Qualitaly_119

OCT. NOV. 2020 VI MAGAZINE from one assumption: if you no longer eat out for lunch, it means that you have to invest in families for dinner. Appointment therefore in the time slot between 18:00 and 20:30/21 at the latest. The restaurant menu must be affordable and also consider what the children eat at school (just look at the website or the apps that run the school canteens). Once again, creativity and technology must come to our aid. ______________________________ BOX TO DO 1. Taking risks 2. Accepting change 3. Becoming obsolete 4. Strengthening alliances 5. Raising the bar 6. Innovate 7. Insisting on won battles 8. Monitoring the experiments ______________________________ BOX USEFUL SITES www.www.bezalel.ac.il www.brooklyndumplingshop.com www.musthavemenus.com www.rpiindustries.com/ondo.htm www.pwc.com/it/italia2021 www.rbi.com www.repup.it www.tablesetgo.com www.therevelgroup.com www.wolfgangpuck.com ______________________________ AT PAGE 16 COVER STORY Boiled meats on the cart? “We are the guardians of tradition” For over 80 years, generation after generation, the Degoli family’s Gastronomic Clinic has served the typical dishes of Emilian cuisine. “Woe betide whoever changes the recipes!” by Maria Elena Dipace Arnaldo Clinica Gastronomica is a restaurant, an inn, born in 1936 in Rubiera of Reggio Emilia is now famous all over Italy, but also throughout the world. A story, that of Arnaldo, which today involves the third generation of the Degoli family: from Arnaldo and his beloved wife Lina, to their daughters, Anna and Franca in the 80s. Now today, where, to continue this adventure that smells of fresh pasta and traditional boiled meats, there is Arnaldo’s nephew, Roberto Bottero, who together with his wife Ramona, wanted to tell us this wonderful family story. Starting from that far-off 1959, when the Locanda was awarded the Michelin Star, the year in which the first stars of the prestigious guide were awarded. This year the restaurant celebrated its 61st ‘starred’ year, which makes it the most famous long-lived in the history of the prestigious wine and food guide; no one but Arnaldo Clinica Gastronomica has held it for so long. Why Gastronomic Clinic? During the 1960s the restaurant in Rubiera was very popular with the doctors of the Policlinico di Modena. Arnaldo loved to joke with them, saying that everyone came out of their clinic sad, while in “his” clinic the patients came out happy, because instead of medicine carts and drips there were carts of excellent boiled meats, tasty soups, and also quality cold cuts! And so, jokingly, the name Clinica Gastronomica has remained integral. Today it has become a quality brand that distinguishes us. Who manages the business and how are the roles divided? It’s me and my wife Ramona. The management of the activity is particularly symbiotic; Ramona and I, in fact, confront each other on most of the decisions and maintain a common vision, which is that of traditional Emilian cuisine mixed with a warm welcome for the customer. I deal more with the kitchen, being the chef, and I carry on the family recipes, managing the whole kitchen brigade. My wife takes care of the service, then, bookings, reception, mise en place and dining room staff. But both of us are present in our respective areas; my wife, in fact, being a creative woman, loves cooking. I, as the family head, serve the boiled and roast cart in the dining room: a tradition that has passed from my grandfather, to my father, to me. Moreover, I am a professional sommelier. In 2016 some members of the family left the restaurant because they wanted to make the menu more modern. In the end the conservative front won... Family, continuity... in short, we have been the custodians of a gastronomic culture for over 80 years. I grew up in the kitchen with my grandfather, then my mother; and today I see my children growing up there, this is my story, my life. Moreover, the historical customers who have been coming for many years, now considered more than almost family friends, look for our cooking, they appreciate our “carts”. But it is also wonderful to see young people who appreciate the Emilian gastronomic culture, where the protagonist is the quality of the ingredients of an extraordinary territory. Reading the online reviews, I was very impressed by a customer who said he was ‘surprised to find a surprisingly original taste in a particularly simple dish like tortelli with butter’. How can you win over your customers with simple dishes? With passion! By putting love into what you do and maintaining a consistency over the years faithful to our gastronomic tradition, with ingredients of the highest quality, worked with care and mastery (in compliance with all regulations in force). We do a meticulous research of ingredients, subject to a thousand variables, but also the service in the dining room, in the wise hands of my wife Ramona, must be up to the level of this cooking. Everything is taken care of in the best possible way. Let’s talk about your menu. Basically, our menu reflects that of grandfather Arnaldo. Over the years some dishes have been replaced and added, but the protagonists remain our famous carts: from appetizers to boiled meats, roasts and, finally, desserts. Without forgetting the first courses, rigorously handmade by our sfogline, among which the cappelletti in broth and our ‘Spugnolata mignon’, made from the Morchella wild mushroom, the restaurant’s speciality, stand out.