5 super (almost) museum dishes

The immense menu that tri-starred chef Corey Lee, of Benu in San Francisco, designed for his new restaurant In Situ, which is to open in June inside the Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) of the Californian town, will also include five dishes from as many Italian chefs. Our standard bearers will be Massimiliano Alajmo, Massimo Bottura, Riccardo Camanini, Gennaro Esposito and Niko Romito.

Lee’s idea is intriguing: he selected 80 dishes from the world’s greatest chefs, went to study them, asked their creators for the recipe, learnt to cook them and he’ll now present them at In Situ, in rotation. The result is a sort of anthology of the best in international cuisine, which will thus comprise recipes by René Redzepi, Alice Waters, Thomas Keller, Virgilio Martínez, Andoni Luis Aduriz, Kobe Desramaults, David Chang, Gastón Acurio, Albert Adrià, Juan Mari & Elena Arzak, Petter Nilsson, Rodrigo Oliveira, Matt Orlando, Isaac McHale, Sat Bains, Alexandre Gauthier, Mauro Colagreco, Pascal Barbot and many other restaurant giants.

Italy will have a good representation: after the US selection – an easy win, since they’re playing at home – and the French one, which includes a total of seven dishes, Italy is the most represented country, with five recipes, as many as Japan, but having in fact a sixth Italian representative thanks to Christian Puglisi, who cooks in Copenhagen but is originally from Messina. The dishes Corey Lee will present at In Situ are Squid cappuccino with squid ink by Alajmo, Oops! I dropped the lemon tart by Bottura, Spaghettoni with butter and brewer’s yeast by Camanini, Spaghetti with tomato from Vesuvius by Esposito and Risotto Parmigiano water and lemon by Romito.

«At the museum, we select and support the most creative artists and celebrate their masterpieces. In the same way, in order to create the menu, Corey looked some food innovators, emerging chefs, but also those who are now a legend – explained SFMOMA director Neal Benezra - Corey chose chefs who are widening the horizons of the culinary world and will thus bring a world of global collaboration, enthusiasm and flavours in our restaurant. What a formidable hit for the San Francisco Moma!».

In Situ will be characterised by a menu à la carte with rotating dishes which will change so as to balance seasonality, style and geography. Lee will work closely with the chefs who created the various dishes, so as to reproduce them faithfully both in terms of technique and spirit. While some chefs chose to share a dish from their repertoire, others created something especially for In Situ.

This wasn’t the case for the Italians, who will present their great classics such as Squid cappuccino with squid ink by Alajmo, or Oops! I dropped the lemon tart by Bottura, or Spaghetti with tomatoes from Vesuvius by Esposito. Camanini explains: «They contacted me in December, Lee already knew what he wanted to reproduce in San Francisco, that is to say my Spaghettoni with butter and brewer’s yeast. They visited Lido 84 in late February and I’m glad they selected this recipe: first of all because it’s with pasta, the Italian specialty par excellence; then because it is made with butter, so everyone can like it»

Romito was also happy about this project: «I presented Risotto Parmigiano water and lemon, a dish from 2011 which I no longer have in the menu, but which I hold very dear and I prepare it from time to time, for special events. I like it because there are no sautéed vegetables, no broth, it’s made with water and the only fat is given by the Parmigiano, there’s a clear aroma of lemon. In other words, it has a modern and light touch, which enhances the ingredients: I always teach it to my students at the school». There was no need for Lee to visit Reale Casadonna, since there’s already the Unforketable online project, which perfectly explains Niko’s dishes.

«I consider this project as an extension of the greater mission of the museum, that is to say to present the greatest artworks from all around the world and make them accessible to the public – says Lee - In Situ will be a homage to culinary traditions and, hopefully, it will encourage a discussion on our relationship with food, not differently from the way in which SFMOMA collects and takes care of important artworks».