A detailed story of the surroundings, from inland to the sea, reaching beyond the horizon in search of the perfect taste. Pascucci al Porticciolo is the seafood restaurant that goes beyond the sea, where exceptional cuisine finds its perfect reflection in the dining room.
THE STORY
“No one is coming; I'm exhausted and demotivated. We either continue together or we close; there's no point in going on like this.” Gianfranco Pascucci said these words to his partner, Vanessa Melis, during one of the most challenging moments of a luminous career filled with satisfaction. Gianfranco Pascucci was born in Fiumicino in 1970, and from a very young age, he showed a natural inclination toward cooking. He learned and deepened his skills as a self-taught chef, driven by a desire to tell the story of the sea and its territory through his recipes, without ever considering that it could be his future career.
In the late '90s, he began managing his grandfather's hotel with his sister, handling everything from room cleaning, to optimize time and costs, to the night concierge, and even preparing breakfasts in what is now the restaurant's dining room. “When we met, he didn't have any plans to go into the restaurant business," recalls Vanessa Melis, born in 1973, now the chef's wife. "I was very focused on my professional journey; I was determined to become a primary school teacher."
Using such a large space only for breakfast seemed limiting, so Gianfranco decided to turn it into a proper trattoria, relying on Vanessa's help during the weekends, initially just for preparing classic desserts, including tiramisu, nonna's cake, crème caramel, and dry biscuits. At the time, Vanessa occasionally worked at a local snack bar and managed the few tables at their establishment on her own, likely with the same smile and innate ability to convey tranquility that she has today: “Even though I was sure of what I wanted to do when I grew up, that job made me feel good, and I was truly happy when I finished my shift," she continues.
Riding this wave of enthusiasm, Gianfranco encouraged Vanessa to help him not only with desserts but also in the dining room, handling and organizing the business: "At first, it was tough; no one was coming except for family and a few friends. We would sit them by the window to make it look like there were people because the entrance was on the opposite side from where it is now. Then, when Gianfranco, exhausted, told me he would continue only with my support, I replied that we had to give it a try together."
Over time, customers started to come, and the results became increasingly encouraging until the restaurant reached 70/80 covers a day: "We offered a much simpler menu than we do now, mostly classic and traditional dishes like fried seafood, baked fish, spaghetti with clams, though Gianfranco would occasionally come up with something more creative." As time went on, serving all those people became complicated and exhausting, to the point where we decided to drastically reduce the number of covers while also offering a different type of cuisine: "It wasn't an easy choice," recalls Vanessa. "We knew we'd lose a lot of customers who loved that style, but we felt we had to do it because we couldn't care for people the way we wanted to."
Soon, the first recognitions from industry guides arrived, including that from Gambero Rosso: "They were the first to praise our efforts, confirming we were on the right track," Vanessa adds. However, the most prestigious recognition came in 2012 with the award of a Michelin star: "The director of Michelin Italy himself came. It was a Saturday in June at lunchtime, and Gianfranco wasn't there because he'd been invited to an important event, and I hadn't noticed anything until a guy in the dining room drew my attention to this distinguished gentleman, pointing out that it seemed to be him. When I went over to speak with him to confirm who he was, he did confirm it. I explained the situation and the reason for the chef's absence, but I immediately had the feeling that he was quite impressed."
THE RESTAURANT
However, nothing happens by chance, and certain recognitions are the result of a journey, the fruit of hard work where nothing is improvised; everything is planned, searched for, and pursued. Once you reach a goal, it's tempting to catch your breath and relax to enjoy the moment, but Gianfranco and Vanessa have kept working hard to prove that not only was the recognition deserved, but that it now seems even undervalued. The recent restyling has retained the original spaces, as well as the small, intimate internal room, which can serve as a private area when needed. Pastel tones continue to dominate, along with art objects and marine-themed paintings by artist Gabriele Leonardi, adding extra color and warmth. The setting is understated, refined, and elegant. The floors have been completely renewed, both inside and outside, eliminating steps and risers to bring everything to a single level, making the venue more modern and functional. The seating is also new, more comfortable, attractive, and cozier than before.
Gianfranco Pascucci's cuisine interprets the sea and the surrounding territory with a unique stylistic touch, going beyond concepts like seasonality and zero waste to explore the marine ecosystem in its entirety, including seaweeds, aromatic herbs, and plants, with the Macchiagrande WWF oasis being the main supplier. For Gianfranco, the sea is the culmination of a journey that weaves through the oasis itself, amid meadows and pine forests rich in juniper, rosemary, mastic, myrtle, and bay leaves, whose flavors become more intense as you approach the sea.
His cooking is curious, sophisticated, and loves to experiment, also open to tastes, ingredients, and combinations typical of other cultures, such as the frequent use of seaweeds as natural flavor enhancers, which add not only iodine notes but also the umami typical of Japanese cuisine. This deep and complex study, however, translates into proposals that are always readable, never trivial, where taste comes first and the raw material remains the absolute protagonist. It is analyzed thoroughly to understand its characteristics and to seek the perfect, unusual, and often surprising texture.
Gianfranco Pascucci is a master at adding to his dishes seemingly insignificant elements, often not even mentioned, like sauces, oils, extracts, and powders, mostly derived from personally foraged plants and aromatic herbs in Macchiagrande. These are combined in such a way that they cannot be individually distinguished, but they exponentially expand the spectrum of flavors and prove incredibly functional for the final result.
In light of this, the first version of a dish is never the final one but rather the beginning of a collective effort to improve it, aiming for its continuous evolution. This also applies to signature dishes. "They may seem like the same dishes, but they're very different from those of past years," the chef explains. "This is because they are the result of the relentless work of refinement that happens when the restaurant is closed. It's during those quiet moments that we let ideas and discussions flow freely, both to refine what already exists and to seek new inspirations." At Pascucci al Porticciolo, you can order à la carte, but the best way to grasp this philosophy is to choose one of the two tasting menus available: the classic for €130, but especially "Come è profondo il mare" for €150, which represents the pinnacle of the cuisine and the territory, always seen as something to value, never as a restrictive constraint. There is also a wine pairing option with 5 glasses for €70 or 7 glasses for €105.
The wine cellar, managed with charm and passion by Luca Pozzoli, moves in harmony with the rhythm and direction of the kitchen, always seeking new labels that evoke the sea through pronounced mineral and saline notes, with great impact and coherence, not only ideologically but also in taste. The wine list includes plenty of French wines, starting with an extensive selection of Champagne, many labels from Burgundy and the Loire, but also Alsace, Jura, Rhone, and Bordeaux, especially for reds. Italy and the islands are well represented, both with sparkling wines and whites, with interesting vertical selections from some renowned wineries. There are also references from Germany, Spain, Greece, California, Israel, and South Africa, along with a thoughtfully curated selection of reds, primarily from Tuscany and Piedmont. The cellar also offers a wide range of spirits, large-format bottles, and a more-than-satisfying selection of wines by the glass, including some top-tier labels.
THE DISHES
It's the synergy between the dining room, kitchen, and wine cellar that makes the experience memorable—a perfect synthesis of form and substance, always in balance. Indeed, Gianfranco Pascucci's dishes are rich in substance, both in terms of flavor and thought, as you immediately notice from the amuse-bouches, like the "cuttlefish nougat," with its incredible texture, where the cuttlefish is marinated and served with almond cream, hazelnuts, and mandarin, and a surprising couscous made with sea bass roe, basil oil, and red berries. "The roe isn't mature yet at this time of year, which is why you get this texture," explains the chef. The "Baccalà mantecato (whipped cod) with zucchini in basil vinegar and tomato" has a taste of spring, conceptually uniting Northern and Southern Italy, while the "Oyster with wood sorrel, green tabasco, and white chocolate granita" deserves an applause for the meatiness and savoriness of the oyster, its pairing with the sweetness of white chocolate, and the selection of ingredients that harmonize perfectly, suggesting a new way of imagining a possible dessert, out of the ordinary.
A special mention goes to the "Amberjack ceviche with Kaluga Amur caviar," a testament of that search for the perfect texture in seafood that was mentioned earlier, and the "Langoustine, salty yogurt, mullet liver, and asparagus," where the raw crustacean remains the star of the dish, while the other elements broaden and extend the taste, adding complexity. The "Mazzancolla, Jerusalem artichoke, preserved lemon, and morels" demonstrates how curious the chef is to explore every possible nuance of flavor, viewing the territory as a place to which every possible digression can be traced back, with the goal of returning it enriched, broader, and more complex; the same goes for the "Scallop, artichokes, orange, and vegetables," a happy encounter of flavors and cultures that seem distant only on the surface, with the small-sized scallop perfectly cooked and well-integrated with vegetable jus, fried artichokes, and orange, which adds freshness and acidity.
The first courses are spot-on and perfectly encapsulate the concept of depth of flavor, which is a thread running through Gianfranco Pascucci's cuisine: extractions, reductions, and sauces deliver unique flavors and long-lasting iodine notes, as in the "Spaghettino cooked in squid and cuttlefish broth with basil oil," where the broth made from squid scraps, with added lemon and oregano, is so intense that it resembles soy sauce, drifting into the umami territory mentioned earlier and beloved in Eastern cultures, but with solid local roots. The "Spaghetti with sea tomato, marjoram, and gurnard" evokes childhood memories, a hymn to summer and Mediterranean flavors and colors: "There's a time of year when the tomatoes in the Isola Sacra garden exceed our needs, so to avoid waste, we make a preserve," Gianfranco explains. It's not just a simple tomato sauce, though, because the chef adds fish collagen and seaweed to give it texture and enrich its flavor, creating a dish that's fresh, light, and impactful at the same time, with the addition of oyster emulsion, marjoram, and marine plankton further enhancing its iodine note.
The "Crispy expression of red mullet, foie gras terrine, and red berries" is perhaps the epitome of the relentless effort to improve a dish, as mentioned earlier. The key here is the red berry breading that wraps the fish, dry and crunchy on the outside, melting on the inside, the result of continuous trials to maintain the right texture during cooking, with a sharp acidic note, also given by the red wine vinegar in which the accompanying red cabbage is cooked, perfectly balanced by the richness of the foie gras.
The desserts are no less impressive, fresh and light, reflecting the structures and techniques of high-end pastry, designed to be indulgent and enjoyable without overwhelming at the end of the meal. Take the "Meringue, strawberries, and rhubarb," where the sweetness of the meringue is balanced by the salty note from pine nut foam, the acidity of strawberries, and the slightly bitter taste of rhubarb. Or the "Maritozzo in XXL size," perfectly risen and accompanied by iodized cream, saltier than the traditional version.
The dining room is a natural extension of the kitchen, not only for the ease with which it conveys its philosophy but also because it shares the same style, elegance, and refinement with extreme coherence, to which are added grace, courtesy, and professionalism, of which Vanessa Melis is the absolute embodiment. Her innate empathetic skills make her uniquely capable of understanding customers' desires and needs: "I find that there are too many constraints in restaurants today; we should go back to being more flexible, more inclusive, otherwise we risk driving away customers or becoming places for special occasions only," she admits. It's precisely this mindset, combined with all the other essential aspects related to savoir-faire, that makes Pascucci al Porticciolo one of the most welcoming places along this stretch of coast, and beyond.
This welcoming attitude extends to young people who want to pursue this profession: "Young people are the present, not the future. Sometimes I see great qualities in them, but they need encouragement and support; they need to breathe the atmosphere of the dining room. Theoretical lessons are essential, but then you need to give them hands-on experience, let them get on the field," Vanessa concludes.
Contacts
Pascucci al Porticciolo
Via Fiumara, 2- 00054 Fiumicino (Rome)
Phone: +39 06 65029204
Mobile: 329 4603566
pascuccialporticciolo@gmail.com
