Today, the review will be about the restaurant of Carlo Cracco, one of Italy’s most renowned chefs. But before diving into the description of the meal, I would like to introduce and provide context about him.
CARLO CRACCO
He was born in 1965 in Creazzo, in the province of Vicenza (Veneto), a year before Vittorio Cerea opened Da Vittorio in the center of Bergamo. We could say he is from the same generation as Norbert Niederkofler (1961), Ferran Adrià (1962), Massimo Bottura (1962), Joan Roca (1964), Moreno Cedroni (1964), Frédéric Anton (1964), Dominique Crenn (1965), Frédéric Bau (1965), Heston Blumenthal (1966), Xavier Pellicer (1966), Javier Oyarbide (1966), Josep Roca (1966), Davide Oldani (1967), Italo Bassi (1969), and Albert Adrià (1969).
Carlo Cracco was born when Pierre Gagnaire was already training in Collonges with Paul Bocuse and when Senderens was taking his first steps in the kitchen of Lucas Carton. He was born when Julia Child had already published the famous book Mastering the Art of French Cooking with Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle and had premiered the television program The French Chef.
He was born just as the School of Hospitality of Girona was being founded, with Vicenç Andreu at the helm. When Mercader had just opened El Motel and Hans and Marketta Schilling had just opened a bar that wasn’t yet called El Bulli in Cala Montjoi. He was born when Mr. Julià had just expanded Reno and when Francesc Fortí was working at the Hotel Colon with Alexandre Domènech (son of Ignasi Domènech), at Jockey, and at La Tour d’Argent. Carlo Cracco was born when Fellini premiered Giulietta degli spiriti.
As I expected, I can tell you that Cracco did not appear at his restaurant throughout the service, as he was at his restaurant in Portofino. This recurring experience makes me reflect on the extent to which I should talk about a person in a review whom I have neither met personally nor prepared the dishes I ate. I find that talking about them does not create content, but simply conveys information that is already better explained in books, and this way reiterates the same ideas and words that communication agencies want to instill in us. Therefore, what I always try to convey in my reviews is what I experienced, not what chefs publish in their books and the media, or what their communication agencies transmit to journalists to make them say about them. I also always try to explain myself in my own words and not repeatedly transmit comments that other clients might have left on Trip Advisor, their blogs, or any other social network.
As a customer, if I hadn’t informed myself beforehand about his figure, I wouldn’t have possibly known that Cracco, the name of the restaurant, referred to the chef’s surname, and I could have imagined that Cracco could be either the name of an Italian politician or the architect of the Vittorio Emanuele.
Well, since he did not appear at the restaurant, I am somewhat less inclined to talk about him. And although I could write volumes about his person, his culinary training, and his biography, I will speak more briefly about him and also include a brief introduction about his current head chef and the one who received and attended to us, Luca Sacchi.
On the one hand, it is said that Cracco is a disciple of chefs like Alain Senderens, Annie Féolde, and Alain Ducasse, I imagine this is because he worked with them for more or fewer years and in positions of varying levels of responsibility and importance. But above all, the clearest and most direct influence I see is from Gualtiero Marchesi.
On the other hand, regarding his successors, there is talk of Matteo Baronetto and Simone Tondo, but for me, the most evident is Baronetto, as I don’t see any trace of Cracco’s cuisine at Tondo’s Racines, and after investigating, I found out he had only worked there for a month. How can you immerse yourself in a way of cooking in a month? And here I was, racking my brain thinking about what was Cracco-like in his Paris cuisine… Anyway.
Lately, I like to convey a kind of “comparative gastronomy” where I explain, on one hand, what I have read, on another, what I was told at the restaurant, and finally, what I encountered; and considering that I also don’t want to go without summarizing, as briefly as possible, who I think Carlo Cracco is, I will comment on his biography below.
In 1981, at the age of 16, he studied hotel management at the Pellegrino Artusi Institute in Recoaro Terme, in the province of Vicenza (Veneto). While studying and after graduating, he worked with Mario Baratto (1944) at the Da Remo Restaurant in Vicenza (Veneto), which closed in 2018 after 40 years and moved to Villa Cariolato in Bertesina. Remo Fanton was the former owner before the Baratto brothers took over in 1977.
In 1986, at 21 years old, he started working for 3 years with Gualtiero Marchesi at his first restaurant (opened in 1977) on Via Bonvesin de la Riva in Milan, which earned 1* in 1978, 2** in 1979, and 3*** since 1986, becoming the first chef outside of France and the first in Italy to achieve 3 stars. Currently, the Gualtiero Marchesi Academy is located on Via Bonvesin. So Cracco started working there when it was already receiving the 3rd star.
To continue contextualizing Cracco, even though he is of the same generation as Ferran Adrià, when Cracco was already working with a 3-star Marchesi in 1986, Adrià was just beginning to travel and experience France firsthand. Remember that in 1987 the El Bulli team went to Maximin at Negresco, to Le Moulin de Mougins by Roger Verger, and to L’Oasis by Louis Outhier in La Napoule, which were the avant-garde; and in 1990 they went to Pierre Gagnaire (still in St. Etienne and still with only 2 stars) and to Bras. In other words, the era in which El Sabor del Mediterráneo was taking shape.
Returning to Cracco, in 1989 he left Marchesi to work at the restaurant of La Meridiana, a spa in the province of Savona (Liguria), about which I do not know the type of cuisine they offered. Around 1990, he went to study in France, where he claims to have learned the culinary arts of that country, but it is unclear whether he went to study at an academy or if he is referring to his brief stays at the Hotel de Paris (in Monte Carlo) with Alain Ducasse and at Lucas Carton with Alain Senderens.
In 1991, he returned to Italy and joined as head chef at Enoteca Pinchiorri in Florence when it still had only 2 stars and during the period when it went from 2 to 3 stars (1982: 1, 1983: 2, and 1993: 3*), while Annie Féolde was still cooking there. He stayed there for 3 years, so he likely saw Italo Bassi and Riccardo Monco come in to co-direct the kitchen before leaving.
In 1994, he returned to work with Marchesi, this time with the opening of his new Restaurant di Erbuso at the marvelous hotel L’Albereta in Franciacorta (opened on 23/09/1993), where he stayed for 3 years before leaving to open his own restaurant, La Clivie in Piobesi d’Alba (Piedmont). The restaurant was open for about 5 years, from 1996 to 2001, earning a star in 1997, and where he began working with Matteo Baronetto from the first day in 1996, with whom he ended up working for almost 17 years until the end of 2013.
On January 8, 2001, Cracco inaugurated Cracco-Peck with the owners of Peck, the Stoppani brothers. The restaurant was renamed simply Cracco (or Ristorante Cracco) in 2007 when the Peck brothers separated from Cracco and the management fully passed into his hands. These were the years when dishes and techniques that have become classics of contemporary cuisine, such as the “Tuorlo d’uovo marinato,” were born. He earned 2 stars, which he maintained until the restaurant moved to Galleria Vittorio Emanuele in February 2018, maintaining a single star since then and being renamed Cracco in Galleria.
As for everything surrounding the restaurant, such as guides, awards, sponsors, etc., it currently does not appear in The World’s 50 Best or OAD. It’s also noteworthy that he only maintains 1 of the 2 stars he has earned throughout his career. In 2011, he began presenting Master Chef Italy, along with Bruno Barbieri, Joe Bastianich, and, since 2014, Antonio Cannavacciuolo. In 2012, he was the president of the NGO Maestro Martino. In 2013, he presented the Sanremo Music Festival. He was also the host of the first and second seasons of Hell’s Kitchen Italy on Sky Uno channel. In 2014, he opened the bistro or cocktail-restaurant Carlo e Camilla in segheria in the Navigli district of Milan. In 2016, he opened Ovo by Cracco at the Lotte Hotel in Moscow, his first restaurant abroad. In 2018, he married his second and current wife, Rosa Fanti, originally from Romagna, who also takes care of some activities of the restaurant. With her, he had 2 more children, Pietro and Cesare. In 2019, he received the America Award from the Italy-USA Foundation. In 2021, he opened the restaurant Cracco in Portofino. He is also a member of Lavazza, Dom Pérignon, and the Richard Mille family. In 2022, he was one of the speakers at Niederkofer’s Care’s event and has published around ten books.
In 2019, he purchased Azienda Agricola Vistamare, a 16-hectare estate located in Santarcangelo di Romagna, about 300 km south of Milan, near Rimini and about 10 km from the Adriatic. Managed by agronomist Alessio Gennari, they cultivate fruit trees (peaches, apricots, the Samba cherry for the famous Panciliegia…), olive trees over 200 years old used to make their oil, and also have a garden with little-known vegetable varieties such as the Black Beauty tomato and some Japanese turnips, with the goal of preserving old and rare varieties from around the world, preventing their disappearance and preserving agricultural and spontaneous biodiversity. On the same estate, they also have about 6 hectares of vineyards used to produce their wines, under the direction of winemaker Luca D’Attoma. Currently, they make 3 wines. On one hand, a Sangiovese red that we were able to taste and which I describe with the quail dish. On the other hand, two whites: Ciola, based on Albana, Pagadebit (Bombino Bianco), and Rebola (Grechetto Gentile); and Trebbiano della Fiamma, from old vines of the nearly extinct Trebbiano di Romagna, both vinified in 16 hl amphorae. Additionally, they use the residues they produce to make paper for printing the restaurant menus or a flour made from ground peach and cherry pits. All these products are used in the restaurant, in the pastry shop, and also to make other products such as jams, juices, etc., which they sell in their online store. The complete kit, without fail.
LUCA SACCHI
Luca Sacchi was born in April 1986 in Abbiategrasso, a town near Milan with about 30,000 inhabitants. He studied at a culinary school in Ponte di Legno (in Val Camonica, in the Alps, in the province of Brescia) because he didn’t want to go to a school in Milan. In 2002, when he was 25 years old, he started working at Antica Osteria del Ponte in Cassinetta Lugagnano (near Milan), where he did a bit of everything and fell in love with desserts under the chef Ezio Santin. At that time, the restaurant had 2 stars, but it was the second Italian restaurant to achieve 3 stars from 1990 to 1997, still under Ezio Santin, although it is currently run by Maurizio Gerola. Luca worked there with Michele Abbatemarco, who is now the pastry chef at the Four Seasons in Tokyo. In February 2004, he went to Sardinia, where he stayed until November. First, he spent 2 months in a pastry shop in Castelcervo (in Porto Cervo, on the Costa Smeralda) with pastry chef Gianni Griseri, who made ice sculptures and banquets in Saudi Arabia. He describes those two months as inspiring, alongside a kind of François Vatel. Then, he spent 7 months at the restaurant of Hotel Cala di Volpe, also in Sardinia. In 2005, he worked at Hotel La Meridiana in Garlenda, in the province of Savona (Liguria), with Luigi Taglienti, where he worked with both sweet and savory in a contemporary kitchen. Incidentally, this is the spa where Cracco had worked in 1990. Later, at the end of 2006, he returned to Milan to work at Caffè Scala, a banquet company in Milan. It was then that Iacopo Zambarbieri told him that Cracco was looking for a pastry chef. At that time, he had never heard of him. At the beginning of 2007, he started working with Cracco and Matteo Baronetto, then sous-chef, from whom he says he learned to use his brain and carry out the thoughts in his head, that is, to materialize ideas. So he has worked at Cracco since the restaurant was still on Via Victor Hugo, and since 2014, when Baronetto left for Del Cambio, he has been the head chef. In addition, in 2014, he was awarded Best Pastry Chef in Italy by Identità Golose. Although trained in pastry, I find that Sacchi has always tended towards savory.
THE LOCATION
The restaurant I am reviewing, Cracco in Galleria, is located in the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, between Piazza Duomo and Piazza della Scala, right in the center of Milan.

It covers 1,118 square meters, distributed over 5 levels with 3 separate kitchens. This space, in the emblematic shopping gallery with a glass dome, also includes a wine cellar, a bar, a bistro, a pastry shop, a chocolate shop, and an event hall.
The interior carefully recreates the original characteristics of the 19th-century Galleria, one of the oldest active shopping centers in Europe: gilded dining rooms with views of the galleries and walls, floors, doors, and cabinets lined with wooden boiserie and large carpets, adding even more elegance and sophistication to the three dining rooms and the two private lounges.
When they moved there in 2007, the spaces had been abandoned since the 1950s or 60s. Since the 1980s, it has no longer been residential and is now solely commercial (the last resident left in 2010). The property belongs to the Comune di Milano and is leased through a public license.
I often talk about the optimal point of consumption for a restaurant. Well, Cracco could be a good example of this.
Arriving at Cracco in the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele for the first time in June 2024 is arriving at a restaurant when everything has already happened, when everything is already done, when everything has already occurred, and even when it is already “tainted.” I knew I was arriving late and going to a restaurant where the chef, now a media personality and advisor who remotely manages his businesses, would not be present. I knew what I was getting into, but on an academic level, with my culinary training and experience, I wanted to go, also thinking that it was still one of those types of restaurants where one could still eat reasonably well.
THE CULINARY OFFERING
On one hand, they maintain the option to order à la carte, with 13 dishes (€54-140), 1 cheese plate (€45), and 4 desserts (€45-52) from which you are required to choose 2.
On the other hand, they offer a single menu, the Convito Felice (€215), which I translate as the Happy Banquet, consisting of 18 “dishes”: 2 appetizers, 10 courses (8 dishes + 1 added by them + 1 added by me), 2 desserts, and 4 petits fours. This is the option we chose, additionally ordering one of the dishes from the à la carte menu, the “Green Egg” for €55, which they ultimately did not charge us for.
THE MEAL
So let’s begin the banquet, the grand feast attended by many guests.
THE APPETIZERS
1. Crackers or Rice Chips (2004)
The famous welcome appetizer by Cracco (Cracco-Baronetto), which they have been serving since 2004. Rice chips of different colors and various unspecified flavors. To break or crumble and eat with your hands.

To begin with, at Del Cambio they serve a larger quantity, detail the flavors, and leave them for the entire meal. In contrast, at Cracco, they offer fewer and only as the first appetizer. The ones with the most taste of the main ingredient were the red tomato and saffron. The purple one was thicker and coarser. While Baronetto’s were a bit too salty, these were too oily.
2. Chips of dried seasonal vegetables (2000)

Chips of seasonal vegetables, also unspecified. While the first chips were fried, these were dried, dehydrated. They didn’t quite crunch, they seemed soggy like the vegetable chips sold in bags at supermarkets.
THE MAIN COURSES
3. Caramelized Russian Salad (2002)
A famous recipe by Cracco, a reinterpretation of the Russian salad. According to him, Russian salad is a dish that becomes cloying after a spoonful. Therefore, for over 20 years, he has been serving only 30 grams. It follows the classic recipe made with traditional small pieces of potato, carrot, peas, green beans, cucumber, mustard, tuna, and a classic mayonnaise with lemon and vinegar.
On the outside, the Russian salad is wrapped in two sheets of crystallized sugar as if it were a “sandwich” of Russian salad. Although it may seem contradictory to add sugar when he says it seems cloying, his version is supposedly not because it only contains 30% sugar and the rest is isomalt*, salted and dried capers, and glucose syrup (dextrose).
*Isomalt is an artificial substitute for common sugar (sucrose), a type of polyalcohol and, therefore, an additive, E-953. It has half the calories of common sugar, a very low glycemic index, is not sticky at all, and moreover, does not cause cavities and, in principle, has no negative effects if not consumed in large quantities.
*Glucose syrup (dextrose) is another additive that is essentially a way of hiding added sugar. I imagine he adds it for texture.
To make these two caramelized sheets, first, the sugar, isomalt, and glucose syrup are cooked in a saucepan. Then, dried capers and Maldon salt are added. The mixture is poured onto a Silpat mat and left to cool until it crystallizes. Then it is ground in a blender to obtain a powder that needs to be sieved, and with the help of a circular mold, the discs/sheets are formed and baked at 160ºC for 2 minutes to solidify. I explain all this to emphasize that it is one of many long and laborious recipes that lead nowhere, without meaning, without a final goal that achieves a good result.

Returning to the dish to explain how it was. The result was that it had no smell and was served at room temperature; I would have preferred the Russian salad a bit colder. Additionally, chewing the crunchy sugar coating created a solid and sticky caramel, a ball that got stuck to my teeth, and in terms of taste, despite the isomalt and capers, it was still too sweet. Although it was clear and lighter in color than the burnt sugar on crema catalana, it tasted the same.
As for the interior, it was a bland Russian salad. Moreover, I did not find any green beans, cucumber, mustard, or tuna. It rather seemed like a potato salad with bland mayonnaise, a few bits of carrot, and half a pea. An appetizer to be eaten with hands, which would break apart, making the mayonnaise and burnt sugar fall, complicating the act of eating it. And to top it all off, they brought the hand towel too late, when I had already wiped my hands on the linen napkin.
I like the initial idea, playing between opposites: salty interior and sweet exterior; creamy interior and crunchy exterior. But it remains another example of a modern, reinterpreted, updated version—call it what you will—that, besides being laborious, does not improve on the traditional recipe. So many “modern” gadgets and products that do not contribute anything good. “Modern” products that are still additives used in lower-quality food industry. It would be better to start by learning how to make a good Russian salad well, which is already a difficult and complex dish.
A start with 3 crispy items (two of which were unpleasant), oiliness, saltiness, and a lack of a fresh, clean, and intense taste. Also, a lack of product quality and execution.
4. Veal tongue, pear, and mustard
A thin slice of a dense and hard brioche-like bread filled with veal tongue, mustard, and black truffle. On the side, a mustard seed sauce and osmotic pear.

Served warm. Despite being veal, it smelled like pork pâté. Moreover, it was too ground, typical of low-quality preparations, the tongue lacked texture and consistency. For the end of June, the truffle was still quite noticeable. A slice so thin it seemed a bit ridiculous. Even for the texture, a thicker slice would be better, and if they don’t want to serve a large quantity, they could cut it in half but still enjoy the thicker slice.
A kind of poor pâté en croûte and, moreover, with a dough that is neither the traditional puff pastry nor shortcrust pastry.
As for the accompaniment, it had enough charm but was just a variation of the traditional pickled gherkins to add acidity, in this case, rather sweet-and-sour due to the pear and mustard. In this sense, it resembled a mustard sauce.
5. Ricotta and Fried Frog Soup (Spring 2024)
On one hand, what they call “frog and ricotta soup” is a soup made with a reduced broth of sautéed/fried frogs, a broth of carrot, well-cooked onion, celery, and fresh buffalo ricotta from Salerno (Campania). It also contained small cubes of celery, carrot, and onion. On top, a few drops of garlic oil (green drops) and some red spheres that were a gel made from carpione (a sauté of onions with vinegar that resembled a pickled jelly) and shiso rosso (Japanese purple basil).
On the other hand, in the center, a kind of irregular meatball made from a base of fried and stewed frogs “mantecated” with homemade mascarpone made with cream and citric acid, wrapped in puffed basmati rice and pieces of pork rind.

The frogs were from the De Fabritiis family of the Fish&Frog farm in Ravenna (Emilia-Romagna), one of the few that preserves this legacy and continues the breeding of this freshwater amphibian after 50 years. It is the company from which most of the frogs eaten in France and Switzerland come, processing over 200,000 kg of frogs per year. They buy wild frogs from European countries like Albania and Turkey and slaughter them at the Ravenna facilities. Specifically, they were of the species Rana esculenta, one of the 50 edible species, and the frogs weighed between 20 and 100 grams.
The soup was made with the carcasses of the frogs and the smaller frogs to be “spolpate” (deboned and peeled). The “meatball” was made with the “busto” (which includes the chest and back with the attached hind legs) and the thighs of the frogs.
The overall smell was of warm vinegar. The soup was more like a sauce (due to the small quantity), and with its velvety texture and amount of ricotta, it seemed more like a vellutata, even though it didn’t contain flour or butter. It was delicious, and both the young garlic oil and the vinegar notes complemented it well. As for the “meatball,” the interior had a texture somewhere between a rustic brandade (with lumps and not blended with an electric mixer) and a rillette with well-shredded meat, meaning the frog meat was noticeable, at least by texture. The puffed basmati rice coating could be likened to a very fine and tasty fried tempura. However, the pieces of pork rind were unchewable, resulting in something to spit out like popcorn husks.
A dish that I think combines the two most traditional ways of preparing frogs in Italy: fried and in soup.
I liked eating frog in a different way than seeing the whole legs in the middle of the plate, a presentation that always seemed, to me, even a bit pornographic. I also liked that they used the entire frog and not just the legs. Additionally, although they were still made with a dairy fat (ricotta and mascarpone), I enjoyed eating them in a way other than sautéed with butter. Finally, I also liked the idea of serving a crispy element in a moist environment like a soup-sauce. But, as with the previous dish, there was again a starchy mass, in this case, rice. A fourth crispy, oily, and salty dish.
My experience eating frogs is quite limited, and I have never cooked them either.
My points of reference are vague memories of those by Santi Santamaria, Georges Blanc (in persillade, meaning with butter and parsley), Troisgros (breaded and fried), Francesc Fortí (à la meuniere), and Josep Girabent from Bocatti in Vic (à la provençale, meaning Catalan-style, sautéed with garlic and parsley).
Recently, I ate them at Clandestí, where Pau Navarro also usually cooks them. I particularly remember the legs he grilled and then flamed in a pan with absinthe, in the summer of 2020, with the lights off, the spectacle of the fire flame in the bar kitchen, and Comerranas by Seguridad Social playing.
I have always wanted to taste the famous frog mousseline by Paul Haeberlin and the soufflé that Raymond Oliver made at Le Grand Véfour, precisely inspired by the Alsatian’s mousseline, but I never had the chance to eat either of these two dishes.
After reviewing the ones I’ve eaten, I realize that frogs have such a delicate taste that, with so many ingredients and elaborate preparations, their flavor always ends up being hidden.
A product that currently, very few chefs offer. A product that clearly shows that there are no first-rate and second-rate products, as in France they are served in great restaurants and are reminiscent of the most bourgeois restaurants, while in Spain and Italy, it is a recipe that recalls times of hunger. In some Asian countries like China or Indonesia, they are even considered street food.
Viewed as the chicken of the water in many countries, it is an animal that could be considered a surf and turf in itself.
We were served a glass of Sake Konishi Aosae* Junmai* with 15.5% alcohol content from a 720 ml bottle (€26 per bottle).
*Aosae comes from the expression “Ao-sae sake,” a term used by breweries when a sake is good and has a clear color.
*Junmai, meaning made using only rice, water, yeast, and koji, without additives or added alcohol and without a minimum rice polishing requirement.
A sake with the typical aroma that we would generally describe as a New World Sauvignon Blanc, and although it is considered a fresh and light sake, to me, it had an excessively sweet profile.
6. Avocado, kiwi, and coriander (Summer 2021)
An avocado cream with extra virgin olive oil, salt, and pepper.
Mixed into this avocado cream were small cubes of kiwi and pieces of coriander stem, like chives. On top, some arugula leaves, coriander, and mixed lettuces. On top of that, a very thin slice of tuna bottarga, and at the very top, a wavy sheet of coriander gelatin. Around it, a coriander powder.

A dish with all the ingredients in green.
The overall smell was of avocado and fresh, green vegetation.
A kind of salad served at a pleasantly warm temperature; the gelatin was cooler.
A dish with all the ingredients in green.
The overall smell was of avocado and fresh, green vegetation.
A kind of salad served at a pleasantly warm temperature; the gelatin was cooler.
The cream was like a smooth puree or guacamole. Vegetable fat mixed with the acidity of the kiwi, which also scented the mix. The leaves added texture and, to varying degrees, some flavor. I couldn’t find the bottarga.
The powder could have been coriander, arugula, or lettuce; it had no taste either, and if it was added for decoration, I don’t think it improved the aesthetics of the plating.
A gustatively harmonious dish.
A technically quite simple dish in which the product didn’t shine enough to dazzle us with its quality.
A dish with exotic products that have become local. The avocado was from Sicily, and both the olive oil and the kiwi and coriander were from his Vistamare estate, which I have already explained in his biography.
A dish “created” in 2022 for the 18th edition of the Identità Milano 2023 haute cuisine congress, which had revolution as its theme. In this case, the revolution referred to climate change and what “local product” means in the 21st century. A revolution in which farmers, chefs, and consumers have found themselves immersed, rather than a sought-after revolution.
Italy is the European country that cultivates the most kiwis; it’s possibly cultivating more than New Zealand. In Sicily, avocados, mangoes, papayas, lychees, and even coffee are grown. In Catalonia, we plant excellent wasabi in Montseny, and in Málaga, there are the excellent avocados from Finca San Antón.
So, where are the limits of what we consider local and seasonal? Climate change, globalization, and many other factors are revolutionizing us, changing our traditions, our recipes, and our diets. Nevertheless, I find that both the products and the recipes have always been in a constant state of change and evolution. Even the tomato was once an exotic product in history, and now we consider it our own. Perhaps the problem lies more in the fact that these tropical fruits displace our crops instead of adding to them, giving us a broader range of products. If it becomes more profitable to grow kiwis and avocados, those who have orange and olive trees will abandon those crops to focus on the new tropical fruits.
Anyway, back to the menu, I think it was a dish that, if not for the message (which luckily they don’t explain), could be served perfectly in a restaurant with as little culinary quality as a Flax and Kale. Of course, with a laborious gelatin and powder that add very little, just to justify the fine-dining price of the dish and for it to be signed by none other than Cracco.
With this statement, I want to make it clear that a salad is not a dish to be underestimated, but a very broad and difficult concept to bring to haute cuisine, where it’s not just about acquiring the freshest and highest quality product possible, but achieving something that goes beyond, as salads like Bras’s Gargouillou, Crippa’s Insalata 21, 31, 41, 51…, Baronetto’s Insalata piemontese, or Niederkofler’s Insalata dell’orto have done and continue to do, demonstrating the greatness that can be achieved with this ambiguous recipe called salad. And, not to always mention haute cuisine dishes, I even find that the salads made by Maribel at Simpson de Llafranc, who offered a good dozen very varied and all excellent salads, far surpassed the culinary quality of what this Cracco salad was.
A salad with ingredients and a combination that are unusual in the history of haute cuisine, especially served as protagonist ingredients, and more typical of recipes from magazines like ¡Hola!, making it even more of a challenge to captivate the diner.
THE BREAD
Hand-pulled grissini with Extra Virgin Olive Oil
A slice of five-grain bread with einkorn flour (small spelt, Triticum monococcum) and a five-year-old sourdough starter.

The fact that they hadn’t served bread until now makes me wonder if they still considered these appetizers and wouldn’t start the main courses until this point.
7. Fried Calamari
A dish that was not on the menu and has never been on the menu, which they very kindly added for us since they had just received some good calamari and wanted to serve them to us as a preview.
5 rings of breaded and fried calamari, and in a small separate bowl, a bit of herb sauce, Greek yogurt, and cucumber.

The calamari were from Santa Margherita (Liguria), they were fine, without having an exceptional taste. The breading layer was very thin, not too oily, and rather lightly golden.
The sauce was good, somewhere between a tarator (Turkish) sauce and a tzatziki (Greek) sauce, but it didn’t pair very well with the calamari, and it didn’t make me want to dip them. Maybe it’s because we are more used to eating them with mayonnaise and, in any case, with a bit of lemon juice.
A traditional recipe for calamari à la romana that, apart from being plated on very fine and expensive tableware, I couldn’t explain what made it haute cuisine. I’m the first to appreciate when these types of restaurants use popular products and recipes and move away from lobster and caviar, but in this case, neither the product nor the execution nor the combination with the sauce was of sufficient quality to justify serving this typical bar snack.
8. “Green Egg” (Spring 2023)
The only dish I added to the menu.
An egg boiled for 5 minutes and 45 seconds in water over low heat. On top, a gel/sauce made from the previous day’s bread and a parsley powder. Accompanied by vegetables from their garden: green beans, fava beans, asparagus, and persimmon. At the base, stracchino, mashed potatoes, and a basil sauce.

I found it curious that they announce the dish by specifying the egg’s cooking time so precisely, but do not indicate other parameters such as the volume and exact temperature of the water, the weight of the egg, or the container in which it is cooked. They also don’t confirm whether it was a chicken egg or from another animal. It seems like they want to be very precise but without providing all the information. By giving a single isolated piece of data, it becomes absurd and useless to fully understand the cooking process and evaluate whether 5 minutes and 45 seconds is too much, too little, a feat, or what it means for the egg.
In short, the dish had a boiled egg, with a good cooking point, with the white solid and the yolk liquid, and I would say it was from a chicken. I liked the idea of the bread sauce on top, both aesthetically and in terms of taste, although it was almost imperceptible. I didn’t even notice the stracchino cheese at the base. The vegetables were very good, fresh, and flavorful, seeming to be of good quality. Even so, the dish overall did not shine as other great salads from other chefs have. A dish that perhaps should be served before the fried calamari.

For the next dish, also without asking us, they served us a glass of water as a pairing, a glass of Vichy VCH Barcelona Genuine Water, the export line of Vichy Catalan, a carbonated mineral water. It is a hard water, with a fine bubble but one of the highest fixed residues (dissolved solids in water) in the world (3,052 mg/liter) and a characteristic gunpowder taste. It is a carbonated water, but with a lighter gas than Acqua Panna and also more flavorful and ferrous. They explain that their intention is to combine the marine salinity of the fish, the sole, with the terrestrial salinity of the water. The same water that Alberto Gipponi of Dina paired with the dish “Pasta, sale, mandorla e limone or Pappardella di frutta secca” from the Bianco su Bianco menu last November 2023.
9. Melting Sole, Radishes, Green Beans, and Vinegar Bread (Spring 2024)
A “ball” made from a lettuce leaf stuffed with sole fillet, and the whole “ball” cooked on the grill (in a kamado).

The sole was from Santa Margherita (Liguria) and was fresh. At Cracco in Portofino, they do experiment with aging, but in Milan, they say all the fish they serve is fresh. They cook it in the kamado and serve only small cubes without the skin (of course, it’s a fine-dining restaurant) and practically brandade-style, wrapped in a lettuce leaf. I would like to know if there were even 10 grams of sole; even searching for it, I could hardly see it and even less notice it. Inside the parcel, there were also tiny cubes of carrot, green vegetables that could be peas, green beans… and there was a hint of mustard and possibly lemon juice, all very well mixed, forming a brandade-like “ball” with all the elements.
At the base of the dish, there was a reddish-pink sauce that they announced as a gelatin made with a sweet and sour reduction of radishes. Around it, agretti (soda inermis, a halophyte, a plant that grows in humid and saline environments, similar to samphire). I couldn’t find the vinegar bread mentioned in the dish’s title.
Lattuga ripiena (stuffed lettuce), whether with fish, vegetables, meat, or rice, is a very typical dish throughout the Italian peninsula.
At first glance, it might seem that the smoke from the grill complemented the acidity of the sauce wonderfully and that the sauce was very well executed so as not to overpower the rest of the dish; also, that Cracco brings a popular recipe like carpione into a palace of the Vittorio Emanuele. But in practice, perhaps because the portion was small or for other reasons, nothing shone once again. Everything was a bit lackluster, a little here, a little there, without any focus. I liked the ideas of the dishes, at first everything seemed very good, the aesthetics were very well cared for, the dishes looked great in photos, but I was not enjoying the flavors, the products, the technique, the preparations, nor the supposed creativity (neither creative combinations nor Bulli-inspired creativity). Nothing shone, everything was a small disappointment. Additionally, a dish titled “sole” makes me think that the main ingredient is the sole. But I find that the predominant element in this dish, in any case, was the sauce and the pickled agretti.
10. “Vignarola”* from our garden, creamed with capers and hops (Spring 2022)

*Vignarola is a traditional, simple recipe based on seasonal vegetables such as artichokes, fava beans, peas, lettuce, spring onions, etc., originating from the fields around Rome (possibly Velletri, in the Castelli Romani). As the name indicates, it was a dish typical of vintners who, when they returned from work, made this dish by stewing the vegetables that were left over from the daily sale. They made soups, used them to season pasta, risotto, meat, or fish. They stewed the vegetables and, if any were left over, they saved them for the next day, when they were just as good or even better. In other words, a recipe with origins in cucina povera.
A dish based on green beans, fava beans, peas, green asparagus, artichokes, all sautéed with butter and capers. There were also some leaves, jasmine flowers in carpione* (pickled), and fried guanciale.
*Carpione is a preparation that originated in a poor and rural environment to preserve food and marinate freshwater fish such as carp (hence its name) to mask their muddy taste. The recipe entered more bourgeois homes through the peasant women who served wealthy families in the cities. It is a sauté of onion flavored with sage, bay leaf, and pepper, and when well softened, vinegar is added and left to evaporate over low heat. This preparation is left to marinate between 2 hours and 1 day with the previously floured fish or meat cut into pieces. Originally, it was a winter dish left to marinate outdoors.
I don’t know if the vegetables in vignarola were traditionally made with butter. In any case, as in most instances, the vegetables were masked by the dairy fat. The guanciale, which is fat with streaks of lean meat obtained by salting the pork jowl, was very crispy.
A dish that could have been very refreshing and spring-like, but ended up a bit greasy, especially with the guanciale. I might have preferred it thinly sliced and warmed, melting, instead of crispy, to maintain the tenderness of the dish and not as a contrasting texture.
11. Marinated Egg Yolk Buttons with Butter and Sage (Spring 2024)
Three bottoni, that is, 3 small ravioli of 1 cm, made of fresh pasta and filled with egg yolk cured with salt and sugar and mixed with butter. At the base, a cream of white asparagus and sage oil, and on top, a jasmine flower.

Another application of the endless saga of the marinated egg (the “tuorlo d’uovo marinato” or “uovo alla Cracco”), possibly Cracco’s most significant technical contribution to contemporary gastronomy. Instead of his famous pastas that are not pasta, in this dish, he fills a pasta with his famous cured yolk.
I was quite surprised when I discovered that the tuorlo marinato, the egg yolk cured with salt and sugar, is a recipe by Carlo Cracco created in 2002. A recipe we have so internalized and assimilated, which feels so natural that I always thought it was a rather ancient preparation or, at least, I assumed it was originally from China or Japan. A recipe that has become a classic of contemporary and avant-garde cuisine, elevating the egg to the level of a main ingredient in a dish, no longer relegated to being just another ingredient in so many sauces, pastas, or cakes.
It seems that the idea was born during a period when Cracco and Baronetto were experimenting with everything that came their way, from chicken eggs to fish eggs. The first test was done with pure salt, then they added sugar as is done to cure fish, and finally, a bean puree made from legumes like borlotti beans (Phaseolus vulgaris), a mottled variety with spots and stripes, which is relatively flavorless (though it must contribute some taste, right?) to achieve a smooth surface.
They also experimented with different times to achieve a more or less smooth consistency suitable for different variations. And this recipe has become the mother recipe of many other recipes, such as all varieties of pasta that are not pasta, bottarga di gallina for grating, egg yolk mayonnaise, tuorlo d’uovo marinato with Parmigiano Reggiano fondue, crispy egg yolk, uovo al burro, tuorlo fritti (a breaded and fried egg yolk like a croquette), etc. In this case, the yolk was marinated for 5 hours in a mixture of coarse salt, granulated sugar, water, and a puree of borlotti beans that they cook themselves without any seasoning. In this way, more than a recipe, I find that it has also become an application.
The brilliant idea, more than just marinating a yolk with salt and sugar, was to use the cold technique based on protein denaturation, i.e., modifying molecular structures, in this case, with temperature.
In any case, I find that the initial work that Cracco and Baronetto developed around the egg yolk and its different curing/marinating points with salt and sugar (and legume puree) was a very interesting contribution to cuisine.
The overall smell was of jasmine. These ravioli were exceptionally good, those unforgettable bites that remain in memory as references. I really liked the idea of mixing cured egg yolk with butter and also the idea of filling a ravioli with cured egg yolk. Moreover, the idea was very well executed. The dough was very thin and transparent. They were ravioli with a concave part that had the cured egg yolk inside and covered with a sheet of the same dough but a bit softer and more elastic than the concave part, which was slightly “harder,” presumably to hold the yolk. The pasta was made by them, with wheat flour and a 1 to 1 ratio of water and flour. When serving them, they simply boil them and dress them with sage oil.
A juicy dish that filled the mouth with flavor and a very fine oiliness and creaminess, more from the oil than the butter. Subtle flavors, but with weight. Delicately pasty on the inside and slightly chewy on the outside, due to the pasta. The ravioli “sweated” a bit, as if they had been brushed with butter, although it was the sage oil. At no point did the dish feel greasy.
A delicious dish that ennobles the egg yolk. Surely the best dish of the meal. The kind of creativity and innovation I expected from Cracco’s cuisine.
Colle Giove 2020, a Colli di Rimini Rosso DOC from Agricoltura Cracco, the Azienda Agricola Vistamare, his estate in Santarcangelo di Romagna (Emilia-Romagna) (€44 per bottle).
A glass of wine that they offered us to pair with the next dish, the quail.

The only red wine Cracco produces at his Vistamare estate (which I have explained in his biography) located in the Colline della Romagna, specifically on the La Ciola hill, about 10 km from the Adriatic.
A Sangiovese (with a touch of Cabernet Franc) from a vineyard over 40 years old that spends about 4 weeks in stainless steel tanks in contact with the skins and submerging the cap. Malolactic fermentation occurs spontaneously until late spring, and finally, it spends 8 months on its fine lees.
The two eyes on the label, by artist Patrick Tuttofuoco, recreate those of Carlo and his wife Rosa, representing the union between the two.
A wine from a wine region often undervalued and better known for its whites than its reds. With a profile of red fruits, light herbal notes, and a hint of florality, it showed freshness but not much complexity.
Once again, they offer a red wine for white poultry, whereas I find that most whites and sparkling wines would pair much better.
12. “Jeweled” Quail (Spring 2024)
This dish features a quail from the Pelloni farm in Glorie di Ravenna (Emilia-Romagna) cooked in the oven, presented whole from a guéridon, and then portioned for each guest. It is deboned and stuffed with saffron rice, toasted almonds, dried fruit (apricots and sultanas), parsley, coriander, vinegar, and a bit of Parmesan. The quail is “jeweled,” as the dish title suggests, with caramelized spices like coriander, pink peppercorns, and a bit of cumin, and also adorned with colorful flowers and some pieces of coriander leaf.

On the side, the dish came from the kitchen with a spinach and star anise cream.
Finally, the dish is completed by serving, from a small copper pan, a chicken reduction with parsley and lemon.
The rice recipe is inspired by Persian jeweled rice, a rice that, due to its golden color and the bright, vivid colors of the fruits, spices, and flowers, has traditionally been described as “jeweled,” as if it were adorned with diamonds, gems, and rubies.
In this case, they replace the Basmati with a Carnaroli from the Riserva San Massimo in Pavia (Lombardy), which was not overcooked but also not al dente. It is 100% Carnaroli rice (pure, not one of the substitute varieties) from the Ticino Valley, which I had previously eaten at Da Vittorio. The rice had excellent cooking, considering the technical difficulty of being cooked in two stages, first prepared and then finished once stuffed inside the quail and baked.

The saffron flavor that the quail absorbed was delicious. The coriander seeds, well distributed, also perfumed each bite. The crunch of the almonds amidst the rice was very pleasant. A very uniform rice. Altogether, especially the rice and the quail, was quite well integrated. Unfortunately, the parsley cream, which didn’t fit in at all, was a dense, compact, and emulsified sauce that I imagine was for decorating the dish.
It seems that in Italy, it is quite traditional to bake quail in the oven, and often, in Italian haute cuisine, it was served on top of rice. In this case, Cracco and Sacchi offer the quail stuffed with rice, but with the Persian recipe of jeweled rice and not with the traditionally made rice recipe.
They change the napkin and spray it with Aramara perfume by Culti Milano, a perfume house founded by Alessandro Agrati in 1988 dedicated to room fragrances and the aesthetics of scents. Aramara is made with bitter orange, bergamot, and sandalwood and is inspired by a recipe from an Italian pastry chef. It had a citrus and woody scent, a rather refreshing and summery perfume.
I still can’t believe it! With all the comments that have always been made about perfumed people showing up at restaurants or attending wineries and wine tastings, contaminating the tasting rooms. And now they go and spray the napkin with perfume!
DESSERTS
13. Croquette of Dark Gianduja with Chinotto Cream, Maraschino, and Caviar (2003)
A dessert served instead of the ones listed on the menu, which were “Amaro al rabarbaro ghiacciato.”
Two fried croquettes filled with a gianduja ganache (70% dark chocolate from Vietnam with cream and hazelnut paste). At the base, a cream of chinotto with maraschino, and on each side, a bit of Kaluga caviar from Germany.
A historic dish of which they have served different versions, sometimes the cream/sauce was pear.

Halfway between cream-filled beignets and croquettes.
The chinotto cream with maraschino, green in color, was fresh and flavorful. Chinotto is a carbonated soft drink made from the juice of bitter orange, and in this case, there was also a bit of maraschino cherry liqueur.
The caviar complemented it wonderfully.
A dessert that was not very sweet, with a salty and refreshing profile.
A great Cracco classic. Possibly the best dish of the menu, along with the “Bottoni di tuorlo marinato.”
14. Milk Bread, Elderflower, and “Magiostre” (Spring 2024)
A steamed bun filled with wild strawberries. Covered with a layer of white chocolate, mascarpone, fresh cream, and elderflowers.

The outer layer was cream, the white chocolate and mascarpone did not dominate. Inside, there were small pieces of strawberry mixed with a red sauce that must have also been made from red fruits. In terms of taste, it was very much like a strawberry and cream mochi, a kind of deconstruction or adaptation to the Italian style that was quite well reconstructed. Not overly sweet and quite delightful and well-executed.
THE PETIT FOURS
15. White chocolate filling
16. Caramel filling
17. Coffee filling
18. Hazelnut filling

Four decent chocolates, nothing more. Although not particularly impressive, I find the ending offered by Baronetto at Del Cambio with the dehydrated fruits more fitting, ending with a crunchy texture as the meal begins and without making it unnecessarily heavier. That said, it is true that the chocolate bonbons pair better with coffee.

THE LIQUID OFFERING
The wine cellar at Cracco is exceptional, both in quantity and quality. Located in the basement, with spruce wood shelves and red walls, it boasts a selection of more than 2,000 references and over 10,000 bottles of wine, mainly Italian and French. It has a noteworthy collection of Barolo and Bourgogne, with labels from legendary producers and, logically, at a premium price. We’re talking about names like Giacomo Conterno, Angelo Gaja, Henri Jayer, DRC, Coche-Dury, Comtes de Lafont, and many others. A selection made by Carlo Cracco himself, who appears to be a true wine enthusiast.
As for the service, we were attended by the young Lorenzo Chiarello, who was very proper, knowledgeable, and approachable, demonstrating a strong grasp of the wines in the cellar. We also had the chance to greet the other sommelier, Milanese Gianluca Sanso.
The service is conducted with Zalto glasses for still wines and Riedel White Tie for sparkling wines.

Additionally, they also offer a menu with about twenty waters classified into three categories: still, lightly sparkling, and sparkling.
WE DRANK
A bottle of Cossy Cuvée Vieilles Vignes Extra Brut 2014 (€125).

A Champagne from the Montagne de Reims made with equal parts Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier by Sophie Cossy in Pargny-lès-Reims. A cuvée they have been producing since 2003, made from the oldest parcels of the estate. A mature Champagne, both in color and aroma; vinous, with peach and apricot well-present and a citrus hint of mandarin from the Chardonnay. An ideal sparkling wine to accompany the entire meal, but not memorable.
We also drank three other pairings that were offered to us throughout the menu and which I have already explained with the dishes.
THE KITCHEN – THE SPACE
The kitchen is not visible; the diner does not see it at any point.
A spacious and very bright kitchen with yellow, white, and black tiles, and the cabinets and pass-through counter are also yellow. They use induction, as gas cannot be used in the Vittorio Emanuele for safety reasons. They adhere to the most traditional techniques, having a couple of ovens, a griddle, many pots and pans, and a salamander. They practically do not use any sous-vide cooking machines at controlled temperatures, only to prepare some accompaniment or part of it, such as an occasional sauce; they would never cook fish or meat this way. Although they have it, Luca explains that they also do not use the Occo, for example. However, they only have a kamado for grilling.
THE KITCHEN – THE STYLE (as I experienced it)
A rather immediate cuisine, made on the spot, with few complicated preparations.
Halfway between tradition and modernity, with a primarily traditional and popular repertoire (vegetable chips, Russian salad, calamari à la romana, stuffed lettuce, vignarola, baked quail) and with a certain proprietary repertoire, which could be called author cuisine (flavored rice crackers and dried vegetable chips, caramelized Russian salad, marinated yolk, croquette beignets). Additionally, there are some touches of haute cuisine recipes (pâté en croûte, originating from medieval noble cuisine, or the stuffed quail and the service of petits fours, even if done almost by inertia).
ORGANOLEPTICALLY
A friendly cuisine with familiar flavors, easy to like, harmonious, with mild acidity (as I understand Cracco likes), familiar tastes, without harshness.
Neither particularly aromatic nor particularly odorless.
With more moments of creaminess and oiliness than fresh crunchiness.
With few temperature contrasts within the same dish, but fortunately, serving the food at a tempered temperature, without any unpleasantly frozen dish, but also no particularly hot dish.
Aesthetically, it is a fairly figurative cuisine, visually identifying the ingredients of the dish.
Although not all dishes were highly aesthetically pleasing, the care to offer visual beauty is evident.
THE PRODUCTS
A menu with a strong presence of vegetables, little fish (calamari à la romana, a bit of sole, and the caviar in the dessert), a single pasta dish (with an insignificant amount of dough), a single meat dish (the quail), and a bit of veal tongue as an appetizer and the fried guanciale accompanying the vignarola, a single rice dish (used as stuffing for the quail, even though Cracco is considered one of the masters of rice and specifically risotto, possibly alongside Alajmo and Morelli). A menu with few dairy products, simply and occasionally: the ricotta and mascarpone with the frogs, the yogurt in the calamari sauce, and the stracchino at the base of the Green Egg.
Considering that the egg could be the most Cracco-esque element, we only had 2 dishes with eggs: one was simply boiled (the Green Egg), and the other was the marinated yolk inside the bottoni.
A menu without legumes, except for half a pea and half a fava bean mixed into some dish.
They serve bread in moderation, just a single slice and some grissini, which seems consistent with the style of cuisine they offer and also seems very balanced to me. Their dishes are not meant for mopping up with bread, and although they produce a wide selection of doughs and pastries, to enjoy them, I can go to their café-pastry shop on the ground floor.
For cooking, they use both oil and butter.
The degree of localism of the ingredients is relative, as they use products from all over Italy, especially from Emilia-Romagna, but also from Liguria and Sicily. They only source from outside the country on rare occasions and for products that, logically, are not readily available locally, such as frogs or the touch of caviar and chocolate, although they could also buy local options. But they do not offer exotic or unknown ingredients.
Inexpensive ingredients: vegetables, a few rings of calamari, half a quail… I understand that a significant portion of the menu price is allocated to the setting and the tableware rather than the ingredients. You pay a premium to dine at Vittorio Emanuele, not for the quality of the product or the cuisine. I understand this and expected it to be so.
THE TECHNIQUES
Boiled, fried, marinated, pickled, grilled, dried and dehydrated, sautéed, slow-cooked, baked…
No freeze-drying, distillation, nixtamalization, spherification, cooking with liquid nitrogen, or even siphon foams or Paco Jet ice creams.
Traditional techniques but with a touch of techniques from the avant-garde cuisine of the last 30 years. One could say they have updated with modern techniques to interpret traditional cuisine.
THE MENU STRUCTURE
A menu with a classic structure, featuring appetizers, salads, fish, meat, rice, desserts, and petits fours.
A menu where no dish particularly stood out above the others, perhaps the bottoni and the dessert croquette beignets.
A menu that combines Cracco’s historical dishes with some novelties.
I liked that the tableware was refined, with hand-painted gold decorations, but white, as Cracco always seems to have served, giving prominence to the food while maintaining the palatial air in keeping with the setting.
The portion sizes were quite small for most dishes.
There is no narrative, nothing is explained about the building, the chef, his culinary philosophy, or Cracco’s contributions. Additionally, the dishes are announced briefly, without mentioning the origin of the products or the preparation, just some of the ingredients.
There are also few dishes where the service is finished in front of the diner, with only the quail being served from a guéridon.
They do not provide a menu keepsake, which I think a restaurant of this caliber should do.
The service, led by Silvia Cuneo, was adequate but just so, friendly but limited. A service that could be much better, lacking a visible leader with more personality. A great restaurant like Cracco, in such a noble, elegant, and sophisticated setting, needs a reception and hospitality that matches the architecture and aesthetics, even more than better cuisine, which seems to be secondary for most customers.
CONCLUSIONS
Cracco was one of the flagships of what would become the future of Italian gastronomy, but I find that perhaps today he is no longer in top form or, like so many other chefs, he lives off the legacy of everything he did. However, with only one star and not three, as usually happens when they abandon their kitchens. I left with the feeling that his best period must have been with Baronetto, and I questioned how much of Baronetto is in what was signed by Cracco.
Baronetto has a style that is recognizable from afar, a style that I did not see anywhere during this visit to Cracco. Moreover, the best dishes on the menu were precisely from the Cracco-Baronetto period.
Thus, either there is more Cracco in Turin than in Milan, or Cracco-Baronetto was really Baronetto and not so much Cracco.
There is much talk about his extensive research on flavor, the pillars of his cuisine (supposedly, challenge, research, and synthesize), and his progressive vision of Italian cuisine, exuding modernity. It is said that in the typical Cracco style, guests can choose between the most classic Milanese dishes or something with creative touches. He is known for combining flavors not to experiment with contrast and highlight the difference but to transform them and create new tastes.
Personally, I did not perceive the greatness of his cuisine; I did not grasp any of this supposed personal character; it did not seem creative or avant-garde to me, as it has always been defined. It did not shine in terms of product, technique, or concept, even making the effort to transport myself to the 90s to contextualize it in its heyday. Fortunately, there was also no hint of spectacle or any intention to impress at any point, another characteristic that I understood as inherent to his cuisine.
However, I do appreciate the discretion with which he carried out this supposed revolution and all his contributions in the first half of his professional career, leaving other chefs like Bottura or Scabin in the media spotlight.
Marchesi, Cracco, and Baronetto. I have the feeling that poor Sacchi is carrying a powerful legacy quite gracefully, but he seems inhibited, overshadowed; I don’t know to what extent he will be able to shine with his own voice. It seems that all he can do in front of these chefs is remain silent, something I also find very admirable and something I myself should do more often. I often miss the years when I would go out to eat with my parents, and they would take the lead, having the great luxury of being present and only having to listen, be silent, and eat. And the luxury, also, of tuning out when I had enough!
Marchesi is already dead, and we are left with only photographs, books, and the nostalgic comments of older people who were able to experience him. Cracco, who is still alive, is also dead as a chef (understanding that a chef is a craftsman) because finding him as a customer is like playing cat and mouse, and trying to find him in a restaurant he advises is something that doesn’t even cross my mind anymore. I keep talking to customers and journalists who have gone to Vittorio Emanuele and haven’t found him, and I’m not talking about now, this has been going on for more than 10 years. I often think that if I want to meet a particular chef, what I need to do is go to the presentations of their books or events like the ones Dom Pérignon held a few days ago in Barcelona.
If cooking is craftsmanship, then that day the craftsman was Luca Sacchi. If cooking is about ideas (attributed to who knows whom and from who knows how many years ago), the chef is Carlo Cracco. Or are they also Baronetto’s?
In the end, I will do as Carles Porta with Tor and let the reader make that decision. I do not consider myself knowledgeable enough to compare Cracco’s cooking from different periods; I have not witnessed his growth, nor did I experience his Cracco-Baronetto era or his time with Marchesi. Therefore, I don’t think I can make any very strong statements (even though I already have). Simply put, based on what I experienced in June 2024 and with everything I have read and cross-referenced with different personalities, I can lean towards one opinion or another.
I leave Cracco with the same desire to know a cuisine from an era I will never experience. Or perhaps what I need to do to find that cuisine is to go to Turin. It is curious that Vittorio Emanuele was born at the Palazzo Carignano in Turin, precisely the palace located in front of Del Cambio.