It’s not barbecue

It all began with brunch or — as it’s called at Casa Maria Luigia (the boutique hotel of chef Massimo Bottura and restaurateur Lara Gilmore) — tòla dòlza, the Emilian phrase for “taking it easy”. However, as Gilmore explains in her and Bottura’s book Slow Food Fast Cars: Casa Maria Luigia – Stories and Recipes, it was anything but easy. “We had never cooked this nine-course menu in our outdoor kitchen, let alone for fifty guests on an unseasonably warm day in early June. What were we thinking?” she writes.

During the pandemic, the boutique hotel had been closed to the public for three months and many of the team members had spent the time stuck in small apartments, relishing the idea of an outdoor and somewhat daring project. What better way to scratch this itch, they thought, than to create a new brunch concept — one cooked over fire in a space where everyone could enjoy the beautiful hotel grounds and enjoy a more casual style of cooking? And so it was.

Led by the three-Michelin-key hotel’s culinary director, chef Jessica Rosval, every Sunday the team would light up the bright-red pizza oven, set up an outdoor pass, and prepare a one-of-a-kind, multi-course dining experience that championed regional ingredients, the beauty of cooking over fire, and the magnificent Emilian countryside.

It was perhaps inevitable that the concept would evolve into a more permanent fixture at the hotel. Which brings us to Al Gatto Verde, the newest addition to Casa Maria Luigia and the Francescana Family, which does an inventive, refined, and delicious take on open-flame cooking — or, as Bottura calls it, “Not Barbecue”.

Upon arrival, the smoker has been going for hours, the wood-fired oven is roaring in the back, and the Tuscan grill at the heart of the open kitchen has flames dancing across it. The dining room, as with every inch of Casa Maria Luigia, is a masterclass in design. The green wainscoting contrasts with the beige raffia-panelled walls and the floors paved in shades of charcoal and grey. And then there’s the art. Jack Pierson’s Fate greets you as you enter while a series of Mike Bidlo’s Not… works, including Not Jackson Pollock, Not Frank Stella, and Not Andy Warhol adorn the walls. It was these paintings that inspired Bottura’s idea of Gatto Verde being “Not Barbecue”.

Fittingly, the eight-course tasting menu begins with “Tòla Dòlza”, an ode to the genesis of the restaurant — focaccia, straight out the pizza oven, that can be pulled apart by hand and slathered with spreads, including a local ricotta, an almond hummus, and a Modenese take on pesto made with Swiss chard, 36-month Parmigiano-Reggiano, black pepper, and cherrywood-smoked lardon. Then it’s on to the “Mare e Melone”, which also leans into the idea of things being what they’re not — a brilliant melon dish that delivers all the flavours of the sea without containing any fish.

The seaweed-smoked melon is served with fresh marine herbs in a dish of finesse and beautiful flavours. The “Modena Pil Pil” sees the Spanish standard given an Emilian twist with salted cod and gelatine from cotechino — a traditional sausage. It’s rich, comforting and somewhat smoky — everything you want from cooking on fire — but still restrained. “Borlengo in Verde” follows: the Italian flatbread, here naturally in green, is filled with mountain mushroom, Parmigiana- Reggiano, and summer truffle. It’s a light, delicate, and elegant dish that whets the palate for the main course, “Questa Non E Un’Anatra À La Presse” — “This Is not Duck À La Presse”. A play on the classic French dish or, rather, what it’s not (remember, this is not a barbecue either), it follows French cooking to Rosvol’s native Canada and down to Louisiana, all underscored by the Emilian spirit. It’s also a dish that highlights the restaurant’s sustainability ethos, with as much of the duck used as possible. The Cajun-spiced duck breast is served with a burnt citrus-rind tartlet of duck-liver and -heart n’duja, Pommes Anna blackened on the grill, carob molasses, and a duck-fat brioche. It’s stunning, spicy, and rather unconventional, yet it still makes so much sense.

No meal at a Francescana Family restaurant would be complete without pasta, and here it’s “Pasta Arsa”. The pasta is burnt on the fire and served with an almost risotto-like texture, along with elements of duck, maple syrup, pistachio, and Szechuan pepper. The sprinkle of burnt citrus it’s finished with plays against the tingle of the pepper, there’s the sweetness of the maple, the earthy char on the pasta, and the richness of the duck — it’s not a barbecue but has all the flavours of one tied up in the neat little kinda-pasta dish.

 “Cielo Terra Mare” (“Air, Earth, Sea”), a charcoal rose semifreddo made with ash, brings the meal to a close. The creamy semifreddo is filled with raspberry and caviar, set on a nori biscuit, and topped with rose-infused seawater. It’s a brilliant dish that speaks to the creativity of the chef, the beauty of fire, and the playfulness of Al Gatto Verde. It is quite simply a sensational meal, the menu matched by a stellar front-of-house brigade and an exceptional sommelier service.

It’s clear that Rosval is in her element, and while she jokes that “We just put things in fire and see what happens”, this is seriously impressive, intentional, and deeply intelligent cooking. But, first and foremost, it is also a relaxed and enjoyable experience. I guess this makes sense — after all, it all began with tòla dòlza. casamarialuigia.com/al-gatto-verde/

• From the July edition of Wanted, 2024.