Chef and restaurateur Gaetano Ascione, a long time associate to the itchefs-GVCI network, is very proud of his last achievement. His Gaetano’s Ristorante in Coral Gables – Miami has just been voted by the readers of the Miami New Time as "The Best of Miami - The Power House Place”. The motivation reads: “At Gaetano´s all the makers and shakers come together to discuss strategies, politics, economics etc as well as to have some of the Best Food of this side of the ocean”. The restaurant is located inside the Hotel St. Michel (where it has replaced the Restaurant St. Michel).

Chef Gaetano, a native of Naples, serves outstanding and honest, fresh and simple Italian cuisine prepared with the best and freshest ingredients the country exports, served alongside a hand picked collection of regional Italian Wines. Media reviewers stress that “Gaetano's Ristorante is not just a restaurant but a destination where their customers can travel in search of the pleasure of great food, conviviality, pure and sincere”. Gaetano's Ristorante's passion and love guided the compilation of their Wine list that has wines from the greatest vineyards and producers in Italy. They are certain that among the pages of Gaetano's wine list, you will find, as they have, a wine to fall in love with.

Starting  next September 1st, the Mexican IVAC (Veracruz´s Institute of High Cuisine) will offer a course on Italian Cuisine: “2000 years of gastronomic history”. It will be taught by Silvia Bernardini: chef, restaurateur, historian and a member of the itchefs-gvci network. The aim of the course is to introduce students to the main aspects of Italian Cuisine which is extremely popular in Mexico for being very healthy, among other reasons. “The knowledge of the authentic tenets of the Italian Cuisine is among the indispensable tools needed by any contemporary eager cook or professional chef”, says Silvia Bernardini who owns the restaurant L’Incontro in Veracruz and hosts a gastronomic program in a local radio station.

La Credenza, the Michelin starred restaurant in San Maurizio Canavese (Turin) is the first Italian restaurant to have its wine list on iPad. The restaurant, owned by the chefs Giovanni Grasso (in photo left) e Igor Macchia, both members of the itchefs-GVCI network, has developed a versatile application allowing clients to choose their wines on the basis of many options: the price, the geographic provenience, the grape variety, etc. Actually, the client can even access the website of the winery that produces the label he/she is about to select or other related sites (La credenza has wi-fi connection in all its rooms). Of course, a sommelier is always available to integrate the information given by the iPad.

The application, which works for any restaurant, will be available starting next October (both in English and Italian). Nowadays, very few restaurants around the world have their wine lists on iPad but specialists foresee that many will take advantage of this tool, particularly Italian restaurants abroad. It will be a way to assist customers in the better understanding of the immense but well organized offer of Italian wines.

Massimo Falsini has a very challenging job: he´s Executive Chef of Formula Ferrari World Abu Dhabi, the world’s first Ferrari theme park and the largest attraction of its kind, which will open next October 28. The Park will have hyper technological, multisensory attractions, built to attract fans, families and racing fanatics who will experience “the race”, the culture, the indulgence and the history.

Massimo, an itchefs-gvci long-time member, is responsible for the 6 food and beverage outlets that include an organic kitchen, a fine “high end” cafè and a Pizzeria making TSP authentic Neapolitan Pizza. “Our aim is to propose a F&B program of very high quality, literally to revolutionize the theme park industry”, says chef Falsini, who leads a team of 106 chefs (most of them with experience in Michelin starred restaurants) and 25 stewards.

The highlights of the program remain secret at the moment but Massimo says that, together with his F&B Vice President, they are working on the reinterpretation of street-food. “To go back to the origins, where each component of the dish had something to say”. Formula Rossa (blast away on the fastest rollercoaster on the planet strapped into the F1 cockpit) and Bell’Italia (a leisurely drive in a small-scale Ferrari 250 California, circa 1957, thru the best of Italia’s cityscapes, landmarks and racing venues) are the main attractions for the visitors that are expected at the Formula Ferrari World.

Marco Sacco, chef patron of the two-Michelin-star Restaurant Piccolo Lago (Verbania, Italy), has just announced his newest venture. He's about to open The River Club Restaurant in Beijing (China) together with brother Carlo and his family, in partnership with Eric Wang: respected local businessman. Marco has chosen as Corporate Chef a very gifted chef and senior member of itchefs-gvci: Andrea Tranchero, former Executive Chef at Ristorante Armani in Tokyo, Japan. Sacco was Guest Master Chef at the latest edition of the Italian Cuisine Asia Summit in Hong Kong (that Tranchero attended as well) and at the celebration of the International Day of Italian Cuisines in Stuttgart, both events promoted by itchefs-gvci.

Dishes from The River Club Menu Zero

Piccolo Lago Progetti, the company that will manage the new restaurant in Beijing, was launched at Sacco's restaurant in Verbania (Italy) with the presence of media representatives and authorities among which was Mr. Zhang Li Min, General Consul of China in Italy. For the occasion Andrea Tranchero prepared the River Club Menu Zero, a tasting of the dishes that will be served at the new restaurant located in China's capital city along the Yellow River. Sacco and Tranchero aim at creating a cuisine that will have a clear Italian traditional basis with an innovative twist, that is, open to the ingredients they may find in China as well as to some of the culinary traditions of that great country.

Left: Mr. Zhang Li Min (in the middle), General Consul of China in Italy
Right: Carlo Sacco and Eric Wang toast to The River Club

Photos by Claudio Sacco

Nicola Cavallaro is chef patron of the San Cristoforo Restaurant in Milan. He is widely recognised as one of the most talented in town. His neat, contemporary Italian cuisine, with some exotic twists, is strongly based on the quality of regional ingredients. Despite the many accolades he has collected (many believe he is close to get a Michelin star), Nicola, a GVCI Forum member, is seriously considering leaving Italy, to go to work as a chef abroad. The critical economic situation in Italy has made life even harder for fine cuisine restaurants such as the San Cristoforo. Nicola, who has worked abroad for almost ten years, including in New York, London and Hong Kong, has talked with itchefs-gvci.com about his decision in the following interview.

Why do you want to leave Italy?
When you do a cuisine of high level, the kind which I do, the required investments are considerable. To maintain a restaurant with significant ongoing costs, without financial backup, is quite difficult, if not impossible. It’s very difficult to work without an adequate economic reward.  Abroad instead – while only in rare occasions in Italy – there are serious and proper food businesses that invest in restaurants and chefs. Not to mention hotel chains that transform their restaurants into flagships of their companies.

Where would you like to go?
I’d like to go to Oceania or to South East Asia. The reason? I have already had the opportunity of working over there, even though only for short periods. I find those areas very interesting in terms of business and quality of life.

As chef or restaurateur?
I have already had some appealing proposals for a partnership in Australia and New Zealand, though nothing concrete.

What kind of cuisine would you do abroad?
I’d like to hold the name of our traditional cuisine high, however, open to some contamination, taking advantage of the local ingredients. I personally believe that the cuisine I am doing in Milan can be exported everywhere.

Would you work in a restaurant that offers straight traditional Italian cuisine no fussiness no experimentations?
Like it or not, cuisine progresses with the times in which it lives. Technology helps us, experimentation as well. I don’t discard any option a priori.

In your opinion, how much should an Italian Chef abroad earn?
I think his earnings should be proportional to his culinary and management skills. He must be a good PR manager of himself as well.

In Italy, a quality restaurant is often equal to small size, few seats. Abroad it’s another story. Are you prepared?
I’ve worked in a situation in which in a couple of hours we used to serve 800 omelettes Benedictine, scrambled eggs etc. When I was in New York, as a sous chef responsible for the lunch, we used to serve 200 customers without a problem. Of course the numbers must duly match the numbers of employees the restaurant has at disposal.

In Italy the number of kitchens run by non-Italian-born chefs is increasing. Where will Italians and gourmet travellers coming to Italy eat the dishes of tradition in the future?
The work of a chef is a tough one. Today many people after only a few years of cooking school or training consider themselves finished chefs. The foreign cooks who work for me here in Milan prepare dishes of the same level as mine. The secret is in the correct training. Of course, foreign chefs cannot understand completely the reasons behind some of the dishes of our tradition, but they can replicate them in a very adequate way.

Do you fear being left without the right ingredients if you go abroad?
I believe that it’s absolutely no difficulty to find the right ingredients everywhere with the exception of a few countries with special duties and regulations. There are also places in the world where it’s very easy to find as good ingredients as those available in Italy.

Another talented Italian chef, Igor Macchia of La Credenza Restaurant, San Maurizio Canavese, Piedmont, is about to go abroad, but for a limited period of time. He will travel for more than one month through Asia, leaving the helm of the kitchen of his one-Michelin-starred restaurant totally in the hands of his partner Giovanni Grasso. Macchia, a long term GVCI associate, will cook in some prestigious restaurants in Hong Kong, Macau, Taipei and Huangzhou. In Hong Kong he will cook at the Mistral, where the chef in charge is Claudio Dieli, another GVCI associate.

Igor, well-known for his eclectic, contemporary Italian cuisine, based on ingredients of exceptional quality, is among the most promising young chefs of the Piedmont Region. During his Asian tour he will be Guest master chef at the Galaxy Hotel in Macao (April 27-28), at the Marco Polo Restaurant in Taipei (April 30- May 5) and at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Huangzhou, China.  Igor is not new to these lengthy tours in Asia, which he uses to promote his cuisine and quality Italian ingredients, as well as authentic educational trips, to increase his culinary knowledge and to broaden his mind.

Sante de Santis, Pietro Rongoni and Fabio Cappellano

The CNO (Consorzio Nazionale degli Olivicultori), a 40-year-old Italian National Organization of more than 200.000 olive producers, has chosen three renowned chefs from the itchefs-gvci network to launch it´s European campaign for the traceability of high quality Italian extra virgin olive oil. The chefs are: Sante De Santis, chef patron of the restaurant San Pietro in Stuttgart (Germany- 23. 03. 2010), Pietro Rongoni chef patron of La Serenata in Moscow (Russia- 27. 03. 2010) and Fabio Cappellano of Qualitalia, in Delft (The Netherlands- 29. 03. 2010), who has been supported by the Restaurant Artusi. During a week of tastings and Special Dinners, open to media, opinion leaders and industry operators, the chefs, accompanied by Rosario Scarpato, itchefs-GVCI Managing Editor and GVCI Honorary President have promoted the traceability system that the CNO has created and is implementing. Top representatives of the CNO have introduced the events in all three nations introducing the system includes a voluntary certification allowing to qualify extra virgin olive oil as ‘High Quality’, when the 120 guidelines and practical indications are met by the oil producer.

These guidelines range from soil preparation, olives harvest, milling to oil distribution and storage. In such a way the Consortium not only certifies the origin of the products, following the production path from cultivation to commercial distribution but it guarantees the application of the best production practices, in order to ensure both food safety and consumers alike.

High quality Extra Virgin Olive oil, each with its special taste and aroma, are tools in the hands of creative chefs, real ambassadors of quality, who make thousands of recipes mixing ingredients in perfect combination with the many nuances in taste of the different cru of extra virgin olive oil. Italy, second producer country, is leader with the richest number of cultivars (more than 500) due to the great variety of soils, microclimates and to the long commitment of olive growers during centuries of cultivars improvement. Such richness deserves to be enhanced and disseminated. This is why the Consorzio Nazionale degli Olivicoltori, has aimed first of all at implementing the traceability of high quality Italian extra virgin olive oil.

An extensive reportage on the CNO traceability system will soon be available in www.itchefs-gvci.com.

A picture of the time: Mario Caramella (far left) and
Gualterio Marchesi (in white)

Gualtiero Marchesi was invited to Hong Kong by the Grand Stanford Intercontinental Hotel. It was a great success. I was the chef de Cuisine of the Mistral, the Italian Restaurant of the hotel. We had invited some prestigious Master chefs from Italy before, such as Mario Musoni. But in that occasion we were determined to do something very big, so we invited Marchesi. The concept of the Mistral, however, was far too casual for a three Michelin star chef as himself, so we decided to invade the Belvedere, the French restaurant of the hotel. The cuisine of Marchesi’s Bistrot was offered at the Mistral, and that of the Gualtiero Marchesi´s restaurant at Bovesin della Riva (first Italian Restaurant ever given three Michelin stars) at the Belvedere. Marchesi had invaded with great success practically the whole Hotel.

Marchesi was the first great Italian chef who cracked the long hegemony of French cuisine in Hong Kong. Before he came along, in the former British, people and media used to talk only of chefs as Bocuse and Robuchon. The great Italian chefs were basically unknown. With the visit of Marchesi the work of Italian chefs in Hong Kong – Gabriele Colombo at the Grissini in the Grand Hyatt Hotel, Umberto Bombana at Toscana in the Ritz Carlton and myself - were finally greatly appreciated. We made the people of Hong Kong realize that the level of modern Italian cuisine was much higher than the stereotypes of pizza, pasta and a mandolin.

Gaultiero Marchesi and Mario Caramella

Journalists, television networks, many chefs and industry operators, but overall many many clients, came to see Marchesi and to taste his food. The hotel restaurants were fully booked every night, which was something quite normal for the Mistral, but not for the Belvedere, that had an average of 20 customers per evening.

Among the young chefs who came as Marchesi´s assistants there were names that are today are among the most renowned Italian chefs. Ernst Knam, for example, today one of the greatest pastry chefs in Italy, who was obsessed with soufflés. And Andrea Berton, then chef de partie at Bovesin della riva restaurant and today chef of one of the most successful restaurants in Milan.

I’ll never forget something that happened when Gualtiero Marchesi was interviewed by a journalist of the South China Morning Post. I was the interpreter. The journalist asked Marchesi how old he was. “Sixtyfive”, he answered. The journalist commented that usually at that age people retire and asked another question: Who, in Marchesi’s opinion, was the future of Italian cuisine? And Marchesi seriously replied: “I am”.

Mario Caramella

In his way, thanks to his position, he is a permanent ambassador at large of Italian cuisine around the world. Gianfelice Guerini, 2010 GVCI chef of the year, has a very special job: he commands the kitchen of the Ferrari Formula 1 team. He and his staff feed some of the greatest drivers, assistants and VIP guests in the whole Gran Prix.

Being part of one of the best known symbols of Italy – Ferrari, his cuisine is correspondingly firmly Italian and Gianfelice is very grateful to the dozen of Italian chefs working around the world (many of them belonging toGVCI) who have helped him in the last ten years to keep the standard of his Italian cuisine consistently good. Gianfelice was born in Brescia 46 years ago and worked as bartender, waiter and hotelier before becoming a chef. He is married to Natalya and has a 16-year-old daughter, Elisa. Look at the photo gallery and read what this special Italian chef says about his experience in Formula 1.

Ulaanbaatar. “Here I am, trying to describe my new adventure in Mongolia, this land so different from the places and the culture where I come from.

I was born in Friuli Venezia Giulia, my father was an alpino soldier and I spent most of my life between Alto Adige and northern Veneto. I have been involved in cuisine for long time and I guess my passion for cooking and good food comes from my grandmothers, both born in Ferrara (Emilia Romagna region).

I worked in China and Korea and recently arrived in Mongolia. Many don’t even know where this huge nation is located on the world map and, for me, it was not an easy choice, from the professional point of view. Mongolia is out of all the beaten international touristic tracks but, since my partner is Mongolian, I decided to make, for the first time in my life, a sentimental decision about my career.

The first impact wasn’t neither easy or encouraging. At the end of the first night of work I was about ready to catch the first flight back home. I felt as Gordon Ramsay in that TV series “Kitchen Nightmare”, where he goes in a restaurant and notes the many and many faults. Mamma mia. The kitchen I arrived in promised nothing good: the staff didn’t seem to be very cooperative. Fortunately, I personally knew the chef who did the opening, so I said to me: ‘There must be some good in this, so let me see the positive aspects, let me give it a go”. Soon, in the next few days, I had the opportunity to better understand who the collaborators I had really where: some of them where good, others definitively not. They all got to work each day but that was not enough. I admit I am not easy to deal with, but honestly I cannot stand people working without passion. You cannot work in this business without heart. I made this clear to my staff and as a consequence, I started to lose them one by one. They found all the possible excuses for resigning and left me in a difficult position or, as we say in Italian: “In braghe di tela”, which means you are left with nothing.

I didn’t panic though and step by step have created a new brigade. I am aware that there is some more work to do but today I have a group of collaborators that is close to what is needed for a 200-seat restaurant to work properly.

What annoys me most, today, is the fact that it’s hard to find here the daily basic products I need to produce Italian cuisine here. I am talking about very basic ingredients such as fresh basil and rosemary, just to give an example. I try to do the best I can; fortunately I have flour, eggs and durum wheat semola, so I can make good home made fresh pasta. Here my Emilian blood helps me a lot.

That’s only a first step. There is a lot to do to educate the Mongolian consumers. Here if you present a fillet cooked at the right point, meaning slightly pink, you can be sure that the client will reject it. They want it ultra well done… Then, of course, some of the customers complain because the meat is too tough. The fact is that Mongolians are used to a cuisine heavily based on soups and boiled dishes, where the ingredients (meat, potatoes, carrot) are cooked for long time. Furthermore, the meat is tough in Mongolia because there is no ageing after slaughtering. If you go to the market early in the morning, you can see the queue of live animals waiting to be slaughtered. Two hours later their meat is already lying on the market benches for sale. No aging whatsoever and the beasts are very lean, with very little fat. So forget to use strip loin for a tagliata. Mongolian clients want it ultra well done and it turns as a “suola di scarpa”, shoe leather. I can only use the fillet, which I can cook as they want it without having it too tough and dry.

There are problems with vegetables as well, despite the relative closeness to China, the authentic paradise of vegetables. The European vegetables here can turn out to be anything. You ask for two kilos of zucchini? Well, most likely you get a single zucchini of 2 kg (which my late grandfather would have used only to dry for the seeds). Slowly, my suppliers began to provide me with decent zucchini, at least in summer. In winter time the quality of vegetables goes down very much.

Fortunately the company that employs me, after seeing my efforts, has begun supporting me. Now, management authorizes me to have shipments of fresh vegetable, fresh fish, and all is necessary to run an Italian kitchen, from Beijing. It’s only a first step, I know. I am convinced, however, that with support of my company, I can put Ulaan Baatar and my restaurant, on the international map of good food and quality Italian cuisine.”

Stuttgart has been the epicentre of the great ola of tagliatelle al ragù. Falling on Sunday, the 2010 IDIC has been a unique opportunity to celebrate the Italian Sunday Lunch, “Il Pranzo della Domenica": that according to the Italian tradition it´s the day reserved for a special meal. Sante De Santis, GVCI chef and a true local celebrity, hosted three great chefs who had arrived in town to interpret the Italian Sunday Lunch from different periods; Donato De Santis (Buenos Aires, Argentina), Roland Schuller, once chef of the Don Alfonso and today working in Hong Kong and Marco Sacco of the Piccolo Lago, Verbania, Piedmont, holder of two well-earned Michelin stars. They were joined by Mauro Fabbri, executive chef at the Restaurant Diana in Bologna and his favourite sfoglina Luisa Lolli, who came to prepare very special Tagliatelle al Ragù Bolognese

New York City:- Under the title "Italy Comes to New York" the New York Times has announced the World Premiere of the International Day of Italian Cuisines on January 5, 2010. "A number of food and wine producers from Italy will be in New York on Jan. 13 and 14 for a variety of tastings, workshops and dinners. This is in conjunction with a Jan. 17 event called the International Day of Italian Cuisine, which is intended to promote authentic Italian recipes and products. On Jan. 13 from 3 to 5 p.m., a tasting of the foods and wines from eight Italian companies at the Italian Culinary Academy, 462 Broadway (Grand Street), will be open to the public, free".