At the Osteria del Carugio we have always wanted to give a mark strongly linked to local products and the tradition of Portovenere, adapting to what are the needs of today, our typical dishes, those of the past, the products that the sea and the land offer us seasonally.
The Osteria del Carugio was founded more than 150 years ago but it has existed since the Middle Ages. We want to revive the environment or the sensations of those times by having a vegetable garden and offering only local products based on our traditions. Our Osteria is part of the Osterie d'Italia Slow Food guide. Alessandro, a young innkeeper trained at the ALMA International School of Italian Cuisine in Gualtiero Marchesi and sommelier at the AIS, will welcome you.
I started with her to run it by delving into the typical dishes, the territory: all the things that I feel are mine, that we feel are ours. A world opened up to me: the relationship with the people, with the clientele; the passion for food and wine; Liguria. The satisfactions are enormous. Everything has come out very simply and naturally, like a flower that delicately blooms from a bud. Our cuisine is a cuisine of land and sea, delineated by the structure of our region. If we look at the map of Liguria, it is evident how it is a ribbon of land tilted in an arc that encloses within a few kilometers, sometimes-even as little as 100 km-mountains and sea. The cuisine of our area is a cuisine related to vegetable gardens, white meats, chickens and rabbits, and stuffed vegetables that were expertly filled and that we still fill, including with mortadella. Why with bologna? Because once upon a time there was this trade route called the "salt route": we Ligurians brought salt to Emilia-Romagna and from Emilia-Romagna we brought down mortadella. For us, mortadella was a precious commodity that we learned to include within our fillings. And a seafood cuisine, why? Because we have the sea just under our feet, anyone - even as a child - can go and catch an octopus, a cuttlefish or can find a fish and infiocin it. The cuisine of our osteria is a cuisine strongly linked to the shape of our region, which is a narrow, thin region: a ribbon of land stretching between the sea and the mountains.
Turning our gaze to the sea, we cannot help but talk about the muscles: the muscles of Portovenere, the muscles of La Spezia that are the mussels (speaking in Italian).
We do not want to hear the word "cozza" because cozza is an ugly word, even in sound.
"Muscle," on the other hand, is a melodic word, we like it very much, we have been using it forever, and these muscles are strongly related to our small territory.
We look forward to seeing you at the Osteria for a unique experience of Liguria on the plate and in the glasses.
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