A "double-author" pizza and a mixology proposal that combines every single drink with yeast products: at Officine del Cibo, the pizzeria experience whizzes on the chef-baker track, redrawing the contours of beverage as well. Giacomo Devoto's project with dough master Gian Marco Ferrandi and Simone Bellè's impeccable performance in the dining room.
It is no longer a mystery that pizza can simultaneously step into the shoes of a first course, main course and even dessert. The real pitfall lies, conversely, in making an entire pizza meal harmonious. Well, if there is one thought you will take home with you after a dinner at Officine del Cibo, it will be exactly this: harmony does not come through the usual “topping in trend”, but -on the contrary- through the ability to go beyond the “already seen and already eaten”.
This is Giacomo Devoto and Gian Marco Ferrandi 's (the sign's chef-patron and master pizzaiolo, respectively) answer to those who believe that the “pizzeria” palimpsest is now saturated with content: imagine the scarpetta al sugo converted into an appetizer, a stuffed cornicione like a cannellone, the sweet margherita with vanilla tomato. All small agreements between typicality and new school methods capable of forging an authentic lab of leavened goods just outside the historic center of Sarzana. Thus, today the treasury of awards sums up -just to name a few- Three Spicchi from Gambero Rosso and a solid placement among the 100 best addresses in Italy in the 50 Top Pizza ranking. We'll tell you the rest below.
The Pizzeria
2016, a tenacious cook and a plan to turn the “mass disc” into a pedestal for experimentation: Giacomo Devoto starts Officine del Cibo probing the potential of the Neapolitan tonda in Ligurian land. The goal? Not only, and not so much, to entice an audience hungry for novelty; rather, to build a precise narrative about food, aided and abetted by the teamwork that has nurtured his restaurant idea since its inception (we saw this in the in-depth look at Locanda de Banchieri).
And in fact, the imprinting-far from being a cold move studied at the table-starts from the warm “memories of the South” of the Sarzano chef, since his great-grandmother (who later settled in Lunigiana) for a time lived precisely in the lively area of the Quartieri Spagnoli. Not coincidentally, Devoto's curriculum also counts a formative parenthesis at Da Attiilio alla Pignasecca. Shortly thereafter, the picture is recomposed with the entry of Gian Marco Ferrandi, a complementary young ace who insists on the diversification of doughs and the recovery of evocative recipes, ready to extend the common notion of gastronomic slice.
On the menu, to say, pizza also appears steamed and pan-fried (subject to the classic Neapolitan according to the dictates of theAVPN, with which the restaurant is associated); the Italian-style pan offers a gentle crunchy rather than abrasive, with the fine body properly supporting the ingredient; the gluten-free variant gives, for once, the same satisfaction as the result obtained with standard flours. The result is a continuous flow of shared insights; a chef-living double track on which the future of the pizzeria experience wizzes.
Anyway, the journey starts from home: instead of supplì and crocchette, the welcome includes native spezzafame such as Panizza and stoccafisso, Testaroli boiled with oil and Parmigiano, Anchovies, toasted bread and whipped butter or-why not- Impepata di muscoli (the renowned La Spezia mussels). Plus, in addition to a thoughtful selection of beers and wines, the difference on the beverage front is made by the dedicated drink list for mixing, put together by the talented cellar and dining manager Simone Bellè.
To him is owed an added share of thoughtfulness and empathy that you are unlikely to encounter in similar contexts, as well as-precisely-the ability to think of the individual cocktail (or mocktail) in relation to each course, gradually cushioning the escalation of baked goods from the fried to the epilogue. Notable, for example, is the “signature” Terra Officine, composed of Vermentino from the surrounding hills, Kombucha, Persichetto (a liqueur made from fresh infused peach leaves), and Ligurian basil and sage.
The tasting itineraries and pizzas
It is Simone again who introduces us to the “blind” routes, three alternative routes to the wide range of options on the menu. Itineraries calibrated both in prices (“Ti raccontiamo la nostra pizza,” €25; Pizza Lab contemporanea and Degustazione Verace, both €30) and in the number of runs and nutritional balance, as we were able to see at the end of the tasting. It starts with a gesture that acquires the autonomy of a dish in its own right: the Scarpetta, materialized for the occasion in a bite of bread baked in a wood-fired oven with its crumb soaked in juicy ragu. The greedy ritual at your fingertips, confirming the transversality of the cereal.
Senonché, while you still have the echo of tomato in your head for the “Sunday lunch” revival, here comes the Piscialandrea. “This is a pizza that is very common along our coasts,“ explains Gian Marco, ”which we replicate through a dry biga dough pre-dough using whole wheat flour". The special feature? “For hydration, no water, only milk!". In the mouth, the character of the base is striking, rustic and at the same time persistent, to enter into a sprightly dialogue with the traditional garnish-"a mix of olives, capers, anchovies and onion, ‘left to pull’ to the maximum degree of concentration to extract the vigorous scents of the material, between earth and waves.” Above, anchovy filet and Daikon microgreens, a green comma that dampens the rush of iodine on the run.
The pizzaiolo's work on “gluten-free” is interesting, well summed up by the ethereal steamed slice “Che cavolo di pizza,” to which the specific cooking method gives extra thickness and extrasoft texture. “A tribute to Renato Bosco, forerunner of this method, which I wanted to reinterpret thanks to a blend of three flours including that of Riso Buono Artemide." The crumb takes on, then, a particular purple hue that pendents with the ragu of black cabbage and the sprouts of the vegetable lying on top. Strange but true, the sulfurous notes are at times mitigated by the buffalo mozzarella, at times pushed discreetly by the smoked Parmigiano, making an objectively complex combo to manage enjoyable.
The Sarzana-Naples section is anticipated by the service of the cornicione only. “We reflected on the tendency of guests to advance it often, whether due to the absence of topping, satiety or habit: a pity, since it represents the backbone of our pizza," confesses chef Giacomo Devoto. So, the ends return to the center with the help of a double inner and outer topping: “Soft potato cream, pesto, pine nuts and smoked provolone. We call it 'The Best Part of Pizza.'" Never was the name more apt, given the unanimous feedback from diners: mission accomplished!
It comes to change the register with the open Montanara, with its slightly golden wrapper and fresh heart of burrata and prescinseua that cushions the blow of fried food in the middle of the menu. On the botanical side, caramelized onion, chlorophyll drops and yellow Piennolo tomatoes; the geographical element returns, however, with the “fishy” persistence of smoked eel.
Small digestive pause and the yeast thins out in the Marinara Spezzina, a “red” enriched with San Marzano, garlic oil and muscles first steamed and then beaten together with herbs. Noteworthy here is the unprecedented fusion of the Neapolitan “veg recipe” with Ligurian peach booty, plus the “Italian-style” baking pan on the northern model. An enjoyable equation that reunites pizza culture on the North-South axis, leaving behind the memory of a coast-to-coast delicacy .
What about the Neapolitan verace? We tasted it at Quattro Formaggi (fior di latte, smoked provola, ricotta, blue) with some unexpected inserts to contrast the “milky way” of the dressing. Let's talk first of all about the coffee powder, with a pungent aroma that gives depth to the whole; following that, lemon zest and marinated fennel wash away the residual fattiness, routing the taste buds on the sugar path.
Banish the glycemic-soaring ultra-filled creams: Giacomo and Gian Marco dust off the Italian-style slice, offered with tomato jam-in which an elegant undertone of vanilla is caught- lemon ricotta mousse and white chocolate. No compunction in closing on sweetness: when pizza has something to say, it is eaten until dessert.
Contact
Officine del cibo
Via Brigata Partigiana Ugo Muccini, 181, 19038 Sarzana SP
Phone: 393 958 4694
