An act of faith in the return to normalcy. Forbes, the prestigious American magazine that sets trends in the world, looks further in times of pandemic and compiles a list of 10 cool restaurants in the world where you can go to experience unique sensations when everything returns to normal. And among these 10 restaurants one is in Italy, it is the Danì Maison of Nino Di Costanzo, two Michelin stars and Grand Chef and Relais Chateaux Ambassador housed in his old family home in Ischia transformed into a garden of wonders. (First&Food talked about it in Stories of Chefs in April last year)
“On one of the Dolce Vita islands in the Mediterranean – writes Forbes – surrounded by a fairytale garden, chef Nino di Costanzo seduces his guests with his innovative vision of the best ingredients and Campanian offerings, elevating them to the most refined culinary art. Art is everywhere at Danì Mason – says Invernizzi in particular – from unique dishes to contemporary art paintings on the walls, from the aesthetics of desserts to the casket of objects that embellish the garden”.-
A prestigious certificate that places the Neapolitan Chef next to the greats of the earth. The other cool restaurants suggested by the US magazine are Atomix Korean restaurant in New York; Boragó by Rodolfo Guzman, sixth place in the World's 50 Best dedicated to Latin America (First&Food talked about it in Storie di Chef in February this year); Higashiyama Wakon in Kanazawa, Japan; KOKS in the Faroe Islands; Noor in Córdoba (Spain) guided by Paco Morales; Rote Wand Chef's Table (Austria) by chef Max Natmessnig, trained at the school of the three-starred César Ramirez; Table in Paris, by Bruno Verjus; Ynyshir Restaurant and Rooms in Wales by chef Gareth Ward; the Sorn in Bangkok, Thailand by Khun Ice and chef Yod.
You have to go back three years to find the name of an Italian restaurant in the coveted list drawn up by the magazine's editors. In fact, the mention of Bros' in Lecce led by Floriano Pellegrino and Isabella Potì dates back to 2017. And even earlier in 2016 at Le Calandre, 3 Michelin Stars by Massimiliano Alajmo, the youngest three-starred restaurant in Europe at the age of 27, who entered the prestigious Forbes list first.
In the panorama of Italian haute cuisine Nino Di Costanzo occupies a position of absolute importance. For the Chef from Ischia, the choice of materials, attention to detail and skilful combinations must be capable of enhancing every single ingredient which, “despite the complexity of the proposal, must be identifiable and recognizable, even by less educated palates. Technical research and innovation on tradition are his leit mortiv. Tradition - he specifies - should not be considered a static element, but something dynamic, which evolves over time and I am constantly looking for this change in tradition while fully respecting the flavors, smells, textures "of the past" .
His flavors reach the table immersed in fantastic machines and gadgets, conceived as elements of a game of references, as is the case with his "Gran cru... do di mare", presented on very heavy (over 20 kg) and colorful glass cubes Murano, studied and designed personally by Di Costanzo who also had a carbon tray made to be able to present them at the table, a surprising setting to say the least to serve, composed like a mosaic, on a carpet of julienne-cut legumes and ginger and then diced White and red prawns, Scampi, Puttanesca-style prawn balls, Bonito carpaccio, Cuttlefish, orange and radishes interspersed with green apple, yoghurt and lime, mandarin, buffalo cream, and fresella. Even the simplest dishes of the poor Neapolitan tradition enter this fanstatic circus such as "Le Paste... le patate", a whirlwind of 25 pasta shapes treated with 7 cooking techniques, 5 different potato qualities (by color, shape and consistency) all strategically placed on a huge plate to be eaten in two, so that it becomes an accomplice game of recovering flavors from the past, which everyone can recreate as they please.
Or as happens with the Napul'è dessert, 10 iconic Neapolitan desserts that arrive in a theater of representative testimonies of its reality over time: Totò, the footballers' stickers, the postcards of the gulf with Vesuvius and the regretted maritime pine of the Gouaches of Gran Tour, the coffee pot that the great Edoardo in "These ghosts" made immortal in one of his great interpretations overlooking a balcony in Naples in the lower districts.
In short, whoever enters the garden that heralds her restaurant feels in the same condition as an Alice who, in search of the rabbit, falls into a den that leads her into a wonderland where everything takes on a playful value and a fantastic reality.
