Local fish, study of ripening and shortcrust, none waste. These are the three commandments that Jacopo Ticchi puts in place in his local in Rimini, from Lucio, born in 2019 in via Santa Maria al Mare, in a small place stuck in the most humble area of the city, then transferred to the seafront, in viale Vespucci 71 and finally landed for a few months in a location finally to measure its ambitions, inside the Darsena, with the sea to inspire the young chef (” confesses to us).
Ticchi was born in 1994 in Cattolica, and is chef and owner of one of the most “chatted” restaurants (in a positive sense) of the entire peninsula. His work first attracted the specialized criticism, then the enthusiasts of the pastry, then the most curious general public, also recalled by his austere participation in an episode of the last edition of Masterchef. Which has evidently manifested that Ticchi is certainly not a media chef. He goes on his way with obstinacy, those who love him follow him on impervious paths and certainly not on five -lane highways.
Ticchi attended the hotel in Riccione, then started doing some season in the battle kitchens of the Romagna Riviera before the experience that changed his life, a trip to Australia in which he confronts international cuisine but above all he discovers the work and thought of Josh Niland, prophet of the fishing of fish, a practice that digs in the mind and soul of Ticchi. Which returns to Italy, he makes an experience with Pietro Leemann at the Joia in Milan, the first and so far the only starry vegetarian restaurant in Italy, which is worth a “doctorate” in the enhancement of the raw material. Then there is a stop in Spain, where Ticchi further expands his horizons. When he returns to Rimini, the chef enters the Team of the Notessaire Bistrot with Enrico Gori, then opens his restaurant from Lucio (Lucio is the first child, just to say) and begins his study on the storing of the fish. And after a few years the first awards arrive: the “Young Ethical Chef Award” award in Care’s, the entry into the ranking of the 100 Under 30 innovators of Forbes, in the “40 Under 40 – Food Industry” of Fortune, in the Under 35 talents ranking of Cook Corriere, wins the prize for best emerging chef by Food & Travel Italia.
Ticchi works only local fish, almost exclusively of great size, the most suitable for the evolution guaranteed by dry pastry. It uses each part of the product, even the less noble ones, which are enhanced with an impeccable technique and with the combination with seasonal ingredients, mainly cooked with the coal grid and the wood oven. It should be noted that in the season of Fermo Fishing, from the end of July to mid -September, the menu turns into a hymn to the short meat.
From Lucio everything is clear and well explained. When you sit down you are brought to you a large wooden tray with the fish of the evening and their prices and this prepares you for the trip. What I suggest that you do is the tasting menu for 130 euros, which also subtracts the obligation to choose. It is divided into five parts (plus the sweet ending). After a welcome with a mullet skewer with marinated and smoked yolk with rhinestone and oil with parsley and a cresce with algae with which to “grab” the bacon by Renato Carletti with sweet and sour shallot. The first part is dedicated to raws, all of stured fish: sea bream with flameed crunchy skin, edge egg, salicornia and grated tonka bean, fishing rane with viscose inula and algae wrapped in a fresh club, Russian tuna with cup (the fruit of the caper), Cerfoglio and oysters crystal, bergamot and grated cedar. Blanked and unveiled with shelled clams and an emulsion of Mazzancolle, and a bowl made with the skin of the various fish (the non -waste, remember?). Start full of suggestions.
Second act, the embers: coast of sea bass in a black pepper crust, then gorge of Gallipoli’s yellow cornia seasoned with an oil made with the burnt escarole and pito pipe Sicchuan, then brushes with cabbage and a pil pil sauce made with the waste of the same fish, chives, fennel and “strong” oil.
It is the moment of the wood oven: BRACCE BRACCE RANE ROAD TRATPA in the oven seasoned with tomato and caramelized puree and the liver wrapped on the pork network. For those who love genre an unforgettable experience.
The fourth stage, the Rimini cheek, which is brought to the table and served by drawing from a large terracotta container that makes the dish an example of widespread sociability. The preparation of this dish, among the most loved by the customers of the restaurant, is long. It starts from a cooking of about six hours with crustaceans, molluscs and whole fish with peeled tomatoes, then there is the pressing in the press and the reintegration of all the elements set aside, then in the end there is also a candish, restricted with canocchie and sea marsh (of the snails). This is the dish in which Ticchi’s extreme search marries with a touch of comfort that makes him irresistible.
Then an interlude (Marrakesh lime granita and coffee powder and crunchy octopus) and here is the final act, the pasta, for those who had missed it: empty cap with cream reduction, anchovy colatura, nutmeg and lemon, grilled spigola liver. For the sweet closure you have to take a walk and go to a secluded room where there is a ready pastry counter from which to choose what you want.
There are few places like this that have appeared to me as a place with a compact and coherent narrative. I would not suggest a meal from Lucio to everyone, only to the people who want to spend one evening in the obsessions and in the search path of a passionate and attentive young man. Those who want a spaghetto to the rock will find many other addresses to Rimini to beach. The service, for me conducted by the good Giacomo, a row that is a pleasure, the young people of the room are all prepared and polite, facilitated in the service by the great central counters where everything is at hand. The room is large and continues towards evil, the kitchen is not visible but it is almost part of the room itself in an incessant dialogue. The wine charter follows the philosophy of natural wine, preferring small winemakers and native vines.
There is also a bar for the first and for after dinner, but also wanting for the during. Da Lucio is also the scene of events, courses, themed evenings. It is located in Viale Ortigara 80 in Rimini. Tel. Open for lunch and dinner, closed on Wednesday and Thursday