Fire Soul is not a series of “showcase events”; it is the coming-of-age stories of two mild-mannered brothers who have fire inside. Matteo and Riccardo Vergine-awarded red and green stars at their Grow in Albiate-take turns hosting great chefs who somehow walk like them on the path to primal cuisine. The result? We tell you about it here.
Photographs by Lido Vannucchi
The restaurant and the Fire Soul project.
The starlight did not overshadow the heat of the flame of their young souls. Praise be to the god of fire. Despite the accolades - Michelin Star and Best Young Chef award, in addition to the Green Star already on display for a year - Matteo and Riccardo, go on their way, walking a little on clouds and a little on embers. The important thing is alternation, otherwise routine would turn everything to ashes. Even success.
Since last September they have been carrying out the Fire Soul project : one evening a month in which they share their small kitchen with a chef who somehow walks like them on the path of primordial cooking, the one in which man and cook, tries not to forget his dependence on nature and gratitude to it. Avoiding as much as possible the artifices, the diabolical presumption of self-sufficiency. As I write a song by Mumford&Sons, Awake my soul,passes by. Call it chance or call it a sign. It still makes me smile. And concentration seems lighter too, like the acumen of a flame that disappears and then reappears.
The soul becomes weighed down when it stands too much on its own, when it avoids the shock of reality and thinks it can own it, in a positivist rush that measures everything and divides everything. Nourishment as sustenance can become food for the soul only if men and women listen, only if they burn away conceit and self-referentiality. The episode of Fire Soul with Alexander Silva, chef and patron of Loco in Lisbon, was an opportunity not to stop at accolades, rather at “recognizing” and thus at new knowledge. What a strange coincidence to discover, from a quick exchange with Matteo Vergine, that the Portuguese chef at the beginning of his entrepreneurial adventure had conceived an event very similar to the one conceived by the Grow brothers.
"Three years after he opened his restaurant - Loco was launched in 2012 - he came up with an event where he would host a great chef every month for an entire year. Alex Atala, Adrià, Dominique Crenn came. Alexander couldn't afford to have everyone show up at his own expense; he thinks Chef Crenn didn't want compensation and even paid her own travel. She wanted only one thing in return, for Alex to take her around Lisbon and the surrounding area to discover the excellence of her territory. In those twelve meetings Silva was able to grow exponentially from an organizational and management point of view, as well as on the enhancement of the raw material."
Where Alex Silva's spirit of sharing with Matteo and Riccardo comes from is not hard to understand. Like the boys of Grow today, so Alex twenty years ago wished to absorb as much as he could from colleagues ahead of him, without thinking of “stealing” the recipes and dishes, but to watch with wide eyes every single step and learn live the secrets of a llocal that works and serves moments of temporary happiness to its customers.
"I am happy to be here with Matteo and Riccardo, partly because we often feel like we are walking alone in the dark. When someone invites you to another country, to another kitchen, I am happy to be part of that sharing. Making new friends from other countries and networking is something that enriches me. Animal hunting is like a tribute to nature, we take them and cook them from head to toe. It doesn't matter if we go in the opposite direction that the world says. I was born inside this culture and it is difficult for me to stay outside of it. I use products from Portugal, I don't care about restaurants that decide to use scallops, caviar and foie gras. I use products I believe in, whose origins I know. However, when I go to another restaurant I am for sharing ideas and culture, so I asked for local products to turn them into real Portuguese flavors. The trout, eel and pigeon are from Lombardy but they will taste like Portugal."
The dinner
It was not the usual four-hand dinner. Alex, with his family, arrived in Brianza two days before the dinner. The chefs from the other hosted restaurants-Oba, Raest, Ekstedt, Tres, missing Tri, and Jerico-tasted the local products at the restaurant, but made their own dishes with the ingredients they had brought with them. Alex Silva flew into the hold only the dehydrated tartlets that were needed for one of the entrées. He sampled all the local ingredients he had requested to get familiar with them, wanted to eat at the restaurant to observe the plate releases and the style of service. He had two specific briefings, one on the raw material and one on the creative part and the mise en place. In between, imagine daily life side by side, time shared with his wife and little daughter in another country, pizzas eaten together, and friendship beginning to fade from the ashes.
“I'm lucky because I've always had an older brother in every kitchen I've been in who told me what was best to do and which way to look. I do it because I think he - Matteo - wants to see how different chefs work the same products in different ways. If I just bring my own stuff and do what I'm used to doing in Portugal, I don't get much out of it either. So instead I can grow more and he can be inspired and learn. My father used to say that the fire inside you doesn't fear age. We are dreamers and believers, meaning we don't stop at just dreaming. When I imagine a four-hander in Lisbon I hope the chefs will use our products, to capture the essence, the true taste. When I invite them I hope they come around with me, to learn about our Portuguese raw materials and feel the differences with theirs."
The balance between organization and creativity makes all the difference
Matthew speaks with the humility of someone who knows that nothing is owed to him, not even what he deservedly won. He confides in me about the three days he spent with Alex with the satisfaction of the student who has finally found the professor who can keep him from feeling the weight of time. Everything does not always go right as in the case of the chef who would not listen to reason, his dishes could only touch them and bring them to the table, even though the service was delayed for forty-five minutes. Clear and direct directions from Alex as well, the difference being that the pulse was held not out of fear or superiority, but only for the satisfaction of the customer and that of the team. The serving temperature for the pigeon dish had to be 45°C, which is why several hands were needed to serve the twenty-odd guests at the same time. Go ahead and touch my dishes and preserve the smiles of the customers.
Different approaches. The thing is that when I entered Grow's around 6:30 p.m., in time to bust everyone's balls a bit with my questions, it seemed like nothing was supposed to happen at 8 p.m. Not exactly flat calm, but everyone is quite in the chill. I found out a little later that the reason was due to the extreme organization of Alex Silva and his second Juan. Matteo and Riccardo had asked them that everything be ready at 6 p.m., and it was. The quality in the organization and preparation, the respect for the timetable, approaching raw materials that one has known for only a few hours. This is the thing the Virgin brothers absorbed the most. From all the chefs hosted. Alex wanted a map of the restaurant room to have an eye on even the two tables with intolerances.
In an enlightened atmosphere, where one feels welcomed, where the pressure is light and constant, it is easier to override the ordinary and become an ally. Leading a restaurant means having the understanding that every decision matters, from the obviously important ones to the seemingly more mundane ones. Control and creativity should not override one another, nor should intuition and process. Recognizing yourself to observe novelties that are epiphanies is a clue that you are on the right track, because your eyes are open. "In the whole restaurant they have 10 other guys, besides him, a head chef and the sous chef. They don't have a maître d'hôtel. During the service there is one person at the pass to act as the conductor for both the dining room and kitchen-usually Alex or the head chef-giving both the go-ahead to get rid of and replace. There is then a single person who does the plating. There are three waiters and they are all sommeliers. If one of the waiters is already busy with a customer, the person who made the dish is called out and brought to the table."
This approach applies to both Loco and Fogo, Alex Silva's second restaurant, a seventy-cover-per-night Portuguese trattoria where traditional dishes are all made over fire and embers. There is one last thing Matteo tells me in an excited voice. It is about something that perhaps borders on nerdiness, actually coincides with an unbridled passion for the raw material and the customers' palate. "Alex has eliminated the subjective factor of salt, I mean that subjective addition that everyone makes at the initial stage and after cooking. He studied the correct flavor point for each protein, whether fish or meat, and proceeds with a marinade made with a coarse salt base. Trout and pigeon, for example, he kept them under layers of coarse salt blended with garlic and bay leaves for five minutes. Then he rinses and the matter touches no more salt. Mallard breast, on the other hand, needs a fifteen-minute marinating process. It has studied to standardize the savoriness that we are interested in learning."
The dishes
Talking about the dishes at this point can only represent the closing of a circle. What's the point then of holding back our preference? Colombaccio Funghi e Topinambur is the dish of the evening, flying on woody levels that even Uliassi and Gorini would look at each other as in a meme. You couldn't count the different textures perfectly balanced. Matteo confides that there were nine, with the face of someone making his Champions League debut and being immediately posterized by one of his idols.
Roasted Jerusalem artichoke puree and char-grilled kale shoulder the perfectly cooked breast and thigh, the twist is the mustard grains dotting the caramelized mushrooms. When the pigeon touches the ground, it is your tongue that would like to take flight. Trout, Almond and Atlantic Sauce, is the dish in which the trout goes to sea and almost turns into a matured amberjack. Splendid is the texture of the meat, deep the Atlantic sauce made with scraps, heads and bones of Portuguese shore fish. Let us turn instead to the unresolved. At the moment personally dystonic, for the simple fact that the acidity yearned for prominence, proving excessive. Let's talk about the “Cabidela” a reinterpretation of a traditional Portuguese chicken recipe. Here it is made with rice cooked in onion broth, chicken, truffle, all whipped with the blood of the animal itself. A foam of sour cream emphasized the acidity even more without bringing out the umami.
Having finished Loco's dishes, we will not dwell on Puffed Rice and Deer or Marinated Yolk Kale and Duck. Of Grow we want to talk about the dessert: Chocolate and Tobacco Cake. Something really mouthwatering and deep, which has now become a signature of Matthew's. It was the first taste for us, and you really get struck by how much a smoked tea-based sauce can lighten the chocolate and pasta sheet armor around it. A dessert with a destiny of commercialization. Because you would like to have it within reach every day.
Fire Soul is not a series of showcase events, it is the coming-of-age stories of two mild-mannered brothers who have fire inside. And who are putting coal on the fire, preferring the bright spots of embers to those of flashes.
Contact
Grow restaurant
via San Valerio 4, Albiate, 20847, Italy
Phone: +39 0362 136 0111
