If Allegra is a mix of Parisian bistronomy and Nordic minimalism, Calmo is the resurrection of elegant dining with fine tablecloths and the subdued voices of waiters. A few steps up to the balcony, there's Scuro, Lorenzo Costa's "dark" cocktail bar. Three new venues after the success of Ahimè, which we've visited and will tell you about here.
Photo by Giulia Nutricati
The story
Lorenzo Costa is a restaurant nerd who sold his collection of rare video games to have the first capital to invest in a venue. Lorenzo Vecchia is a young Lombard who realized how good it is living in Bologna. Two Lorenzos. One who seeks the attention of the other for a while, the other initially reluctant, then goes to check, and in the end, you know what happened: you convinced me. Two Lorenzos are better than one. We're convinced. At least, judging by what they've done and continue to do. Without flattening lives but shouting innovation. In a whisper. Opening a venue is not easy. Costa, in a single location on the central Via Galliera, has opened three: Allegra, Calmo and Scuro.
"I've always been obsessed with breakfast and coffee. I've always wanted to open a place in this field. Make a daily venue, open from 8 in the morning until late at night, where you could do everything at any time. But would you go to dinner where you had breakfast? It could work well for breakfast and poorly for dinner or even the other way around. This is the first reason why I opened three. The second is that objectively, I wanted a large venue, as I come from very small venues that at some point reach saturation: you can't stock merchandise, create a wine cellar, take on more employees, or grow attendance. The stress of the venue comes early, and then you get stuck. Large venues in the center of medieval cities are rare. And you can imagine what structural costs it carries, such as rent and utilities.
The need was not to limit the hours of collection, like those of a conventional restaurant where you mainly work for two hours at lunch and three or four at dinner. I didn't want to abandon pure catering made of service, dishes, and wine. Making use of the large size of the venue, we thought of creating something that could act as a continuous source of transactions. This little lung is Allegra. The third reason is something strategic and concerns communication. By dividing the space into three brands, we can do a much more targeted job for each brand, without having something chaotic with everything inside. So, we work harder at the beginning because we have to manage three accounts, and the time to reach the end-user is greater, but this way, we have a precise identity for each brand and a clarity of communication that in the future can lead to replicability. If an investor comes, this way it's easier to open a new venue. The dream is that in Bologna, there are more Allegra."
Lorenzo comes from a family of restaurateurs. Nico Costa is the owner of the historic Trattoria Battibecco, a landmark in Bolognese dining. After graduating, Lorenzo's older sister introduced him to the world of service at the trattoria, where he spent five years learning the ropes. However, Lorenzo eventually decided to stand on his own two feet. He opened Oltre with a chef who was tired of overly strict environments and overly ambitious goals. Tradition was rejuvenated, yet Emilia continued to reign. It became a modern trattoria, both in its ambiance and in its pace. In the two years before the lockdown, walk-ins increased steadily. Consequently, so did the "sorry, but we're full" moments, given the small size of the venue. So, recommend a place to dine or spend an hour before returning. How nice it would have been to have another venue just steps away, perhaps a wine bar with a kitchen, to direct people who really wanted to come to you.
Thus, the idea for the Ahimé project was born, where Lorenzo Vecchia is the chef and partner. An unusual name, an interjection uttered when you feel everything but joy. Yet, the opposite happens at Ahimé; joy is served warm, and you can even take it home. "Lorenzo Vecchia was among the young chefs I observed with interest. With his restaurant in Pozzuolo Martesana, he experienced ups and downs in the years when the concept of Ahimé, a wine bar with a kitchen, was taking shape in my mind. At that time, I didn't think of incorporating a kitchen as structured as it eventually became with Lorenzo. So, I wrote him a long message explaining everything, asking how he was and how things were going. He replied with an equally long message that began with 'Ahimé.' The first word of the first message. When we had to decide on the name of the venue, calling it with the first word we exchanged seemed like a good idea."
The new venues: Calmo, Scuro, Allegra
For Allegra, the genesis of the name comes from a failure. From the legacy of a failure. It was March 2020, and Ahimé was almost ready to open. If you don't have a short memory, you remember what happened. Lorenzo and his team considered a wine distribution to offset the forced closures. They put the cart before the horse, starting with naming, logo, and what was needed to create some buzz around a microbrand. However, when they realized that a significant purchase of wines was needed to start the business, they put everything on hold. Until a few months ago. That's how Allegra was born. In the logo, a stylized smiley face, elements commonly used and referenced in wine tastings. That graphic symbol is well-suited to represent a modern bakery where friendliness is part of the menu.
During the construction year of the "triplet," Lorenzo often sits at the computer planning, writing, solving unexpected issues, and drafting menus. He sits inside a social cooperative near his home, which has a bit of coworking space. Months spent at a table. In front of a fire door, whose sign above read "Quiet Space." He Googles and discovers that this wording refers to a special, fire-resistant room that must be present in buildings housing physically impaired people who cannot evacuate in case of a fire. Ultimately, a shelter, much like what Lorenzo envisioned for his restaurant. A space to feel good, to disconnect from everything and everyone.
Calmo occupies the largest area of the location shared by the three venues. A large opening in the wall allows more than just a glimpse of the kitchen from the dining area. The ceilings are very high. Darkness prevails over light. Tetatet by Groppi adorns the tables. The Moon lamp, two meters in diameter, also by Groppi, hangs from the ceiling. Lorenzo keeps it at the minimum dimmable light intensity. He wants it to be a presence, not to illuminate. Lorenzo is also a darkness nerd - any reference to Batman is purely coincidental. The nearly brick-colored walls reflect the darkness.
It feels like a '90s club, and dinner could be just the prologue to the show to come. The next day, sunlight enters without asking for permission from the large skylights in the ceiling, eclipsing the designer's moon and drawing a space completely different, more industrial, more artisanal. If Allegra is a mix of Parisian bistronomy and Nordic minimalism, with wood and cool palettes, Calmo is the resurrection of the elegant restaurant with fine tablecloths and the subdued voices of waiters. A few steps to the balcony, and there's Scuro, the cocktail bar named after a facet of Lorenzo Costa's personality, the darker one, the one who "struggles to talk to people," the one who prefers to be an icon in a different dimension.
Forget the classic liquor cabinet; Scuro is a large gray worktable with seats on the sides. A setting we're not accustomed to, calling for drinks that can't be taken lightly. After all, how could you when you don't find what you expect? Scuro is Pietro's realm, a mixologist who "cooks" cocktails, often using the "leftovers" from Calmo's kitchen. If you ask for a classic, it's not guaranteed that he'll make it for you. We chose A casa di Ale, a drink created with hay grappa, radicchio, and verjus. The result is a uniform liquid component where you don't recognize a mix; it could all come from the same bottle. The sensation is that of a refreshing tea, a tonic.
Scuro, for us, is also another laboratory, like Allegra's, it doesn't evoke the typical conviviality of places to go for a drink; instead, it's more of a chemical obsession, for the "p(hase) transitions." Laboratory, as we were saying. Thinking about it, Lorenzo Costa has it there, the little factory for a new pairing for his restaurant and his breakfasts. We would give it a try. For Calmo and also for Allegra, it would be an additional "service," of excellence and diversification. Apologies for the business terminology. Speaking of Calmo, the overall feeling is one of intensity in the kitchen. Lorenzo Vecchia's aura is felt even when he's not there. Costa didn't want to create the typical brigade with a commander and various team leaders, risking vulnerability to the volatility of chefs. Lorenzo Vecchia leads Ahimé and is always there for Calmo, despite not always being present in the kitchen.
"I don't feel like doing fine dining, at least not yet; we still lack several aspects. I can also work in the dining room, but I'm not a great maître. If you ask me to fillet a fish, I don't know how to do it. If you ask me to work on something under the lamp, I don't know how to do it. I have other skills; I can build teams, keep them together, and I know how to run the company's finances. Then, a dish that you take from here and put it in a Michelin-starred restaurant, that we already have." If, in essence, they seek to portray it as a modern take on nostalgic cuisine, we have nothing to object.
The kitchen brigade is very young and mostly made of people who followed Costa after Oltre. The others are friends of friends who asked to join the team because they wanted a place that was both high-quality and relaxed. The problem of staff recruitment? Not applicable here. There's a girl who used to be a customer at Oltre and then asked to work for them, even though she was already involved in Berton's pastry team. The sommelier is a former Oltre customer, a wine enthusiast who "pleaded" with Costa to let him try out, even if it meant just cleaning glasses. The club atmosphere in this former watchmaker's laboratory and workshop is created by the people. Perhaps the working time here flows almost like leisure time. The precision of service and cooking conveys lightness. The tension is shared, so it finds one or more shoulders to unload on. Thanks to Lorenzo, who has established a non-hierarchical, entrepreneurially friendly management. He says he should get angry more because things don't always go smoothly, but he just can't. He always hopes someone else will get there, and if not, he gets there himself, even as the boss. The dishes, cocktails, and leavened goods are an indicator, in a way.
The famous and yuppie shrimp cocktail returns like a boomer(ang) dressed as Red Prawn Tartare. Nothing special, except for the shrimp head extract replacing the cocktail sauce, the shallot marinated in raspberry vinegar, and the fried onion crumble. The freshness of the raw body and the intense sublimation of the head. A complete dish that we would immediately pair, fearlessly, with Slavcek's Rebula, avoiding the lighter touch of the muscadet whose producer we can't recall. Another great dish is the Pigeon Risotto. A reserve Carnaroli San Massimo, cooked in roasted chicken broth, dressed with a ragout of pigeon breasts and thighs cooked confit in their fat. The mantecatura is done with pigeon stock and sour butter made with shallot paste in a reduction of vinegar. The festive risotto performs acrobatic evolutions that make your palate unfold in slow motion.
Let's move straight to one of the desserts because for a particular dish, we need to open a bracket, one that never closes. The Latte in piedi is the Bolognese dessert tradition that is not broadcast on Rai channels. Made as pastry grandmothers instructed, but, don't tell them, flavored with Sichuan pepper and salted caramel. Tradition or whatever it is.
And now we come to the Goose Breast. "No Sous Vide, or long cooking that makes the meat too tender. I like to have a provocative dish, meat that one has to work their teeth on. Federico Orsi tries hard to make them grow well; removing all the muscularity is a sin." The goose breast is seared in an iron skillet on the skin side. Once it reaches the right color, it spends about three minutes in the oven and then a long rest under a warming lamp, at least 12 minutes. It is then rolled in toasted pumpkin seeds and served with a brown sauce, reduction of red wine, a pear cooked in spices, and the goose fillet made into a small tartare. Tough meat, no doubt. The goose is not the duck, and especially the goose is Federico Orsi's, yes, the farmer who also produces excellent wine in the Bolognese hills. He is also part of the Lorenzo crew, and the green star of Ahimè owes a lot to him. A controversial dish because if you're not used to using canines, it might not be memorable. The taste is there for sure, and we are convinced that there is also a way to preserve the fiber without asking too much crossfit from the jaws.
The breakfast at Allegra was indulgent, in the impulse to have the most exhaustive big picture of leavening possible. In no particular order, we tried the salted caramel and soy rose cake, the pain au chocolat, and the Danish with chantilly cream. The latter was perfect, a fantastic bite, crumbly yet not crumbly, unlike the pain au chocolat, which unfortunately had too fragile and less elastic framing, crumbling too easily. The chantilly was tasty but a bit too buttery. In general, we noticed a slight obsession with chantilly and little credit for pastry creams. It fits the format, of course, intending to distance itself from the classic breakfasts of Italian bakeries and pastry shops. Forgive our personal comment; perhaps we are more nostalgic. At least in the morning.
Regarding the rose cake - we taste it wherever someone makes it bloom - we found it to be a great idea, with a pronounced but well-balanced savoriness. If it had been baked a bit more in the center, it would have been instantly in our personal top 3. For lunch, the atmosphere is Parisian: buttered toast with Zavoli's cooked ham and alpine fontina, paté en croute, radicchio salad with anchovy vinaigrette, and Parmigiano. We suggest a different dish for the radicchio salad. Very delicious, but difficult to enjoy due to the size of the leaves. We walk beyond the stairs that lead to Scuro. Lorenzo shows us a room full of wine gems that will soon be a dedicated tasting dinner venue, then the wine cellar. We see other doors. We already see other projects in his eyes.
