Milan Welcomes Italy's Most Acclaimed New Deli: 'Enough Sushi, People Want Lasagna and Roast Chicken'

Milan craves simplicity: a historic neighborhood business restarts with a winning collaboration between former Tannico partners and Matias Perdomo. With an extra edge.

The establishment

They could have named it Rosticceria Magnocavallo or Rosticceria Bellavita, both very evocative surnames. Instead, they chose to keep the original name: Rosticceria Palazzi dal 1992. "The project was born in September when I saw that a neighborhood deli, of which I was a regular customer, had closed down. I thought we should try to reopen it." And so Marco Magnocavallo, along with his partner Juliette Bellavita, did just that.

Marco and Juliette parted ways with Tannico a few months ago, after selling their wine creature to the joint venture between Campari Group and Moët-Hennessy. The couple who, over the past decade, have legitimized online wine sales with well-chosen, well-told, and well-packaged wines, now attempt to legitimize a return to the simplicity of a no-frills dish with plenty of flavor.

"On Juliette's suggestion, we thought it would be better to ask someone for help to support us in our endeavor to renew the concept of the deli. Thinking of Matias Perdomo was rather automatic. We've known him for a long time; he's a friend with whom we've shared several drinks during the Tannico days, and he also had the experience of opening the Roc rotisserie during Covid."

If Matias Perdomo is the providential man, a woman of substance has been entrusted with the kitchen. Arianna Consiglio is the cook to whom Matias proposed the project of transforming a historic deli into a modern neighborhood deli. Arianna accepted, thus leaving Exit Pastificio, which we'll soon tell you, and setting out to develop irresistible versions of lasagna, meatballs, eggplant Parmesan, vitello tonnato, and roast chicken.

arianna consiglio rosticceria palazzi milano 70

"We've always liked fine dining, both for the palate experience and for the theatricality and spectacle of cooking and service. Of course, the further we go, the more we crave simplicity, intense and direct flavors. To say that a dish is good, we no longer feel the need for a list of a hundred ingredients, suppliers, or various exoticism. The joy of a well-made dish is the same if not greater than that of a sought-after and more complex dish. We see a great space in the market for a return to simplicity. It seems to us that we've all got a bit tired of sophistication and eating poke, sushi, or hamburgers."

What will this deli be like? What will our palate notice differently in a rotisserie started by a black belt of start-ups and a Michelin-starred chef with entrepreneurial flair?

The cuisine

Quality derives from three macro factors. Certainly from the raw material that passes through the supplier inventory already in Perdomo's spreadsheets. Then from the experience and ability of those who handle it, namely Arianna, who at the Pastificio had already managed to give a contemporary flair to what is most normal and everyday to chew on. The third element is technical tools, technical support that helps in the transformation of cooking, preservation, and maturation processes. Even a plate of lasagna made with raw materials and great technical expertise will reveal taste layers never experienced before.

"I was a customer before, and I am now. Eating dishes from Palazzi is already a very different taste experience. Even some historical customers who returned as soon as we opened have noticed the extra edge of the dishes. The roast chicken, for example, which in Milan we're generally used to being quite dry: now you say, goodness, a proper roast chicken, much more similar to a roast chicken as it is eaten in France."

The preparation of Rosticceria Palazzi's roast chicken is something that requires time. When the chicken arrives, it's not immediately placed on the rotisserie; hours must pass for the skin to lose its moisture to become even crispier and for the meat inside to undergo the process that will make it softer. The chicken, needless to say, comes from a farm that supplies Matias Perdomo's fine dining restaurant. Will the comparison with Giannasi be the first thing that comes to mind? For a true Milanese, perhaps yes, even though Giannasi, which cooks 500-600 chickens a day, has a different formula and positioning than the newly re-opened Rosticceria Palazzi.

For the concept of this establishment, which celebrates simplicity, a substantial but equally simple wine offering could not be missing. The wine list, which consists of about 80 labels, stems from the passion of Marco and Juliette and the consultancy of Thomas Piras, the maître d' of Contraste and founder of a wine import and distribution project. The underlying idea is in line with the food menu, namely simple wines, but made with modern winemaking techniques.

There are also some natural labes, not leaning too far toward the extremes of this movement, which often leave too much space for storytelling rather than substance. The bulk wine couldn't be missing: the bag-in-box Cirelli Trebbiano and the Clavesana Dolcetto. Any time is good for a drink, at least until the closing time, which, compared to the previous management, has been moved to 9:30 p.m. You can also order a Bicicletta, a historic aperitif for the city of Milan, composed of Campari soda and white wine. It is said that the name derives from the fact that, after drinking one or more of these drinks, it was a bit difficult to pedal home.

So it won't be a late-night or trendy place. A simple place, with 30 years of history and a new story to write. Where you can have a glass, with very low mark-ups on wine, and indulge in some substantial bites. From spring, a delivery service will also be active throughout Milan.