La Peca

For most restaurants, including high-end ones, it was difficult to get the stoves burning again, to get staff back to their stations, to choose the right food for "restarting". La Peca was no exception, of course, even if a few days after reopening everything was running perfectly, as if there hadn't been any lockdown at all. There were no secrets, nor was being active with delivery and take away service enough to return to previous levels prior to reopening. Their success was the result of a constant, truly daily commitment to keeping a friendly, territorial (but certainly not run-of-the-mill) restaurant, a venue where everything from the decor to the smile of the wait staff conveys composure and dedication, operating at high level. Season after season, Nicola Portinari (who's supported by his brother Pierluigi, who handles their great desserts, including outstanding ice cream and sorbets) continues to churn out dishes of superb balance, often beautiful to the eye, in which ingredients are combined in highly pleasant ways. To get an idea of how contrasting flavors are superbly resolved, see the exotic, toasty sardines stuffed and fried in acid, or the cappelletti with blue goat's cheese, melon soup and balsamic herbs, or the BBQ pork pluma, Good-King-Henry (wild spinach), anchovies and paprika chips. Indeed, Portinari's ideas are such that his menu of over 30 dishes would make the characters in a Rabelais novel (who eat anything and everything) green with envy. Consequently, we suggest considering the excellent Mare e Terra tasting menu (€165 and €155) perhaps asking for four more "suggestions" for an extra €40, or, if you aren't particularly hungry, limit yourself to the Giorno per Giorno (4 dishes at €95). Topping it all off is Cinzia Boggian's skill as a hostess (she handles service with a surgical precision) and the skill of Matteo Bressan, who knows the world of wines by heart and is an expert at choosing the right bottle from their monumental, cliché-defying collection of Proseccos. Walking through La Peca's doors it's clear that we are in a great restaurant. Make that a great, Italian restaurant.