A little spot that these guys have managed to make warm and cozy, so much so that they were noticed very soon by the Michelin guide with a mention: the wine list is already strong, counting two hundred and fifty labels, and an entire menu of offal, from appetizer to dessert.
Gattinara and its beautiful hills have a two-hundred-and-ninety-million-year geological history: we are in one of the first DOCGs in Italy to be born, the terroir is decidedly distinctive and gives birth to a Nebbiolo of great character. From here you go to Valsesia and its mountains, and it was precisely Romagnano that was the first independent stop for a very young couple in the restaurant industry, twenty-two years old she, twenty-eight he, chef and maître respectively, before arriving in Gattinara and giving birth to the cozy Osteria Contemporanea.
The story
While perhaps the name chosen is not exactly original (google to believe), the gastronomic idea of Agnese Loss and Davide Saglietti, that is, to create an entire menu based on offal, from appetizer to dessert, is instead courageous and characterizing. Agnese, who was born in a very small town in Trentino near San Martino di Castrozza, began to hang out in kitchens at a very early age.
Her main stops are first a pastry shop not far from home and a hotel in Madonna di Campiglio, then at Alberto Gipponi da Dina in Gussago, one of the most original players in contemporary cuisine. The two young people met in 2019 in Vernante, at the Nazionale, fell in love, and from there on they went on together, to the Piccolo Principe at the Grand Hotel Principe di Piemonte in Viareggio, two Michelin stars with Giuseppe Mancino, where Agnese was in pastry. Later they returned to the mountains, to the Gallo Cedrone at the Masè family's Hotel Bertelli in Madonna di Campiglio.
When they opened their first restaurant, in Romagnano Sesia, Agnese was 20 and Davide was 26: "It was a bit crazy, after the seasons together we wanted to move to Langhe, but after the lockdown there was so much instability, the job offers were all precarious. So we started in Davide's mom's restaurant, the family's historic pizzeria, the first in Valsesia." Davide continues: “We started there, trudging along, three dinner services, and then they closed us for lunch as well. Amidst many vicissitudes, the idea of finding something new came to us in February, on Valentine's Day 2022: there was only a table for 2. I looked at Agnese and told her, 'either we're going to be employees or we're moving from here.'"
The restaurant
The search is fruitful and in May the couple finds, in Gattinara, in the center of the town, what had formerly been first a stable, then a slaughterhouse and finally a restaurant. A little place that these guys knew how to make warm and welcoming, so much so that they were noticed very soon by the Michelin guide with a recommendation: wine list already two hundred and fifty labels strong and a tasty cuisine complete the work.
Why offal, then (although it must be said that people who have an idiosyncrasy for the fifth quarter), still find excellent alternatives? Agnese recounts, “I've always eaten them, ever since I was little, Dad was a cook for a few years and always cooked anything, even the weirdest. When we left we wanted to be a little more relaxed and propose traditional things, but a little different. Not being from Piedmont, I was struggling more at first, so I moved to my comfort zone. Offal however did well right from the start." Then, to reinforce the point, she tells us a funny anecdote: “As a child I was terrified of Santa Claus, there is a photograph they managed to take only because mom put a plate of tripe in my hand, so I would stop crying.”
The dishes
There are two tasting menus available, one focused on Agnese's gastronomic mission and the other accessible to anyone who does not appreciate it. Gluttony will definitely be satisfied, in both cases, for example with the very Piedmontese "ravioli del plin ai tre arrosti e fondo bruno", which is pasta filled with three types of roast meats and their stock, that Agnese brings back home with a Trentingrana sauce with 24 months of seasoning.
And more, the succulent 100% pigeon: breast, leg, filet and wing with its perfect cooking. Also delicious is the spring char with yogurt and dill.
Moving on to the more hard-core courses, the bullock grits with turnip greens, lemon and skyr are gourmet; also very successful are the green bagnet square ravioli with garlic cream and veal tongue ragu. Nice idea to use veal spinal cord strands, with their very special texture, for a dessert that sees them offered in tempura with a refreshing passion fruit sorbet and cocoa crumble.
A more reassuring, but just as good, Schwarzwald (black forest): chocolate and black cherry sphere, chocolate cookie, fiordilatte ice cream and black cherry gel. A definitely interesting Piedmontese stop.
Contact
Osteria Contemporanea
Via Francesco Mattai, 4, 13045 Gattinara VC
Phone: 339 462 1463
