Ca' Barambon: una nueva meca gastronómica en los Apeninos de Reggio Emilia

Ca' Barambon is certainly not a place you end up at by chance: it's not just a matter of cruising uphill through the Apennines, you have to earn it. It requires a palate connected to a brain, free from the preconceptions and superstructures of fine dining, a broad vision of the world of drinking where spontaneous and mixed fermentations inspire awareness, not suspicion.

Here, concepts like foraging, recovery, and zero waste, also touted by restaurants that receive their ingredients daily from distributors, take on a profound and necessary meaning. To fully grasp the inspiration behind a place like this, you have to start with its founder, Alessandro Belli, aka Alle.

From the Arrogant Pub to Ca' Barambon

Alle has been a monument to craft beer for years, with a merit that, perhaps, has never been sufficiently recognized: thanks to an infectious passion and an enviable tenacity, he was one of the very few figures in the industry (certainly the only publican) to succeed in communicating with an audience beyond beer geeks, bringing his Arrogant Pub—named in honor of the historic Arrogant Bastard IPA, a programmatic name in both cases—to the center of cross-sectional gastronomic debate, even earning the SlowFood Snail award in the Osterie d'Italia guide. An impossible gamble for most, but one that was won.

In addition to his venue, his other creation, the Arrogant Sour Festival, has spread the word about Italian craft beer and beyond. This event, dedicated to the world of sour beers, has successfully introduced the most extreme beer styles to figures like Jacopo Ticchi of Lucio, Diego Rossi of Trippa, Marianna Vitale of Sud, Jacopo Malpeli of Osteria del Viandante, and many others, making the "Sour" a gastronomic happening like few others. And right from the first editions, back in the early days, a certain Simone De Feo, whose asparagus and ricotta ice creams I still vividly remember, was among the event's stands.

I wrote "has been" not because he abandoned this world, but because by applying the same enthusiasm and integrity to the sourcing of raw materials, to his signature cuisine, to his wines, and to promoting the Reggio Emilia Apennines, he naturally transcended it. The time had come to inaugurate a new era for Arrogant, entrusting it to the care of the guys who have always worked there (go there, they haven't missed a beat), and to find new horizons in his Apennines—or, perhaps, to bring new ones to his hills.

Ca' Barambon is a farmhouse perched on the hills of Vezzano sul Crostolo, and the meaning of its name is now lost in the dialect, but the stories imbued in the stones of its walls are clearly perceptible even to unrepentant citizens: a coming and going of farmers, shepherds, and fighters from every faction who sought refuge here, a hiding place, something to eat or steal. And the physical center of it all was the cellar, the heart of the house, which drove Alle and Elisa Migliari to cast their hearts across the stream, purchase the building and part of the surrounding land, and begin the necessary renovations.

Your experience will most likely begin right there, with a glass in hand and surrounded by cured meats and bottles, with Alle telling stories, slicing, and fishing the cheeses out of the cupboard where they mature in the hay.

The kitchen of Ca' Barambon

You'll have realized that saying things like "the cuisine is an expression of the territory" takes on a completely different meaning here, and in all likelihood, it's lost elsewhere. And in this pre-opening phase, during which we visited, even the owner himself is still discovering the full potential of the surrounding area. While many synergies were already in place with farmers, cured meats, and cheese producers, there's still much to discover: what wild herbs grow around them, where to find the different mushroom varieties, and a whole human fauna of hunters, truffle hunters, and artisans who are an integral part of the project. See also Bea's splendid ceramics, featuring leaves collected from the surrounding woods.

A complex ecosystem, which Ca' Barambon is designed to accommodate: when nature is generous, they make preserves, garden, or ferment, thanks to the contribution of Davide Belli, Alle's brother and the mind behind Kekoji, an enlightened producer of modern and gastronomic fermented products. Or Roberto, a shepherd of Apulian origins and creator of heartwarming cheeses and ricottas, might drop by, especially when delivered still warm, accompanied by freshly prepared tortelli with bitter herbs.

Embers and wood are an integral part of the kitchen, with an outdoor oven and barbecue serving up miso-braised cabbage, nine-year-old cow's diaphragm from Biogold, the leading producer of certified organic and Demeter Parmigiano Reggiano, or gnumareddi pasta with wild herbs. Inside Ca', a counter with four high stools faces the kitchen, and a convivial table seating about ten people, where guests can choose from a streamlined menu that showcases the products. Dishes with character and no pretense, sometimes little more than blends, all aimed at showcasing the raw ingredients, after all the hard work of harvesting, self-production, and networking.

We start with the wild salad made with locally sourced herbs (€10), lamb's head with chanterelle mushrooms and miso (€15), and among the pasta dishes, the wild tortello with sheep's ricotta and bitter St. Peter's herb, or the goose egg tagliatelle with pheasant ragù and pheasant garum (€16). In addition to the hearty meats, such as the kid with bitter stock (€24), there's always a vegetarian or vegan option, such as cardoon with pumpkin miso, Marola walnuts, and Metato chestnut flour bread (€18).

Alle has no doubts: "This restaurant concept is the future, the only possible one. It's a daunting gamble, but it wouldn't be the first one to succeed."