Starfinancer

“You who work in the restaurant, that you are always in the midst of people, you have to do like the clowns of the circus: make people smile even if death is in your heart ”. Asia, 19, assistant in the dining room of her grandmother, the great cook and restaurateur Nadia Vincenzi, had shining eyes over her black mask: she had learned that her Corsican dog, Bella, seven, had followed her daughter Zoe, two years and a half, over the Rainbow Bridge, killed by poisoned meatballs thrown into the garden by a neighbor. She didn’t make it and reached her mother, Emanuela and her little sister Sofia at the vet, even if there was nothing more to be done than a criminal and civil complaint.

The grandmother, Nadia Vincenzi, “Like a stationary tower that the top never collapses between the swaying of the winds” remained in the command post, between the kitchen and the dining room of its splendid new restaurant, not transmitting to any of the thirty cheering customers who filled the room his pain and his anger. Originally from Romagna, with her brother Bobo, in Molise, between Termoli and Guglionesi, she moved to Brescia for years: first to Iseo, then to Castrezzato, then to Erbusco, in the former Mongolfiera dei Sodi of the Coppini family, owned by Vittorio Moretti, Brescia boss of supermarkets and wineries (Bellavista, L’Albereta that belonged to Gualtiero Marchesi …) and a few months ago, at the age of 75, it got back into the game in this fantastic green panoramic corner of the lake, just outside and before Iseo. Leave the car in the large parking lots (the restaurant is part, albeit separate, of the Mirabella hotel), a short walkway in the green and multicolored flowers, overlooking the entire lake of Iseo from a height of 200 meters, here you are, today, in the wonderful veranda for the summer, all with large windows.

Between the tables far apartNadia and her group of young and correct helpers, will take you by the throat with their fish cuisine, of which in my opinion Nadia Vincenzi is the queen in Italy. The quality of the great raw material is combined with the masterful simplicity of the executions: its fish soup is expensive but also a masterpiece where even the race, the sprightly, melts fragrant in the mouth. It can be opened with octopus and potato mousse, with well-assorted raw dishes, with cooked appetizers such as scampi in a rice flour crust or seared spinach with Adriatic scallops and Calvisius caviar from Agroittica from Brescia Calvisano (according to producer in the world with 30 tons a year from its 300 thousand sturgeons). From his brother Bobo, from the hills around his restaurant, RiBo, in Guglionesi (Campobasso), come the delicacies of the Molise countryside, in particular cheeses and ricotta that fills the tortellini, accompanied by raw prawns and lightly dipped in fish stock in wine. white. On the second the monumental soup or whatever you want from the sea before the homemade desserts: I papped myself a masterly full-bodied zabaglione with Marsala Florio Riserva.

Tasting menu for 110 euros, an average full à la carte meal of 130-140: not a few, but they are for the happiness of the eyes and the palate.

NADIA
Iseo (BS) Clusane – Via Mirabella 34

Closed on Mondays. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday open only in the evening; also open at noon on Friday, Saturday and Sunday

Tested on 28-5-2022

Rating: 16/20
Location: 4 out of 5 stars
Ambience: 4 out of 5 stars
Service: 3 out of 5 stars
Wines: 3 out of 5 stars