closing is optional. For chocolate lovers, there's chestnut with persimmons and candied chestnuts; with the alternative of pineapple, passion fruit, and yogurt foam for those who prefer fruit and sweetness, and the crème brûlée with fossa cheese and raspberry for an imaginative interpretation of the territory.
Featured in the petit-fours are pistachio and hazelnut cremini, lemon choux, mango meringue, coffee and mascarpone cremino.
Contacts
Vite Restauramt
Via Monte Pirolo, 7, 47853 Coriano RN
Phone: 335 540 4830
