Med Cooking 2019 – chef Domenico Iavarone Josè Restaurant

Torre del Greco is the country of the chefs: here were born Michele De Leo and Salvatore Bianco, Vincenzo Guarino and Carmine di Donna. And it is here that since 2017 Domenio Iavarone, a native of the nearby Casavatore, serves his 100% Campanian cuisine, wonder in the wonders of a villa in the Golden Mile. The son of a butcher, of whom the explosive sautéed in appetizer is remembered, after the hotel and a few seasons in Spain he had two great masters: Oliver Glowig, of which he was sous-chef, and Gennaro Esposito, supported for 4 years. Excellent technical bases for a kitchen that remains rooted in the territory like the vegetables cultivated by Gerardo, which cover 75% of the needs, including the tomatoes of the house’s piennolo, dried in a dedicated room; also fish and dairy products, meat and (obviously) pasta are local.

“In recent years we have increasingly clarified our concept of new Vesuvian cuisine, expanding the garden and the network of suppliers, but without dogmatism. Two months in Kyoto opened the paper to some measured contamination. And we have strengthened the room with the entry of Pasquale Marzano, maître and sommelier with experiences at Palazzo Sasso and at the Lighthouse of Capo d’Orso. In Med Cook, however, I could not miss, because I am a “parochial” of the Mediterranean. I had to bring Vesuvius to Taormina. And my dish will go back and forth between Campania and Sicily: it is about busiate trapanesi, pasta al ferretto similar to fusilli that I used to take in Gragnano from the ladies of Valle dei Mulini”.

Alessandra Meldolesi