Le Calandre is a restaurant in the village of Sarmeola di Rubano 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) west of Padua, Italy.[1][2]

Le Calandre
Map
Restaurant information
Established1981 (1981)
Owner(s)Rafaele Alajmo & Massimiliano Alajmo
Previous owner(s)Erminio Alajmo and Rita Chimetto
Head chefMassimiliano Alajmo
Food typeContemporary Italian
Rating3 Michelin stars
Street addressVia Liguria, 1
CitySarmeola di Rubano
CountyProvince of Padua
StateVeneto
Postal/ZIP Code35030
CountryItaly
Coordinates45°25′18″N 11°48′34″E / 45.421703°N 11.809572°E / 45.421703; 11.809572
Websitealajmo.it

History

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Opened in 1981 by Erminio Alajmo and his wife Rita Chimetto,[3] the restaurant gained its first Michelin star in 1992 with Chimetto as chef de cuisine.[4] Their son, Massimiliano Alajmo, took over the restaurant in 1994,[5] and only two years later in December 1996, the restaurant gained its second star and the then 22-year-old Alajmo became the youngest chef with two Michelin stars.[6]

When the restaurant gained its third Michelin star in November 2002, an award only given to "exceptional cuisine with distinctive dishes, precisely executed using superlative ingredients, and worth a special journey",[7] Alajmo at the age of 28 became the youngest three-star Michelin chef of all time.[8][9] Le Calandre has retained their three Michelin stars ever since,[10] and could celebrate 15 years with three stars in 2017.[11]

Recognition

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The restaurant has consistently been voted among The World's 50 Best Restaurants every year since 2006,[12][13] and is ranked as number 29 on Restaurant's 2017 list.[14][15] Forbes included Le Calandre on their list of "The 16 Coolest Places To Eat In 2016".[16][17]

Le Calandre has been described as "one of Italy's most cutting-edge restaurants",[18] that "is consistently judged by major restaurant critics as one of the two or three best restaurants in the country.",[19] and Head Chef Alajmo has earned the nickname "The Mozart of the stoves" (Il Mozart dei fornelli).[8][20][21] Food critic Andy Hayler in his review of a 2012 visit to Le Calandre, concluded by saying: "This was a genuinely memorable meal, one of the best I have eaten. This is truly a restaurant at the pinnacle of culinary achievement.",[22] and concluded his review the following year by saying: "Le Calandre is without doubt one of the top restaurants of the world."[23]

In 2010, Le Calandre underwent a major refurbishment, and abandoned the use of white tablecloths for raw wooden tables.[24][25][26]

References

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  1. ^ Time Out: Italy. Time Out Guides. 2008. pp. 203–. ISBN 978-1-84670-046-0. Massimiliano Alajmo took over his parents' one-star restaurant, Le Calandre, when he was only 19. Not only did he not lose that star - as sometimes happens when a new chef comes in - but three years later he was awarded a second, at a mere 22 years old. Unlike in France, where many restaurants have three stars, in Italy the Red Guide is parsimonious with its highest accolades: to date only a handful of restaurants have made it into the three-star culinary pantheon.
  2. ^ Hayler, Andy (5 October 2012). "The expert selection: Michelin three-star restaurants". Financial Times. Retrieved 3 December 2017.
  3. ^ Gori, Andrea (1 December 2017). "Raffaele e Massimiliano Alajmo: fratelli in affari". Retrieved 3 December 2017.
  4. ^ "Le Calandre restaurant review 2012 May Rubano – Italian Cuisine – food guide – Andy Hayler". www.andyhayler.com. 4 May 2012. Retrieved 3 December 2017.
  5. ^ Jean-François Mesplède (1 April 2004). Trois étoiles au Michelin: Une histoire de la haute gastronomie française et européenne (in French). Gründ. ISBN 978-2-7000-2468-5. Le 19 mars 1994, très solennellement, Erminio Alajmo a remis à ses fils les clés du restaurant Le Calandre, à Sarmeola di Rubano, près de Padoue.
  6. ^ Food & Wine: The Guide to Good Taste. Vol. 33. International Review of Food & Wine Associates. July 2010. pp. 54–. Two years later, they took over La Montecchia and handed Le Calandre over to Massimiliano (Massi or Max, for short) and his older brother Raffaele, or Raf. ... In 1996, the 22-year-old Massi became the youngest chef with two Michelin stars. Six years later, he beat his own record by snagging a third.
  7. ^ Ravi Wazir (1 March 2015). Restaurant Startup: A Practical Guide (3rd ed.). Ravi Wazir. pp. 280–. ISBN 978-1-5084-4558-6.
  8. ^ a b Food & Wine: The Guide to Good Taste. Vol. 33. International Review of Food & Wine Associates. July 2010. pp. 52–.
  9. ^ "Recipe for success: three leading chefs talk about starting young in the kitchen". 28 March 2017. Retrieved 3 December 2017.
  10. ^ "MICHELIN guide Italy 2018 – the new selection". travelguide.michelin.com. Retrieved 5 December 2017.
  11. ^ "Guida Michelin 2017, "Le Calandre" confermate festeggiano 15 anni di "Tre Stelle"". Retrieved 6 December 2017.
  12. ^ "I 50 migliori ristoranti al mondo, Le Calandre salgono di 12 posizioni". Retrieved 6 December 2017.
  13. ^ "Le Calandre nella Top 20 mondiale dei ristoranti – Corriere del Veneto". corrieredelveneto.corriere.it. Retrieved 6 December 2017.
  14. ^ "Le Calandre". The World's 50 Best Restaurants. Retrieved 3 December 2017.
  15. ^ "Massimiliano Alajmo e la pizza stellata". VanityFair.it. 6 May 2017. Retrieved 3 December 2017.
  16. ^ "The 16 Coolest Places To Eat In 2016". Forbes. Retrieved 3 December 2017.
  17. ^ "Le Calandre tra i 16 ristoranti più "cool" del 2016 secondo Forbes". Retrieved 3 December 2017.
  18. ^ Bob Macdonald (7 August 2012). Knives on the Cutting Edge: The Great Chefs' Dining Revolution. Mighty Media, Incorporated. pp. 71–. ISBN 978-0-9830219-9-5. Le Calandre in Rubano, west of Venice, offers dramatic modern decor in an otherwise mundane village. Now considered one of Italy's most cutting-edge restaurants (it had two stars when we visited in 1998, and got its third star in 2002), we were quite impressed by such offerings as the pumpkin and Gorgonzola flan, white truffle gnocchi, poached egg with spinach in truffled cream sauce, and spaghetti with prosciutto, mushrooms, and marjoram. We particularly appreciated the Italian ... Alajmo joined the family restaurant in 1993 and earned his second star at age twenty-two in 1996, working with his brother Ruffaele who runs the front of the house.
  19. ^ Fodor's (22 March 2011). Fodor's Venice and Northern Italy. Fodor's Travel. pp. 132–. ISBN 978-0-307-92814-6.
  20. ^ "Il Mozart dei fornelli". Archived from the original on 2 March 2014. Retrieved 6 December 2017.
  21. ^ "There is no truth except the one contained in the ingredients – TeatroNaturale.Com". www.teatronaturale.com. Retrieved 6 December 2017.
  22. ^ "Le Calandre restaurant review 2012 May Rubano – Italian Cuisine – food guide – Andy Hayler". www.andyhayler.com. Retrieved 6 December 2017.
  23. ^ "Review of Rubano Italian restaurant Le Calandre by Andy Hayler in December 2013". www.andyhayler.com. Retrieved 6 December 2017.
  24. ^ "Le Calandre, nuovo corso di Alajmo Via le tovaglie, piatti sul frassino secolare". Corriere del Veneto. Retrieved 6 December 2017.
  25. ^ "Le Calandre restaurant owners to open London outpost". Retrieved 6 December 2017.
  26. ^ "World's 50 best restaurants 2010: the full list". The Guardian. 26 April 2010. Retrieved 6 December 2017 – via www.theguardian.com.
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