Grass is growing on La Peca: The plant-based menu of the renowned Veneto restaurant seems to have brought new life to a cuisine famous mainly for seafood, deserving further acclaim also thanks to the magic of the dining room. It's more about creations than ingredients and plenty of technology (which you don't see, but you can taste).
The restaurant
It's not a trend, the vegetable movement that is conquering the great Italian tables. It's more of an air du temps, laden with seeds and spores, which is impossible to resist. Basically, it's a necessity that has taken root even on the fertile soil of La Peca, with results that could be described as exciting.
"I've always had a special focus on side dishes and vegetables in general, especially in spring, the season of sprouts. For the past 4 or 5 years, we've been serving vegetarian dishes, but we had never established a separate tasting menu. Maybe we didn't fully believe in it ourselves, but we sell it a lot. This winter, we tried to stop it, but we had to bring it back due to popular demand. So now it's available all year round," emphasizes chef Nicola Portinari.
However, it's not just any vegetable: the dishes have the same flavor intensity and character consistency as animal proteins, thanks to the use of advanced techniques. "I’m happy when a customer leaves satisfied, and with vegetables, it's difficult without a great deal of concentration and extraction work, aimed at obtaining the best from the product, and then refining it with elements that shouldn't overshadow it."
The Portinaris succeeded also because they found the right partner in crime: the guys from Organic Forest, who cultivate bioactive lands in the hills and plains just outside Lonigo. "These are soils that give more expressiveness, more minerals, and proteins to all vegetables. We managed to make them understand what we want, and they produce it for us. For example, I asked for a small leek, which I then pay more for. We meet twice a year, they ask us what we want, and they put together the varieties. So you always have to work in advance by 6-8 months, and it's a good thing because you already know what you will find and how it will be. If they have problems, we try to solve them together." The techniques can be similar to those used for fish: vacuum glazes, oven use at 70°C to cook and then extract the gel, the Rotovapor, cryoextraction, which can layer in certain dishes.
The dining room spins with Cinzia Boggian's usual ironic grace, reminiscent of pole dancing, as she continues to create whimsical centerpieces, surrounded by her girls. Curating the wine is the trident formed by Pierluigi Portinari, Matteo Bressan, and Carolina Balbo. La Peca, as it's known, is one of the best places to drink in Italy, not only because of its extensive wine list, which boasts over 2000 selections. Here, there's something for everyone, whether you love natural wines, niche labels, prestigious names, or seek out hidden gems or local treasures. Starting with Veneto, which is of utmost importance.
In fact, the research is ongoing, in an attempt to anticipate future trends (already 25 years ago, there was a list of 300 "offbeat wines" here, i.e., natural wines, which continue to be a passion of the house, without exclusivity). Pierluigi and Nicola, both self-taught, have always worked relatively independently, and this modus operandi was further solidified with Bressan's arrival in 2009. He prefers fewer predetermined pairing courses, glass to plate, to encourage focus on the glass and avoid sensory confusion, tailored to the guest's taste preferences, even to turnaround bottles. The philosophy of quality, continuous research, and "nature" are enough to bring together food and wine. So much so that two years ago, the "boxing match" that pitted dishes against blind-paired glasses was a success.
The dishes
The vegetarian menu, titled "Anna's Garden," named after the lady from Organic Forest, varies constantly according to the season and can easily be adapted to be vegan. "Sometimes a small radicchio, sometimes a zucchini." The cost is 180 euros; the pairing is personalized, which may include non-alcoholic cocktails by Alessandro Portinari, son of Cinzia and Pierluigi, who chose to work in the dining room.
The opening act is "All About Fennel," a monograph made of fennel sorbet with Ocoo molasses, a vegetable resembling almost a cuttlefish, a rose cake flavored with fennel for chewing, highly concentrated and lightly bound fennel broth, and fresh fennel beard. In total, six preparations for three micro-dishes with zero waste, dynamically filling the palate with sweetness, umami, and aromas.
The Jerusalem artichoke is cooked whole sous-vide, diced and sautéed with oil and macadamia nuts; the dish is completed with a forest concentrate obtained from mushrooms scraps from other dishes, and their acidity achieved through fermentation, with cream dots to enhance the flavour.
The first course is a "classic" fusilli with Custoza broccoli and mace, where the pasta is sautéed with vegetable water, dressed with its cream, its extraction, and drops of spirits for cryoconcentration. Instead, faux pasta for the leek ribbed penne, made of sheaths filled with chickpea ragout whipped with oil and lemongrass for chewing and starch, plus leek molasses with Ocoo and lemongrass vegetable cream.
Then the minestrone, obtained from the separate cooking of individual vegetables, in water or sous-vide, sometimes creamed, and from their broth assembled like a cuvée; plus a eye beans purée and borlotti, vegetable distillates through centrifugation and cryoconcentration, red wine tannin in contrast, and a swirl of Campanian olive oil.
As a final dish, for intensity and chewiness, the savoy cabbage left to mature sous-vide with a mix of vinegars and salt for 20, 30, 40 days, depending on the size, almost like sauerkraut but without lacto-fermentation; it develops a gassiness and acidity, which are softened by black garlic cream, cashews, miso, and powdered black lemon.
The meal ends with green pepper semifreddo with carrot slices infused with its juice through osmosis, and lemon thyme.
Contacts
La Peca
Via Alberto Giovanelli, 2, 36045 Lonigo VI
Phone: 0444 830214
