The Italo-French “union” with Ladurée for Il Marchesino: Enrico Dandolo to WineNews

The Marchesi Alla Scala and Il Marchesino Restaurant, inherited from Gualtiero Marchesi, and Ladurée, the “haute couture” of French pastry, synonymous with the famous macarons, but with pastry shops and restaurants around the world (owned by the Holder Group, a billion in turnover), will merge, as desired by the master.
Enrico Dandolo, sole director of Marchesi Milano Srl and secretary general of the Gualtiero Marchesi Foundation, son-in-law of the great chef, explains it to WineNews: “an operation that arose from a meeting two years ago between Marchesi and the owner of Ladurée, to present for the renewal of the concession of the premises by the Teatro Alla Scala Foundation - which is the owner - a project of union between Italian cuisine and French pastry.
A project that for us has an international impact, because we are considering to propose this union in the other offices of Ladurée, which has 85 pastry shops in the world, 28 of which with a restaurant, but this only later, since we are now concentrating on the Scala project”.
A very Italian-French “union” between brands at the highest levels of the world “gastronomy”, the one that Dandolo tells us, and that concerns the Milanese restaurant still closed for local renewal on the project of the architect Stefano Boeri, even though the forecasts to reopen for the opening of La Scala, after the relocation of the premises for another 10 years at the end of 2017 to Marchesi Milano Srl, immediately after the death of Marchesi, who arrived here in 2008 from L'Albereta Relais & Château of the Bellavista brand of the Moretti family in Franciacorta. "It is not easy to reconcile the service for the Theatre with a development activity that Il Marchesino had never had before. The idea is to make it an international project (in step with the breath of Milan) and very innovative, with a continuous gastronomic offer, a place always open at all hours of the day with various menus, going beyond the schematic vision of the classic restaurant that opens and closes.
In recent years, the Marchesino had a double function, a restaurant with the historic Marchesi dishes alongside simple meals: now it will become a unique place with the same concept, simpler and more accessible, with a great Marchesi influence and international vision of Ladurée”.
The name? “The concession provides that the main brand is Ristorante Teatro Alla Scala, together with the one the manager - explains Dandolo - in this case we are two and we are still working, but we have to solve it shortly, if we think about the possibility of creating a new brand, considered as an innovative project, with behind the two brands Marchesi and Ladurée, we really like this solution”.
“The restoration is still complex between us, the French, La Scala, and the Superintendence, this caused some delays, we were supposed to open in December, but we will open in February. Considering that the owner of the management company is no longer just the Marchesi family, as it is a project shared with Ladurée.
The idea of a Russian fund came out only because Ladurée works in Italy with a partner, whose ad is Russian. There is certainly an international vision because we are working together on the project, also because we would not have been big enough”.
Meanwhile, the 10-stage tour of the Gualtiero Marchesi Foundation continues to bring Italian haute cuisine to the world, with the screening of the film “Gualtiero Marchesi - The Great Italian”, on February 4 in Paris, then London, Berlin, Moscow, and to ensure that the world comes to Milan on March 19, the anniversary of the birth of Marchesi.
“We are defining the details and the location of the event these days - concludes Dandolo - will actually be a two-day event and will mark the beginning of the new path of the Marchesi Foundation which has two missions, to carry out its figure and what it has done for Italian cuisine and spread the latter.
Although Marchesi did not want to be a guide, he found himself doing it, now it is up to the Foundation to provide Italian cuisine with a system that makes its chefs dialogue. We will ask 28 of them, students or not of the master, to represent with their dishes the vision of Italian cuisine in the present.