Proprietor of Dal Pescatore Named World’s Best Female Chef

An Italian woman has been named the world’s best chef by Restaurant Magazine.  Nadia Santini, the proprietor of Dal Pescatore in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna, has won the honor.  Until recently her family’s restaurant, which is over 100 years old, was the only restaurant in Italy to hold a Michelin three-star rating.

Nadia, who married into the Santini family, is known for preparing traditional Italian cuisine with modern influences. Some of Santini’s signature dishes include pumpkin tortellini, risotto of catfish filet and river eel.

 

Dal Pescatore’s idyllic setting in the town of Canneto sull’ Oglio, a town of just 36 people, adds to its allure, according to Italian news agency ANSA. “Seemingly in the middle of nowhere in the northern Italian hinterland between Cremona and Mantua, Dal Pescatore feels more like a visit somebody’s elegant country home, with table spacing and lighting creating a perfect harmony of intimacy without isolation.”

 

World-famous chef Gordon Ramsey even trained at Dal Pescatore and in a 2012 interview with ANSA, had this to say  “I think I learned my real appreciation for Italian cuisine watching the Santini family and how meticulous they were in choosing produce, balancing flavors and the flair with which they presented dishes. My learning curve as a chef took a huge upturn when I apprenticed at Dal Pescatore.”