Some restaurants are housed in such attractive and popular historic buildings that they go unnoticed by local clientele who believe they are exclusive to visitors or businesses aimed at tourists. This was expressed by Romain Fornell when he opened at the Picasso Museum: “it is important to know that there is a direct entrance and you don't need to queue for the museum.” And the chef Luciana Russo, or Lu Russo as she is better known, couldn't agree more. The restaurant Pizzicato (4-6 Palau de la Música. Top floor) that she leads is located on the first floor of the Palau de la Música and there's no need to attend a performance to enter, just climb the stairs in the area of the Domènech i Montaner building extension designed by Óscar Tusquets, where she has an indoor dining room and a terrace.
Although the menu includes Iberian ham, anchovies, or a cheese board for those who want to have something after the show, this is not a tapas restaurant, but a place to enjoy the interesting work of this chef who took over from Stefanos Balis a few months ago. She worked with him and replaced him when he opened Margarit in Poble Sec. On Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, Lu Russo serves a lunch menu for 25 euros that is successful and is called the Mercat Menu, which she uses as a testing ground for creating dishes that she often ends up incorporating into the evening menu.
Work fish and meats with tasty stews, like skate with mushrooms and chicken escabeche
To get an idea of what we can find at Pizzicato (in musical language, the name refers to a section in the interpretation of a piece with a bow instrument, played with the hands), it is interesting to review the origins of this Argentine from Sant Telmo, in the old neighborhood of Buenos Aires, who after studying cooking and pastry in her city, flew to the Basque Country. She remembers emptying her room and leaving with everything, dazzled by the idea of doing an internship with Martín Berasategui in Lasarte, in a kitchen that she associated with “machines and pure modernity, something that at that time was unthinkable to find in my country and for me, it was like going to Disney.”
Grilled stingray cheek stew, camagrocs mushrooms, and chicken escabeche
The marrow with smoked eel
The salted torrija with cheek meat
After that, he spent three years at Culler de Pau (O Grove), where he witnessed the arrival of the first Michelin star at a time when there were three chefs in the kitchen. “Javi Olleros is like my older brother. An authentic chef who respects to the fullest what his land provides him.” The cuisine of Rilke during Rafa Peña's time; Gresca, or Marc Gascons' Informal were also a crucial part of his professional growth. And to all that learning, the knowledge of local products, good stews, and techniques, something else began to emerge over the years: “that longing for my land, that Latin essence that is gradually gaining ground in my cuisine.” There is the croquette filled with “reina pepiada,” a chicken filling typical of arepas, which accompanies another one filled with cuttlefish in its ink.
Russo likes to work with fish and meat in tasty stews and that idea of spreading on bread: the grilled skate cheek with camagrocs, chicken escabeche, and some small squares of fried potato that add a crunchy texture are delicious. He seeks richness without heaviness; the savory French toast with Comté cheese broth, braised cheek, and smoked mushrooms that soak the slice of country bread; that bone marrow with smoked eel, citrus teriyaki, parsley, and pickled red onion; the “bikini” sandwich with local pork sausage and egg yolk, whose size invites sharing. For this chef, who is assisted in the kitchen by one of her best friends, Eduardo Hernández, and in the dining room by Brenda Arias and Jovert Noveno, dessert is associated with the grand finale that, in her memory, can be nothing other than Argentine chocotorta, the sweet treat of her childhood.
Pizzicato
ADDRESS
4-6 Palau de la Música, Top floor
34 933 105 623
