<a target="_blank" href="http://www.morenocedroni.it/">La Madonnina del Pescatore</a>

Via
Lungomare, 11

60017
Marzocca di Senigallia (Ancona) - Italy

Tel.:&nbsp;+39-<a target="_blank">071-698 267</a>

&nbsp;

BY IAN D’AGATA | DECEMBER 1,
2016&nbsp;&nbsp;

The food:

Mixed fried fish with quinoa, sweet
and sour onion granita, light raspberry broth (Fritto “un po’ misto” di pesce, quinoa, granita agrodolce di cipolla,
brodo leggero di lampone)Yellowtail, scallion, lemongrass,
pansy, basil and fried amaranth (Ricciola,
salsa di porro e lemongrass, viola del pensiero, basilico, e amaranto fritto)Fried fish lasagna with coconut white
sauce, lime and parsley (Lasagna ai
frutti di mare in bianco, con salsa di cocco, lime e prezzemolo)Spaghettoro Verrigni wtih langoustine,
fresh tomato, ginger, and cabbage sauce (Spaghettoro Verrigni agli scampi con
pomodoro fresco, zenzero e salsa di cavolo cappuccio)Grilled and salted Turbot trunk,
crunchy spinach, lemon accented oil (Tronco
di rombo al sale sulla griglia, spinaci croccanti, olio al limone)Light beer battered turbot cutlet,
field herbs and monkfish tripe&nbsp; (Costoletta di rombo con pastella alla&nbsp; birra chiara, erbe di campo e trippa di coda
di rospo)





























Castagnoli doughnut holes filled
with Chantilly cream, white chocolate, lime syrup and zest, and tangerine
sorbet (Castagnoli ripieni di crema
Chantilly con cremoso di cioccolato bianco, sciroppo e zeste di lime, sorbetto
al mandarino)

The wines:

<table>
 <tbody><tr>
 <td>
 2014 Belisario Verdicchio di Matelica Vigneti B.
 </td>
 <td>
 91+
 </td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>
 2014 Domaine Huet Vouvray Sec Le Haut-Lieu
 </td>
 <td>
 90+
 </td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>
 2003 Domaine de Chevalier Blanc Pessac Léognan Grand
 Cru Classé
 </td>
 <td>
 90
 </td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>
 1989 Chateau Coutet Barsac Premier Cru Classé
 </td>
 <td>
 93+
 </td>
 </tr>
</tbody></table>

<img alt="" src="https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1480564019116-1.+fritto+misto+copy.jpg">

Mixed fried fish with quinoa, sweet and sour onion
granita, light raspberry broth



















The official name of the restaurant
is La Madonnina del Pescatore (“the little Madonna of the fisherman”, as in someone
higher up who looks over him while at sea) but everybody just knows it as
Moreno Cedroni, the bandana wearing owner-chef who is one of Italy’s best
known, most famous and easiest to recognize cooking personalities. No matter
which name you use, this two Michelin star establishment is one of Italy’s top
15-20 dining destinations. You’ll never regret having booked a table. In fact,
“restaurant” may be a reductive term for what Cedroni has created: the place is
actually more of a “taste laboratory”, where, since the day of its opening on
April 24, 1984, numerous memorable signature dishes have seen the light of day.
Cedroni, much like Berasategui, places the birth year of each dish right on the
menu. <img alt="" src="https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1480564031826-2.+lasagna+copy.jpg"> 

Fried fish lasagna with coconut white sauce, lime and
parsley



















First and foremost is the susci, Cedroni’s very Italian take on
sushi. Italians have been eating small pieces of raw fish for millennia, and
Cedroni wants that historic patrimony to be clear to everybody. Or the insalata di mare (seafood salad), in
which crustaceans and mollusks are each infused in a different liquid (oil or
water) at different low temperatures, an only apparently simple preparation
requiring time, attention to detail and patience.

<img alt="" src="https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1480564045059-3.+spaghettoro+copy.jpg"> Spaghettoro Verrigni wtih langoustine, fresh tomato,
ginger, and cabbage sauce

The restaurant itself is housed in a
simple seaside building (though it is separated from the beach and water by a
road that can see some heavy traffic) with a modernist, very clean interior
design done by Fabio Ceccarelli. Mariella, Cedroni’s wife, is in front of the
house to make sure everything runs smoothly.



















On this day, it is hard for me to
pick a clear-cut favorite dish: all are simply extraordinary. Perhaps my preference
is the spaghettoro, but then again I
like pasta. The two turbot dishes are magnificent as well. A rare precision of
culinary technique is fused with ingredients that are allowed to explode in all
their fragrance and depth of aromas and flavors. In the end, it is easier to
make up my mind about the wines. <img alt="" src="https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1480564057935-4.+tronco+copy.jpg"> 

Grilled and salted Turbot trunk, crunchy spinach,
lemon accented oil



















The 2014 Belisario Verdicchio di Matelica Vigneti B. is simply a magnificent
Verdicchio, showcasing how underrated this cool, rainy vintage has turned out
to be. Mineral and pure, with long, balanced flavors of fresh citrus fruit,
sweet almond paste and pear, this is a simply remarkable wine, and far better
than the same wine in 2015, which is broader and larger but ultimately less
vibrant. There is no Loire wine I like more than those made by Huet. The 2014 Domaine Huet Vouvray Sec Le Haut-Lieu
is wonderfully clean and bright, its mineral, lemony and apple profile matches
with my appetizers and primi
exceptionally well. The 2003 Domaine de
Chevalier Blanc Pessac Léognan Grand Cru Classé confirms all one would
expect from a Bordeaux white wine in a hot year, but this is a vintage in which
Domaine de Chevalier performed remarkably well. The bottle on this night had
aged less well than others I have had before, and was starting to show signs of
a precocious evolution. The best wine of the evening, perhaps not surprisingly
given its pedigree and fantastic vintage, is the outstanding 1989 Château Coutet Barsac Premier Cru Classé, a smorgasbord of honey, ripe tropical fruit and
saffron, all complicated by marmalade-y botrytis. Long and pure, it was hard
for me to let go of the glass (which I did of course, but only so I could get
it filled up again). Coutet doesn’t always get the credit it deserves: it’s
certainly a different Barsac than Climens, but just as great, and often better.


<img alt="" src="https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1480564075783-vini+2+copy.jpg"> 



















In ultimate analysis, I came away
thinking that my meal at La Madonnina del Pescatore had been, at least until
then, one of my ten best of the year. Cedroni’s cooking is unbelievably
precise, each ingredient of each dish resonating loudly. You get up from the
table with considerable spring in your step, a testament to the lightness of Cedroni’s
touch. Also very important for all of us wine lovers is that wine prices are
very reasonable at La Madonnina, so you won’t feel like you are getting gouged
just because you wish to drink well (always commendable, in my opinion).<img alt="" src="https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1480564092950-view+2+copy.jpg"> 



















In Italy many are forever playing
the game of trying to determine which of the Marche’s two best known
restaurants is the greatest (Madonnina or Uliassi, soon to be reviewed on
Vinous), but it’s a pointless exercise, as both chefs are ultra-talented, plus
their approach to haut cuisine and the
ingredients used is too different. Simply put, they are both fantastic eating
establishments and I am more than glad to go to either one any chance I get.

&nbsp;

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