Twenty-eight years of existence for a restaurant that has put Modena on the world map, expanding the horizons of gastronomy as a whole. Massimo Bottura encapsulates Italian culture in a menu that goes beyond the mere concept of cooking.
We are here: the future of Osteria Francescana
There's a book in my room in Casa Maria Luigia, the 'home away from home' of Massimo Bottura and his wife Lara Gilmore, called "Rebel Talent: Why it pays to break the rules".
Seems fitting for Bottura who has been doing just that ever since he opened Osteria Francescana, back in 1995, defying the notions of what Italian cuisine is - or is supposed to be, is expected to be -, turning it upside down and - sometimes quite literally as in "Oops, I dropped the lemon tart" - breaking them.
28 years later and Osteria Francescana is one of the temples of world gastronomy, the three Michelin starred restaurant crowned twice world’s best (2016 and 2018), the kind of place that thrives in no small part because Bottura has become larger than life, a brand, a celebrity chef and a visionary who will reference history and modern art and Bob Dylan and his upbringing when he explains the dishes. Dishes that almost as a rule – are still breaking the mold.
"Tortellini or dumplings?" is called one, a twist on Italian classic; tortellini, but inspired by Asia and shaped as some sort of hybrid between a steamed dumpling and a wonton, served in a beautiful, deep flavored chicken broth spiked with some seaweed. Indeed, tortellini or dumplings? I am guessing some hard-core Italian traditionalists would surely object, but given that as a Slovenian born writer I have no such preconceived limitations, for me, this was a winner.
"Potato that wants to be a truffle" is called another one. A fairly safe classic combination of potato and summer truffle, but done as a potato loaf filled with potato and truffle cream.
The Caesar salad is incarnated as pasta. Now, this one is done in reverse – Bottura takes an American classic, Caesar salad, salad that has probably been redone in a gazillion of shapes and forms – and yet you always feel none of the iterations quite match the satisfying original, born, like so many of the best stuff, as an improvisation (I am sure Bottura knows a thing or two when it comes to that).
It was Caesar Cardini, an Italian immigrant who ran restaurants in San Diego and Tijuana, who came up with it, back in 1920s. The legend goes that a Fourth of July rush in 1924 depleted the kitchen's supplies, so Cardini made do with what he had, romaine lettuce, croutons and a dressing made of lemon juice, olive oil, egg, Worcestershire sauce, anchovies, garlic, Dijon mustard, Parmesan cheese, and black pepper. It first became popular with some Hollywood executives, later conquered New York and after that – the world. At Osteria Francescana they don’t attempt to deconstruct the salad as such, instead they make it into an Italian classic – pasta! The green ditalini with a hint of smoke and a sauce made of anchovies and heaps of Parmigiano Reggiano.
A constant play on classics - and reinvention of Osteria Francescana's own classics, their iconoclastic dishes, starting with amuse-bouche, tiny tributes to well-known Francescana’s dishes like 'Normandía' (in its original form a tartare of salt-marsh lamb, with cider sorbet and oyster water), 'Memory of a mortadella sandwich' (deconstructed with mortadella foam and pistachio-garlic crumble) and 'An eel swimming up the Po River' (eel with onion ash, creamy polenta, and wild-apple jelly).
Bringing the past into the present, like with the Camouflage dish, so closely associated with the height of Osteria Francescana days, but now redone as an homage to Mediterranean, with red mullet and langoustines and layers of foam, topped with some cacciucco (Italian fish stew) powder and herbs.
The 'I burnt a Sardine' is now a trout, covered with blackened chips made from the scraps of the fish and a touch of lemon verbena, and in 'Grigio e Nero', grey and black rice, the rice is now toasted and mashed into a cream, adding raw and cooked chunks of cuttlefish, as well as oysters, caviar and burnt lemon powder, turning the dish in a grey camouflage.
'La Vie en Rose', tender fillet of deer with a powdered sweet and acidic crust of rose and raspberries is an ode to Edith Piaf and her beautiful evergreen song, whereas 'This Little Piggy went to the market', originally inspired by the Damien Hirst's provocative pig dissected in formaldehyde, comes in as a bold tiny predessert (?) with luscious chocolate criolla sauce and pig's blood. Is it a dessert or part of the main dish ensemble? It's safe to say it's another attestment of Bottura not playing by the rules.
In 'Consistencies of Milk and Herbs' milk and honey are the protagonists, but it’s also a throwback to Francescana’s famous “Five maturations of Parmigiano Reggiano in different textures and temperatures” dish that paid homage to the region of Emilia Romagna, to the local cheese producers and to all that shapes and forms this land and the people who work the land here. The new dish retains the message but focuses on the milk and byproducts of cheese production and the grass the animals graze: there’s whey ice cream, crunchy milk, rennet and hay mousse, caramel and the extraction of cut grass sprayed at the table for that extra effect.
“Bread is Gold” ties it all together, bread served at the end, filled with sabayone and covered in gold, to make a point – and not a subtle one. The name of the dish stems from Bottura’s book of recepies contributed by big-name chefs who were given a task to come up with a recipe for a dish made with left-over or discarded ingredients – for some trash, for others, namely homeless people Bottura is feeding in his Refettorio projects – gold.
A menu that goes beyond cusine
The 'We Are Here' menu is an upgrade of Francescana’s 'I'm not there' menu, a cheeky play on words and Bob Dylan references, but mostly, a witty, subtle comeback to all those critics that think less of a restaurant if 'the' chef is not there, work relegated to head and sous chefs who had big shoes to fill after the likes of Taka Kondo, Davide di Fabio and Yoji Tokuyoshi who all worked for years under Massimo. A chef who hosts world's biggest celebrities on a daily basis, a chef who has amassed every single accolade the culinary world has to offer, a chef seasoned and praised enough not to sell you false modesty.
With the term "I'm not there" Bottura also tries to illustrate his ever expanding portfolio of restaurants and projects helmed by his top former head chefs and how he gives them room to shine. Taka and Karime now firmly at the helm of Gucci Osteria in Florence, Antonio Iaccovelo at Gucci Tokyo, Mattia Agazzi at Gucci Beverly Hills, Bernardo Paladini at Torno Subito (currently opening its Miami offshoot, Jessica Rosval at Casa Maria Luigia and its brand new opening, Al Gatto Verde.
But Bottura’s presence is still very much felt. Just like his high-charged energy fills that almost eerily silent VIP room in the wine cellar, turning it into a one-man spectacle when he graces guests with his appearance, he leaves a mark on everything he gets involved with. After all, would Modena even be today what it is without his all-encompassing persona, a brand that transcended the person?
“It’s a small, sleepy town,” tells me a Calabrian taxi driver as he drives me towards Casa Maria Luigia. “Not much to do here – except if you are into Ferrari, balsamic vinegar and Parmigiano.” Luckily for Bottura, he’s into pretty much all of the above – and actively involved in it as well.
Cavallino Restaurant, part of Francescana family, is practically in the Ferrari headquarters, the high-end balsamic vinegar Villa Manodori is now aged in Casa Maria Luigia’s cellar, and Parmigiano … well, we all know the story about saving reels and reels of parmigiano, damaged during the 2012 earthquake. It’s almost as if Bottura thrived the most in chaos, in little mishaps, turning them into art, just like Ai Weiwei’s now iconic Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn performance in which the artist smashed a 2.000-year-old precious vase. Constructing something big and meaningful by means of destruction.
