DINA

The night this restaurant opened, a pot of oil caught fire, and its chef/owner got third-degree burns on his arms. The lasting scars became part of Alberto Gipponi’s unconventional trajectory to his career: Self-taught, mentored by Massimo Bottura (where he interned despite being at least ten years older than his peers), Gipponi conjures up a cuisine that feels like a theatrical performance – wildly original and filled with challenging dishes, such as the orange-flavored mussels served as petit fours. Others exhibit childlike playfulness, such as the casoncelli (a fresh pasta from Bergamo), served “raw but cooked.”