BISTRO AIMO AND NADIA: LEVEL DISHES IN A “POP” PLACE IN MILAN

They have only known each other for a year, yet there is already a navigated understanding: at the helm of Aimo and Nadia bistRo, Sabrina Macrì and Beatrice Perin celebrate the elegance of simplicity in the group’s “pop” sign.

The local

They are like day and night, like Wes Anderson and Tarantino, in some ways like the devil and the holy water. Sabrina Macrì and Beatrice Perin are the chef and maitre at BistRo di Aimo e Nadia, women with such opposing personalities that they create something highly conciliatory for the customer. Although for some people having two women in charge of a “level venue” may still be a problem, for us I have not at all. Therefore, we will not dwell on the issue of the gender gap or gender ignorance of clients, rather on the professionalism and mindset of these two girls who are so different, yet so realistically on point.

A brief background on the
BistRo
is due. Ro stands for Rossana Orlandi, the Italian grande dame of design, one of the most influential people in design worldwide. A discoverer of talent, a scouter of what design should still be doing, simplifying human life and also that of the planet we live on. BistRo is on the same street – Via Matteo Bandello, Milan – where the gallery-laboratory-garden-museum-home is located where Rossana Orlandi has focused all her activity after a Compasso d’oro and a lot of work in fashion. Now try to imagine how busy this house is during Design Week; practically the Orlandi space is a pilgrimage halfway point. And you know, pilgrims are always thirsty and hungry.

Again, another pair of women, Rossana Orlandi and Stefania Moroni, had the foresight to think of a dining venue that reflected Ro’s unmistakable style, in a dimension of elegantly Italian cuisine, told without plastering and with a sparkling welcome. Thus was born the BistRo. “We face Design Week by crying.“. Beatrice jokes, but not too much either, about the impact of the famous Milan week. Sabrina simply nods her head.

Our most loyal customers expressly tell us that they will not show up. They know that there will be an ad hoc menu, that the service will be faster and non-stop, that there will be more cold dishes. From morning to evening the passage of people is unbelievable, a tsunami of people. The bar is fixed, and for all these reasons from Aimo and Nadia’s other places, someone always comes to help out. It is a week designed on the exclusively foreign clientele, with a focus on aperitifs, which we have found in recent years has worked very well“.

Chef Sabrina Macrì

A week to forge them, Tolkien would say. The girls, in spite of everything, know what lies ahead for them, and from this they have also derived a business idea from it to maximize their efforts economically. They have known each other for just over a year, yet there is an already navigated understanding. Perhaps it is because both have been thrown on the same burning embers, and nothing like a situation where sleeves need to be more than rolled up can create fellowship. Sabrina, a woman who loves rear ends and hard work, who grew up in the Mediterraneanness of family relationships, absorption, dribbling, and the third half of tradition, of Beatrice would like to have the ability to break the ice right away, would like to steal her capacity for dialogue and dialectic. Then he calls her a big head.

Beatrice Perin

For her part, Beatrice, a woman of the world, an iridescent spirit who has washed for many years even abroad, envies Sabrina’s punctiliousness and meticulousness. So is his seriousness and always being on time. On the contrary, he berates her on the fact that she worries too much, that she should take things more lightly. Sabrina continues to nod. I wonder if Alessandro and Fabio, chef couple of Il Luogo di Aimo e Nadia, created this pair ad hoc. Knowing them, the suspicion is more than justified. The game of pairs is followed by a reflection on the world of catering and the momentous change it is experiencing. Beatrice makes this clear in no uncertain terms. Catering is a lifestyle choice; we are among the last. He is living this crisis because he used to have laborers. Now you don’t make the numbers on staff anymore, you really have to find someone who really believes in it. It’s different abroad; they don’t have our preparation, although a lot of attention is given to working conditions. If you get out of here, out of Italy and France, you can really do anything. Abroad, you get paid more, but you go out that you are not independent.”

At
BistRo
, as also in the other venues of the Aimo and Nadia galaxy, we rest two days a week, with exceptions such as for Design Week. One thing is clear, in the family we help each other and correct each other within a contino calibrate and know each other. “I am totally transparent with the kids; I like to give them responsibility right away. The guys in the room are young and with gaps, but we manage to say things to each other’s faces. I am learning that it is also good to teach. Our job is communication with the public, being expressed psychologists. People are always different, and we need to be able to read between the lines of personality. Table reading is the basis, because I also have to be the liaison with Sabrina and the kitchen. I, by nature, am much more easygoing, but I have to be able to realize when I am faced with a client who wants to be treated with more discretion, detachment and formality at times.”

As we said, correction is also something to be taken without resentment. Thus it becomes an element of growth, a personal micro-crisis that makes one more motivated, more professional, and without mincing words, better. “In the beginning, I always felt like overdoing it. I thought: so I made it too simple, wandering with my mind to stratospheric things. Fabio and Ale just told me, look there is no need, the key thing is taste. For me it was a liberation and a spur to focus even more on the cooking I had in mind.”. Sabrina does not just nod this time, she speaks respectfully and without flattery about who chose her and how the choice is now up to her every day. Beatrice also dwells on the vision of her “superior” and how diversity has made her grow. “Alberto (Piras, sommelier at Il Luogo di Aimo e Nadia) and I have very different mouths. He is France, all of France. I lived in Canada, Australia, my field training starts in hispterism, so macerated, natural wines. Collaborating with Alberto means that these latter types of wines must also be clean, without those flaws that are only in fashion. It’s a growth for me, the focus on finding the hair in the egg.”

Dishes

We could say that the elegance of simplicity is the epitome of the dishes prepared by Sabrina. On the surface, this is so. Let’s say it is not the simplicity of the repeated recipe, of home cooking. Rather it is a plunge into Italian-ness, regenerated by the hands of an explorer of memories .

“In my kitchen, Aimo and Nadia is the base, and I feel it is mine. For me it is the cuisine of memory, reinternalized to give new sensations to the customer. My memory I try to convey it with the dish, all the dishes are designed that way. Dishes are simple but not simple in taste. I use a maximum of 2-3 ingredients, which I work and transform with all the technique I possess.”


Rabbit stuffed with vegetable caponata
is one of the dishes that is “pulling” the most. After all, it is a traditional recipe, yet Sabrina brings it to life through complex preparation and a lot of work, enhancing both the protein and vegetable sides. Exalting his grandmother at the bottom. This is perceived and people are not slow to return. The full name of the dish is.
Nostrano rabbit stuffed with eggplant caponata, mustard fondant potatoes
, a second course reminiscent of the typical Sunday roast at Grandma’s house, always the one from before. Native rabbit is deboned and filled with a fried eggplant caponata, then browned and baked in the oven. The roast you are used to will be a distant memory, tear-jerker even the potatoes, layered, crisp and light.

Another dish that ravished our minds and palates:
Fresh pasta buttons stuffed with Venetian-style liver, caramelized onion, apple vinegar reduction
. The Venetian-style liver goes on a first course move, gets smart working enclosed in a ravioli-shaped bungalow and puts down the presentation of life. The liver is cooked with a lot of onion and bay leaves, cream made with apple cider vinegar is added on the buttons. Caramelized tropea onion to close. A dish that when you see it you think is extremely comfortable. So it is when you taste it, too, with a well-present yet inclusive acidic dimension.

For many, tripe is a memory. To be understood by how many is pleasant. With the
Tripe, sage roasted marrow, soused vegetables
these people, and even the Gnostics, have the ability to forgive and forgive themselves anything. Veal tripe is cleaned, washed and cut. Then overcooked on a base of celery, carrot, onion and bay leaves. No tomato sauce, you go plain for 3-4 hours on low flame to get a consistency that melts. Then the touch of genius, a slice of roasted peach to give fresh degreasing sweetness. Lastly, a carpione of spring onion and celery and the bitter buffet of fried sage. A revival that, if only we were a little less lazy, could undermine any good tuna tataki, avocado toast or poke.

On dessert, the refrain does not change. Memory sweets step forward. Here, today is souffle day. Here in the guise of
Iced Strawberry Soufflé and Chocolate Crumble.
, a summer version made with fruit puree, blended with egg whites and sugar. The puffiness coming out of the ramekin is the sign we are waiting for, the crust on the surface the fetish we want to break, the chocolate crumble inside better than a kinder surprise. Sabrina is not the grandmother, yet for the taste of her dishes, we would like to go eat at her place every Sunday and every other day as well.

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