NICOLA CAVALLARO

Chef of Un posto a Milano

Growing up on a farm in the Paduan countryside, his childhood memories tell of nature, animals, cultivation and harvesting of garden produce, which found sublimation in a table seen not only as a time for nourishment, but above all as an expression of values ranging from deep respect for the land and its fruits to conviviality and sharing: Nicola Cavallaro is a spokesman par excellence for the Chilometro Vero philosophy dear to a place in Milan.
With his love and respect for food rooted in his origins, his vocation for cooking came with time and unexpectedly: in Bologna to attend university, Cavallaro began working occasionally in an osteria. It takes him a short time to realize that it is more than a little job to support his studies: he has found his way. And he decided to devote body and soul to this newly intuited passion.
After earning a Grand Diploma in Cuisine and Pastry from the prestigious Cordon Bleu London culinary academy, Cavallaro kicks off his career as a chef with a long experience aboard Royal Caribbean International, which will take him around the world: observing and experiencing different cultures, experimenting, reworking and contaminating dishes will determine his cosmopolitan training, which never loses sight of his origins-a mix that will become his signature.

“Dishes are born from ideas related to travel, flavors and memories of the past, brought into the present and projected into the future. So are the pairings. For example, to make our fresh pastas we mainly use vegetable centrifuges or spices of the highest quality.”

From 2006 to 2011 he opened and ran his own restaurant, soon in the top ten best restaurants in Milan and earning him a Michelin Star nomination.

In 2012, in April, the association begins with a place in Milan. The restaurant inside Cascina Cuccagna, which has always aimed to act as a bridge between the urban fabric and rural realities, finds its highest expression in Nicola’s philosophy and cuisine: a cuisine that knows how to enhance the cultural excellence of the territory, that loves to seek out small local producers and handle their raw materials with mastery, to give life to dishes that are born from tradition and then allow themselves to be influenced by contemporary and original intuitions, that unite ancient and modern, country and city, in a whirlwind of taste combinations that never loses sight of the values pursued.

Alongside the gastronomic choice, aimed at pursuing a simplicity that can excite the palate, Nicola combines a passion for baking and leavening, whose products, made with selected organic flours, are regularly offered on the table of a place in Milan.