Green heart among the lands of Erbaluce di Caluso
Not far from the historic center of Caluso, capital of Erbaluce, the grape that gives rise to one of Italy’s greatest whites, the Gardenia Restaurant has been located in a 19th-century courtyard since 1977. Here, Piedmonts cuisine is on stage, but with great French contamination. France that Mariangela Susigan experienced from a very young age; her parents having moved there after World War II for work. There is no shortage of agnolotti, fritto misto piedmonts, finanziera, but a pioneering desire to experiment got the better of her to such an extent that she pushed into the vegetable world at an early age, a commitment that led the restaurant to be awarded a Michelin star in 2001 and twenty years later to that of the Green Star. Sustainability and the use of zero-mileage products for the construction of a virtuous supply chain respecting the land and agricultural labor. What we find today is a Piedmonts cuisine of a matrix lightened or enriched – depending on one’s point of view – by herbs and vegetables processed with intelligence, the objective is to valorize all parts of the ingredient, even waste is preserved, reworked.
A recent bright painting on the ceiling by artist Gosia Turzeniecka amplifies the dialogue between food and nature. Nurtured at first hand through the restaurant’s vegetable garden, which combines wild herbs with forgotten vegetables, small fruits, unusual medicinal and aromatic plants, edible flowers, native species and ancient root varieties. A circular economy process, from the vegetable waste from the kitchen and the woody biomass from mowing and pruning, compost is produced which is used to fertilize the garden, thus minimizing food waste. Herbs already harvested in the Canavese valleys, in Valchiusella and in the morainic amphitheater, studied, preserved, and protected to then be expressed in dishes. A good example is the Gran Riserva carnaroli risotto, wild strawberries, civrin, spruce buds and salted lemon.
A project of this magnitude could not remain hidden; in fact, the “Serra Experience” was born, a place for events or to experience the Chef’s Table and enjoy the soul of the restaurant together with a seductive wine pairing developed by sommeliers Elisabetta and Gabriele, who rightly give great space to the wines of the territory and the family wine cellar, Cantine Crosio, together with another thousand references.