Porto Quadro, stubbornness and talent of a young chef

Lorenzo Pignotti, after making his bones in several restaurants in the Capital, has managed to open his own place in Trastevere: a fish restaurant with a Mediterranean flavor.

We are in Piazza Ippolito Nievo, along Viale Trastevere. Here the young chef Lorenzo Pignotti, together with his friend and partner Alessandro Pace, has crowned his lifelong dream: to open his own restaurant. A seafood restaurant with a Mediterranean flavor. "Lollo's" stubbornness and talent were noticed right from the start: he took his first steps in the kitchen 10 years ago, as an assistant chef in the restaurant on Via Cicerone that was then called Fermento, but after just a year he had earned the role of chef. I remember loving to sit at the table attached to the large glass window in the open kitchen and watch him work: he was enchanting. Always focused but serene, as if he were the conductor of an orchestra made up of very few elements (there was only one assistant chef and a dishwasher to help him but everything ran perfectly). Here he stayed for a good six years, later moving from Prati to Monteverde, to head the kitchen of the restaurant Il Pescatorio where over the next three years his familiarity with fish was refined and his sensibility fine-tuned enough to feel ready for the big step: a restaurant of his own.  

The atmosphere of the restaurant is soft, minimal, elegant but informal. In the dining room we are greeted by Alessandro, he at his first experience in the restaurant world (although it was his dream in the drawer since childhood). He moves well between tables although on weekdays with a full dining room he would not mind some help to make the service smoother. The wine list is measured and not exorbitant. 

The menu is simple, no frills: this is the kitchen talking here and doesn't need too many frills. With him, Lorenzo brings all his experience in the use of raw materials that he works with and experiments with, respecting as much as possible the flavor of the fish that is simply enhanced according to an interplay of textures, colors and acidity. All dishes "polite and crisp" like him. He, born and raised in a small town on the Latium coast, is a flood of ideas, energy and creativity. His big smile lights up for every customer, affable and polite, impossible not to like him immediately, but when it comes to food he gets serious again. He knows the sea and its dynamics well. The fish is purchased daily from the fishermen of the Tyrrhenian Sea. For the chef, "it is the sea that decides what to put on the table," and above all you know, when the fish is good in its own right, you can only do damage in the kitchen, and this is certainly not the case. 

But let's come to the menu. Few dishes, as I like them, all inviting and focused. To start I order cod puffs with ginger, vanilla and bitter cocoa mayonnaise. These are a workhorse of his, I recognize them but they are even more balanced. A thin, crispy breading, the perfect frying, the creaminess of the cod contrasting and then the delicate spiciness of the ginger to counterpoint the sweetness of the vanilla chasing the bitterness of the cocoa: sublime. The rotisserie octopus, soft and with a justly smoky flavor, accompanied by sweet bell pepper fillets, a small hint of stracciatella di burrata, giving freshness, and a homemade mayonnaise. As first course the Calamarata with redfish ragout and its crispy skin with peas. A refined dish in its simplicity already at a glance. Excellent texture of the pasta and the sauce that envelops it all as if it were an even layer. Colorful, flavorful and refreshing dish. The other first course I tasted was spaghetti with some very fresh red shrimp, just warmed by the heat of the pasta, whipped with pistachio pesto and stracciatella. 

I closed the fantastic dinner with his Almond and Berry Cannoli. An almond crisp wafer wraps the ricotta cream, lying on a coulis of berries, a few fresh mint leaves to complete the dish. A delight, sweet, not cloying, crunchy and creamy at arm's length. Simply the way a perfect end to a meal should be that leaves the sweet taste in the mouth without weighing down the already lavish desinare. 

Porto Quadro stands for therefore great courage, a pinch of healthy craziness, a lot of stubbornness and talent, it has been here not even a year but it already gathers affection and support from customers and this for me is always the best calling card. There is no review that holds, no phantasmagoric criticism, it is the word of mouth of the customers that is the real solidity and reward of a restaurant and here Lorenzo and Alessandro certainly prove to be at the top of the charts. This "kitchen boy" is sure to be the talk of the town.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

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