Bilegno: a sign stands out in the middle of the fields of the Piacenza countryside. 100 scarce inhabitants, a fraction of Borgonovo Val Tidone, in that border area where you are still in the Po Valley but you can see the hills of the Ligurian Apennines just a few steps away. The restaurant The avocado it is nowhere and it is a Michelin star that more than “deserves a stop”, as the Red would like by definition, certainly needs a detour. There is a church, but there is no town hall here either.
La Palta is not in fact the only starred restaurant in the area, nor the only restaurant: it is the only commercial activity in the town, in addition to the few houses and the church. Here she was born, raised and won a Michelin star Isa Mazzocchi, winner of the Michelin Chef Woman Award 2021 by Veuve Clicquot.
LA PALTA, TOBACCO WITH COOKING
A beautiful nineties villa built by Isa’s parents that welcomes guests with a beautiful sign of the State Monopolies. La Palta in fact refers to the license of salts and tobaccos which in dialect is said precisely “the contract”. The Mazzocchi family have always had one and even though the grocery store is no longer there, the license remains and cigars and cigarettes still stand out in plain sight behind the bar counter. La Palta is a restaurant with an elegant room under the wooden beams and overlooking a beautiful garden, where Isa’s sister, Monica, and her sommelier husband Roberto welcome you with the care of those who are inviting you home. Thanks to the family restaurant for two generations, the Mazzocchi family here know them all and the day after winning the prize there is a bustle of relatives, friends, neighbors, guys who have worked here and bring flowers to celebrate. The phone keeps ringing and there is an air of surreal celebration.
FEMALE COOKING
There is a tasting menu proposed with a small small writing, if ordered a la carte, and we start with cured meats. Coppa, pancetta, DOP salami, the triad of local delicatessen and according to Isa, one of the seven wonders of the world. If you are looking for a fine dining restaurant that wants to hit you with bitterness, acidity, coup de théâtre, better turn off. Isa creates a cuisine that she defines as feminine: «My cuisine is feminine because it is a kitchen that takes care, that nourishes. In fact, I sign my plates with a white dot, which is nothing more than a drop of milk, the first food that each of us ate and that makes us all the same ».
In his life he created dishes such as «Ravioli ravioli in six seasonings of Parmigiano Reggiano “, the “Millefeuille of goose foie gras and bananas with candied lemon “, the «Campari pigeon with artichokes and orange powder “. He creates with freedom, and profane the tradition with dishes such as Tortelli di pisarei stuffed with anolini that blend together the three pastas par excellence of Piacenza: poverty of the pisarei pasta and the richness of the anolini filling ». There are no classics on the menu, however, there are only today’s dishes, which change often, follow the seasons and its inspirations (in the gallery). The only fixed point, the inevitable cold cuts in paper and the «Tortelli Piacentini with the tail of the seasonal green», Where in addition to the ricotta, the herbs collected in the fields behind the restaurant end up.
CATFISH, DONKEY AND THE CLASSICS OF TRADITION
The photos in the gallery, taken live and without editing, give the truest impression of how to eat at La Palta – wines included. To complete a nice menu, in fact, Roberto has put together an impressive wine list, not extreme, full of bubbles and champagne from both small vignerons and great Maisons, including Veuve Clicquot, from here Isa is a member of the Atelier Des Grandes Dames network: he loves pairing the cup with their own Yellow Label. Wines from the Piacenza hills and bubbles, but without an invasion of natural references “because I stopped doing mental saws to please them at all costs”. Between poetry and quotes that intersperse the pages of the menu, a single “house wine”: from the Torre Fornello winery. “It was my idea – he explains to me. Malvasia di Candia is the most interesting wine of the Piacenza hills ». And I need a glass of an orange wine with an intense, dry and powerful color.
SCENT OF CUT GRASS AND CIGARETTES
Outdoors under the porch or in the garden you can breathe the grass cut by the tractor that works in the field behind, as a panorama of the hay bales under the porch. You smell the scent of the earth and if the smell of some stable arrives it only means that you are in an authentic place, which has not lost its roots. After the dessert we stop to chat, and I understand that it is a bit customary for everyone, here they love to “make log” Monica laughs, which in local slang means “brothel”. A colleague from Piacenza texts me to remember when he used to play football in the street opposite after his confirmations and family communions, all passed here, where people come to celebrate in the area. We relax and when I ask if anyone has a cigarette to offer me, they all laugh: a new package arrives, along with the coffee. Why La Palta is a real tobacconist with a (starred) cuisine where you can drink like in a village bar.
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