<a target="_blank" href="http://www.uliassi.it/">Uliassi</a>

Banchina di levante, 6

60019 Senigallia (AN)

Tel:&nbsp;+39
<a target="_blank">071 654 63</a>

BY IAN D’AGATA | DECEMBER 16, 2016&nbsp;

The food:

Tagliatelle of cuttlefish with nori pesto and fried
quinoa (Tagliatelle di seppia con pesto
di alghe nori e quinoa fritto)

Guazzamollo of crustaceans and mollusks in the manner
of Senigallia (Guazzamollo di molluschi e
crostacei alla moda di Senigallia)

Smoked spaghetti with clams and roasted datterini
tomatoes (Spaghetti affumicati alle
vongole e datterini arrostiti)

Linguine “Antonio Mattei”, crab, lime, mint and
coconut (Linguine “Antonio Mattei”,
granceola, lime, menta e cocco)

Fish brodetto cooked in “coccio” (Brodetto di pesce nel “coccio”)

Passion fruit soup, yogurt ice milk, pink peppercorn
and caramelized banana (Zuppa di frutto
alla passione, gelato di yogurt, pepe rosa, banana caramellata)

Strawberry granita, whipped cream, mascarpone and
cardamom meringues (Granita di fragole,
panna, mascarpone, meringhe al cardamomo)

The wines:

<table>
 <tbody><tr>
 <td>
 2001 Mount Horrocks Riesling Watervale
 </td>
 <td>
 90
 </td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>
 1999 Albert Pic Chablis Grand Cru Valmur
 </td>
 <td>
 91
 </td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>
 2013 Stefano Antonucci Verdicchio dei Castelli di
 Jesi Passito Lina
 </td>
 <td>
 89
 </td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>
 2013 Vigna degli Esterni Vino e Visciole Vìcer
 </td>
 <td>
 90+
 </td>
 </tr>
</tbody></table>















<img alt="" src="https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1481896710717-cuttlefish+tagliatelle+copy.jpg"> Tagliatelle of cuttlefish with nori pesto and
fried quinoa&nbsp;

Brother and sister Mauro and Catia Uliassi (he’s the Chef,
she runs the front of the house) opened their restaurant in 1990 and have
essentially never known anything but success. Located right on the seashore of
Senigallia, in the Marche, Uliassi offers a modernist take on old classics, but
there is a solid mastery of traditional techniques and real knowhow in every
dish that emerges from the kitchen. The interior of the restaurant is very
modern and bright, while Catia’s artwork graces the cover of the menus. <img alt="" src="https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1481896753228-guazzamollo+copy.jpg"> 













Guazzamollo of crustaceans and mollusks in the
manner of Senigallia&nbsp; 

Although I had a few less than memorable meals here
roughly eight to ten years ago, I am happy to report that Uliassi is on a tear
of late. Every recent visit has been memorable, including a meal Mauro cooked
at a big wine dinner far removed from the friendly confines of his own kitchen that
was nothing short of perfect. The decision to have nineteen (19!) members of
his staff with him shows the dedication and willingness Ulisassi has to go the
extra mile. Those choices invariably pay off, in the short and long run. And so
it is that a small beach side hut that once prepared mainly simple but precise
seafood dishes earned its first Michelin star in 2000 and tallied its second in
2009. Today, most experts agree that Uliassi is, easily, one of Italy’s 20 best
restaurants.

<img alt="" src="https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1481896815060-spaghetti+affumicati+copy.jpg"> 













Smoked spaghetti with clams and roasted
datterini tomatoes My most recent dinner at the restaurant went off
without a hitch and will rank as one of my best meals of the year. I found the
smoked spaghetti with clams and roast datterini
tomatoes and the linguine “Antonio
Mattei”, with granceola, lime, mint
and coconut to be especially deserving of seconds (or thirds). The former is a
dish that highlights Uliassi’s love for the sense of smell: he got the idea for
this specific dish by walking by the pop-up beach huts grilling seafood on
Rimini’s boardwalk. The combination of smoky, yet fresh aromas wafting through
the air led him to conjure up what is a simple yet tremendously sophisticated
dish, and very typical in fact of his cuisine. The latter is instead a pasta
made by the very high quality but perhaps little known (outside of Italy) Felicetti
pasta company, located in Trentino (not the more usual and more famous pasta
making Italian regions of Campania, Marche or Abruzzo!), where four generations
have been successfully plying their trade since 1908 (the “Antonio Mattei” in
the pasta’s name is in honour of an old family friend).<img alt="" src="https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1481896841153-linguine+anrtonio+mattei+copy.jpg"> 













Linguine “Antonio Mattei”, crab, lime, mint and
coconut&nbsp; 

The guazzamollo
of mollusks and crustaceans in the manner of Senigallia and the Fish Brodetto cooked in the “coccio” are two different takes on
everyday poor fishermen’s fish soups Italy’s Adriatic coastline. These are
renditions of fish soups that were made (and still are, in fact) directly on
the boats of fishermen at sea: lesser quality fish or damaged specimens not
likely to sell or to keep well were chosen to use for the fishermen’s daily
meals on board. Very traditional dishes of the area, guazzamollos and brodetto
(usually referred to as guazzetti and
zuppe in southern Italy) are taken
extremely seriously in this neck of the Italian woods: just imagine that there
exists an Accademia del Brodetto (the Academy of
the Brodetto) that has officially certified the different brodetto recipes of the cities of Ancona, Fano, Porto Recanati and
San Benedetto, all in the Marche region (officially the recipe ingredients and
cooking procedures have been legally deposited at a notary’s office in Ascoli
Piceno). Needless to say each town believes its version to be the best; and
that doesn’t even take into account the many other versions made all along the
coastline of Abruzzo, the region hugging the Adriatic shoreline just south of
the Marche! Every self-respecting Italian has a favorite version he or she
swears by. I can vouch for the fact that some of the most fun evenings I have
ever spent over the years were in the company of good friends blind tasting the
various brodetto recipes and then
voting, at evening’s end, on which city’s or town’s we liked best. Uliassi has
always had a special love for wild game and fare is always present at the
restaurant, although on this night we stuck with fish and seafood.<img alt="" src="https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1481896871837-brodetto+copy.jpg"> 













Fish brodetto cooked in “coccio”&nbsp; 

Thanks to Uliassi’s interesting wine list that still
has a few old vintages hanging on, on this specific evening I was also able to
try good wines with some age on them. The 2001
Mount Horrocks Riesling Watervale is drinking well, and testifies to the
age-worthiness of high quality Australian Riesling wines. Diesel fuel and surprisingly
ripe white stone fruit dominate on the rich, classically dry finish. It proves
fine both as an aperitif and with the antipasti. The 1999 Albert Pic Chablis Grand Cru Valmur is in its drinking prime,
and is one of the best wines I have ever tried from Pic, a historic house founded
in 1755 that today is owned by Ladoucette and remains the oldest Chablis
domaine of all. This bottle exudes the honeyed aromatic charm and smooth
texture of typical Valmur wines. <img alt="" src="https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1481896913108-passion+fruit+soup+copy.jpg"> 













Passion fruit soup, yogurt ice milk, pink
peppercorn and caramelized banana&nbsp; 

Last but not least, I finish off the evening with two
curiosities. The 2013 Stefano Antonucci
Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi Passito Lina is a sweet Verdicchio wine
made by air-drying the grapes for three months in small wooden boxes, and is
dedicated to Lina, Stefano Antonucci’s mother. I am not a huge fan of
Verdicchio Passito wines, finding that the non-aromatic nature of the variety
makes for fairly simple sweet wines, but I’ll admit this is an extremely
successful version with bright aromas and flavors of stone fruit, crystallized
ginger and apple sauce.&nbsp;<img alt="" src="https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1481896966792-strawberry+granita+copy.jpg"> 













Strawberry granita, whipped cream, mascarpone
and cardamom meringues&nbsp; The 2013 Vigna
degli Esterni Vino e Visciole Vìcer is a specialty of the Marche, where
there has long been the tradition of infusing cherries in wine or other
suitable spirits. Traditionally the local (excellent) wild cherries are picked
late in July, slightly mashed and macerated with a sugar syrup. The sweet, intensely
perfumed and flavorful liquid that collects is then added to the must of
Lacrima wine (Lacrima is the aromatic red variety typical of the Marche region
and used to make the often outstanding Lacrima di Morro d’Alba wine) starting
off fermentation and leading to this intensely cherry scented and flavored wine.
When well made, it’s an absolutely smashing way to finish dinner, as is the
case on this magical night.<img alt="" src="https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1481896982822-vini+copy.jpg"> 

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