Federico Gallo & Locanda del Pilone Ten years of cooking, one dish at a time

Ten years aren’t easily plated. They can be celebrated with a grand dinner, but the risk of putting only the successes on the table is high: the most famous dishes, the awards, the ritual photographs.

Federico Gallo chose a different path.

Not a simple gastronomic retrospective. Rather, a small autobiography served one dish at a time.

To celebrate his first ten years at the helm of the kitchen at Locanda del Pilone, he built a menu made primarily of people. Every course was dedicated to someone who left a mark on his professional life.

Not a simple gastronomic retrospective. Rather, a small autobiography served one dish at a time.

The vineyards before dinner

The evening of July 9th began outdoors, in the garden of the Locanda: we are in Madonna di Como, on the hill behind Alba. The structure was born from the restoration of an old Piedmontese farmhouse belonging to the Boroli family.

Surrounded by hills combed with vineyards, today the Locanda houses a resort and the restaurant led by Federico Gallo, awarded a Michelin Star and Krug Ambassade status.

Given the view and the owners’ vocation, before sitting down at the table, the conversation inevitably turns to wine and vineyards.

With Achille, the talk falls on the current season. The intense heat is testing the vines and making the wait for the next harvest more complex.

With his brother Carlo, the conversation expands to climate change, a theme that moves out of academic conferences and into daily work, changing the timing, expectations, and decisions of those who farm.

An aperitif that deconstructs the classics

The first chapter of the dinner is dedicated to the Boroli family and arrives in the form of small bites.

Pear in red wine and Blu del Moncenisio, savory craquelin choux with tomato and Cuneo ham. Insalata russa. Vitello tonnato. Red onion in sweet and sour sauce.

Familiar dishes, but reconstituted in new forms, “deconstructed” and recomposed, we might say. Not to erase their identity, but to make it sharper.

My favorite taste was the smoked tench carpione, served on a sage tapioca wafer, which preserved the popular character of the original preparation, with a touch of depth given by the smoking.

An elegant preparation, but still recognizable.

And it is perhaps this aspect that struck me most: the desire to transform without making the starting point disappear.

The menu as autobiography

From that moment on, the dinner changes tone. Every dish becomes an episode of life lived and every recipe brings with it a name, a place or an encounter.

The official menu actually told of “dishes, bonds, and memories” that have marked Federico’s professional life, at the Locanda and beyond.

Gianna and the discovery of lake fish

The Arctic char mi-cuit, accompanied by beurre blanc and wood sorrel, was presented as a tribute to Giovanni Vialardi, chef to the House of Savoy and author of one of the most important Italian cookbooks of the 19th century.

But behind the historical reference there was a more personal one: the dish is in fact dedicated to Gianna, owner of Il Pesce d’Oro, on the shores of Lake Chiusi, the first restaurant where Federico worked.

It was there that the chef learned to know freshwater fish. A product long considered “poor,” less prestigious than sea fish and often difficult to showcase.

A lesson we should always keep in mind: the value of a raw material doesn’t depend on its fame.

Gino, Margherita and the arrival in Alba

The rabbit tuna is one of the dishes that marked the beginning of Federico’s journey at the Locanda.

For this dinner, it returned to the menu after four years, accompanied by Taggiasca olives, lemon, and a warm sweet garlic cream.

The dish is dedicated to Gino and Margherita: butchers from Alba, suppliers to the Locanda and among Federico’s first real points of reference after his arrival in the city.

Here too, the dedication is not incidental.

It tells a part of the kitchen work that normally stays out of the dining room: the relationship with those who select, prepare and deliver the raw materials. People who, over time, stop being simple suppliers and become friends and companions on the journey.

Those who open the doors

The hare risotto was instead dedicated to Sofia and Marco, for years the restaurant’s manager and sommelier.

It was Sofia who wanted Federico at Locanda del Pilone.

In the dish, the rice was creamed with Parmigiano and scented with orange. The hare ragù met a fermented blueberry sauce and bay leaf powder.

A complex but readable ensemble.

The dedication reminded me of a truth often forgotten: a career isn’t born from individual talent alone. You need people willing to open a door. And others capable of accompanying you after you’ve walked through it.

Masters, inspirations and new generations

The pigeon skewer paid tribute to chef Romano Gordini of the restaurant La Parolina.

His pigeon with foie gras was for years a source of inspiration for Federico. At the Locanda, it returned in a version reimagined for the occasion, with the meat grilled and served on a base of fermented wild plums, juniper, and star anise.

Openly citing a master is a beautiful gesture, especially in a world where every dish is often presented as the result of solitary enlightenment.

The concluding dessert also looked simultaneously to the past and the future.

“Alba 2.0”, with white chocolate, porcini mushrooms, fior di latte gelato, and berries, has been a Locanda classic since 2017. Federico dedicated it to his wife.

The new version was born from the collaboration with the young pastry chef Mattia Sabatini. Not just a memory, then, but a dish that continues to change thanks to the new members of the team.

Ten years are made of people

In the end, the most successful part of the evening wasn’t the celebration, but the choice to transform a personal anniversary into a collective story.

The family who entrusted the kitchen to the chef. The first restaurateur who introduced him to lake fish, the butchers he met upon arriving in Alba, the people who believed in him, the chefs he observed over the years…

Dishes change. Some disappear from the menu and return after four years. Others become classics.

Relationships follow another trajectory. Even when they are strong and decisive, they often stay outside the spotlight: far from the dining room, from the awards and from the public narrative of a restaurant.

The dinner for Federico Gallo’s ten years had the merit of doing exactly this: transforming those bonds into a story and finally bringing them to the table.