The restaurant in Rho, just outside Milan, is the culinary manifesto of a talented self-taught chef who combines traditional Campania cuisine with cutting-edge techniques.
Identity and instinct: Gaetano Marinaccio's contemporary story at La Cucina: not your usual restaurant
Rho is certainly not the first destination you would expect for an “interesting” gastronomic experience. But La Cucina is a gastronomic project that breaks the mold of the province to establish itself as a place of identity, intense, evocative cuisine.
The restaurant
The place is cozy and intimate, designed to make guests feel at the center of attention. There are only about twenty seats, distributed in a bright room where the details reveal authentic care: pop and classic paintings on the walls, white tablecloths that evoke a certain idea of family elegance, and service that is quiet but precise and attentive.
In the dining room is Nadia Petronio, Gaetano's life and business partner, who accompanies guests on their gastronomic journey with kindness and attention. Both come from the world of tourism and hospitality, and it shows in their measured welcome, their natural gestures, and their ability to create a timeless bubble. A few minutes from the restaurant, they also run a small B&B, where they grow sprouts, edible flowers, and vegetables that you will find in the dishes. It is a concrete extension of their vision: to welcome, nourish, and care for others.
The Chef: a Neapolitan with a global vision
A restaurant that is also the natural extension of the vision and roots of a chef, Gaetano Marinaccio, who is self-taught and, despite his lack of formal training, has managed to achieve interesting goals with his restaurant in just a few years. Born in Campania and Lombardy by adoption, Gaetano Marinaccio transforms his Neapolitan origins into a contemporary language, without ever losing sight of substance.
The personality of the restaurant is deeply linked to the Neapolitan origins of the chef, who brings the flavors of his homeland to the heart of Lombardy, revisiting them with creative flair and technique. What is striking is the chef's ability to tell stories through his dishes: each course is a chapter in a gastronomic tale that speaks of the territory, seasonality, family memories, and experimentation.
The gastronomic journey
The journey begins in Naples, with a welcome that is a small manifesto of its origins: scaroline ripassate, which smell of bitterness and home, a warm, runny stracciatella in carrozza, where the crunchiness blends with the softness of the center, and then taralli napoletani, crumbly and intense, accompanied by bread for dipping and a sauce that seems to come straight from a childhood Sunday. The picture is completed by a salami made from white Sannio pork, savory and elegant, which prepares the palate with a noble rusticity.
Then, with restraint, we turn to other worlds. Next comes the dish entitled Mollusco marinato, where a cedar-flavored scallop meets a black cyclotter, a concentrate of sea and umami, with fresh fava beans to round off the bite with a sweet and bitter green note. It is an appetizer constructed with both lightness and depth, playing on the verticality of flavors and the balance between richness and freshness.
Next up is a semantic and sensory game: Tonno di terra (Land tuna). In reality, it is scottona beef, slowly cooked in oil, tender and juicy, which interacts with an egg cooked at 64°C and a smoked potato that adds a rustic and enveloping touch. A dish that seems simple but has everything: technique, comfort, and intelligence. The dish entitled Viaggio in UKR surprises with its construction and character. An unusual composition of chicken, gallinella fish, beetroot, sour cream, and dill, which works on acidic, earthy, and even marine tones, evoking Slavic and Baltic suggestions without imitating anything. It is a stage consistent with the journey but capable of shifting the axis of the story elsewhere without losing the thread.
Vermicelli di mare takes us back to the Mediterranean, but through a contemporary lens. The Gragnano IGP pasta, perfectly al dente, is coated in seaweed butter that smells of the shore, with hints of miso to add fermented depth and a touch of lemon to brighten it all up. A dish that manages to be technical and familiar, modern and ancestral at the same time. Elegant but delicious and, above all, vegetarian despite being a seafood dish.
Then comes the Risotto giallo, which is presented without fanfare but is clearly the chef's signature dish. The rice – Tenuta Margherita – is cooked to perfection, creamed with 100-month aged Parmigiano, which gives it a noble and concentrated flavor. Pollen adds a floral note that tastes of the countryside, tonka bean adds a sensual aroma, and cypress extract provides an aromatic, almost balsamic twist. A risotto that vibrates, changes with every forkful, and leaves a lasting impression.
The Giovenca Sannita represents the peak of strength and structure on the menu. An important, flavorful meat accompanied by a deep, glossy demi-glace. Fermented Jerusalem artichokes are added to the dish for a hint of acidity and vegetal notes, while toasted hazelnuts add crunch and roundness. The meal moves towards dessert with a very fresh pre-dessert, a cream that reinterprets the Neapolitan pastiera in its fundamental aromas—wheat, ricotta, citrus—but in a soft and modern form. To balance it, a tart and pungent green apple granita and a touch of fresh sage.
And then, the grand finale: the Bab(b)à, written with a double “b” for double identity – classic and contemporary. Sourdough, three leavening processes, a Creole syrup with rum and spices, and a velvety diplomat cream, enriched with fresh raspberries that add just the right amount of acidity. To finish, a colorful and playful selection of petit fours, made up of mignons, bonbons, chocolates, soft and crunchy treats that leave the palate happy. A finale conceived with the same spirit with which it began: welcoming, sincere, engaging. An experience that demonstrates how great cuisine does not need fanfare, but truth. And a chef who knows how to tell its story.
La Cucina: non il solito ristorante
Via Porta Ronca, 86, 20017 Rho MI
t. 02 8717 8606
