“Dear sir, more than medicines, you need healthy and well-cooked foods, unfortunately infrequent in ordinary trattorias; however if you want to get to know an incomparable place for delicate and delicious foods, a true 'sanctuary of gourmandise' and health, go to Pappagallo di Zurla, adjacent to San Petronio”. Who speaks, in 1927, is the illustrious physician Augusto Murri who advises one of his patients to be treated, as well as with traditional methods, also by the dishes of the restaurant that had opened its doors just a few years earlier in Bologna. We are in 1919, the Great War is behind us, we are starting again. The chef Giovanni Zurla, together with his family, opens To the Parrot in via Pescherie Vecchie: here it will remain for about twenty years before moving to where it is still today, in piazza della Mercanzia, under the Two Towers, a stone's throw from piazza Maggiore and piazza Santo Stefano.
A round and round century, thousands of dishes of tortellini in broth served, tagliatelle with meat sauce and bolognese cutlets, all in strict respect of the Emilian taste. At the table, right from the start, stars and jet setters from all over the world: from Albert Einstein in 1921 to the conductor Arturo Toscanini ten years later; from Sophia Loren and Gina Lollobrigida in the XNUMXs to Alfred Hitchcock and Ugo Tognazzi. But also Bolognese of every era and generation, because Al Pappagallo has made the history of local gastronomy.
It is precisely this century that the new owners are celebrating, Michele Pettinicchio and Elisabetta Valenti, a couple in life and in business: a very important anniversary, a milestone that has led them (since 2017, the year in which they took over the restaurant) to make new investments whose results translate into an autumn full of special appointments, including dinners at collection theme and menu.
First of all, the place has been renovated: the walls are now very light and bright, but the rooms remain those of the past: large vaults and coffered ceilings, two large crystal chandeliers from the XNUMXs and wooden tables to welcome customers. Then she got to work on the menu and the wine list.
Lo chef Marcello Leoni he was brought in as a consultant in the kitchen. Wandering soul of catering (from Trigabolo di Argenta (Ferrara) to Antica Locanda del Trebbo outside Bologna, Leoni puts his signature on the new menus. “We have found an original collaboration formula – explains the chef -: I will try to help Michele and Elisabetta to give thickness and depth to the kitchen. Although they come from the fashion industry, the path they have taken in the last two years has been valid".
“Michele continues Leoni – he got into the kitchen to work on the memory of tradition, performed in a less bland way, with a great research on the raw material and on the finesse of the taste. I haven't even touched tortellini, let alone the golden drop, which was invented within these walls. It is an icon, which however I want to study from the point of view of new technologies and knowledge, without distorting it. We remain focused on tradition with some creative touches, knowing that nothing stands still. We are now developing a couple of tasting menus where my contribution will be more visible. Tricks that seem silly, but represent small attentions that can make the difference”.
Two traditional tasting menus (one for 80 and one for 60 euros, wines excluded): among the dishes, the classics of the Bolognese repertoire such as Bolognese-style chicken galantina with salted zabaglione and Pappagallo pickled vegetables, Capon and beef meatball with Parrot mayonnaise and fragrant leek , Vertical of culatelli di Zibello Dop Slow Food presidium, Bolognese lasagna with Parmigiano Reggiano béchamel, English soup.
