OUR PROPOSAL: Quality, Taste & Territory.
In the Italian Language, the word "STALLATO" doen't exist. It's a word pun between "Ristorante stellato" (ristorante stellato is the restaurant awarded with a Michelin star) and "Stalla" (stable...because we have the cows).
We wanted to combine these two concepts to effectively convey the idea of the experience you can try here at "Filo di Paglia"
On the one hand, we put at your service our thirty years of experience in the world of catering, the passion for what we do and the desire to offer you an excellent service.
On the other hand, for us "offering an excellent service" does not only mean making the customer feel good but also knowing how to GUARANTEE a certain quality standard. This is why we have chosen to go back to the origins, in connection with nature; we decided to open the organic farm, grow vegetables, build the stable, raise the cows, work directly the cheeses, meats and cured meats and therefore to offer only HIGHEST QUALITY INGREDIENTS, on which we could guarantee with our face.
At the base of the creation of our dishes there is the desire to:
- represent the territory as much as possible;
- follow the seasons and the rhythms of nature;
- rediscover the ancient flavors of our traditions and peasant culture, based on various principles, such as the knowledge of the raw material and the natural processing processes of the ingredients, the slow cooking with wood, the "having to make do with what is there", etc;
- recreate a harmony between nature, producer and consumer, respecting the environment and the living beings that are part of the production chain of our ingredients, whether these bacteria of the earth, plants, animals or people;
- surprise the customer with tastes that he does not usually savor.
THE LOCATION: Nature, Style & Hospitality.
The "Filo di Paglia" is the last house of a small road that winds through the woods and opens onto a small sunny valley.
Although the town of Pavareto (SP) is only 18 minutes from the Carrodano motorway exit, here you lose track of time and manage to isolate yourself from the rest of the world.
The atmosphere is warm and welcoming.
"It seems to eat in a place that has always been known".
The restaurant is divided into two main rooms, each for about 35 people:
- the internal dining hall is located in the STRAW HOUSE, plastered in clay and furnished with the furniture of the antique shop that belonged to Francesca;
- the external veranda allows you to let your gaze run over the green of the valley and the blue of the sky.
THE "STABLED" CHEF: An eternally curious, lover of cooking and his cows.
The kitchen of the farmhouse boasts the thirty years of experience of Chef Marco Azaghi.
The culinary sensitivity has matured between the mother's passion for Apulian home cooking, the father's love for quality fish and meats, the "mess" in the best traditional Ligurian gastronomies and maturation in important restaurants and hotels in the Tigullio Gulf.
After years of managing the kitchens of others he manages to achieve the great youthful dream of opening his own fish restaurant in front of the splendid promontory of Portofino, the Martin Pescatore restaurant.
The desire to offer a non-trivial cuisine, linked to the territory and based on fresh and high quality ingredients has always guided his choices in the creation of a dish.
This will is made even more possible now, where he is able to work directly with the ingredients he produces with his family, thus guaranteeing Maximum Quality.
INGREDIENTS: Organic, Natural and Slow Food
The ingredients of our cuisine mostly come from our organic farm and from our breeding of jersey and cabannine cows, Slow Food Presidium. (If you are interested, you can learn more about the way we cultivate and breed by clicking HERE)
The products that do not come from our farm (oil, flours, wines and beers) are carefully selected from the organic or natural companies we trust closest to.
MEATS
- They are cut and processed directly by the chef;
- they come from our breeding;
- the cows live their life in the semi-wild state, in contact with their own kind;
- they are closed only in the evening, to prevent the attack of any predators;
- they feed only on grasses they find grazing and on hay;
- they do not undergo hormonal treatments or antibiotic therapies;
- walking and running throughout their lives, their meat is leaner and tastier than a cow that spends its life in the stable;
- if you are a meat lover you cannot fail to come and taste the DRY AGED SMOKED BEEF STEAK, a particular process developed by the chef that will leave you breathless for its flavor !!
CHEESES
- They are produced directly by the chef and aged in the cellar;
- they are made only with the raw milk of the cows of our breeding;
- the cheeses do not undergo the pasteurization process and no selected inocula are added, if not self-produced;
- we call them "Free Cheeses" because we have noticed that the numerous variables in the production process of a cheese greatly affect the final result: each cheese is different from the other;
- the typical Ligurian "Sarazzu" is produced with our aged ricotta;
- milking is done only in the morning and only after the calf is 3 months old, in order to leave him the milk he deserves;
- during the day, mothers stay with their children, so that they can suck the milk they need to grow up healthy;
- one of the SPECIAL of the "Filo di Paglia" that allows you to taste a large quantity of our cheeses is the "TAVOLOZZA D'AUTORE: Selection of Free Cheeses".
COLD CUTS
- They are processed and transformed directly by the chef, using only beef, whole sea salt and a mix of aromatic herbs from Pavareto;
- the meats are selected from the finest pieces and come from our Cabannina beef (Slow Food Presidium) breeding;
- after any smoking, they are seasoned in the cellar;
- the "Musciamme" of Cabannina is an idea of the chef: he applied a typical Ligurian process to the beef that was carried out on dolphin meats (in the past) and, subsequently, on tuna (in the present);
- one of the SPECIAL of the "Filo di Paglia" that allows you to taste our cold cuts, in combination with some cheeses, croutons and other delicacies is the "GRAN TAGLIERE DEL FILO DI PAGLIA".
BREAD
- The bread is homemade with ancient wheat flour, purified water, integral sea salt, extra virgin olive oil and sourdough;
- high quality biodynamic flours and stone-ground flour from Cento Croci are used;
- the leavening lasts at least 20 hours;
- the result is an excellent bread, sweet and fragrant: soft and firm inside; slightly greasy and fragrant on the outside.
PASTA
- All the pasta is strictly homemade with high quality biodynamic flour;
- typical Ligurian and Apulian traditional pasta shapes are used: croxetti, battolli (maltagliati type), bastardùi (gnocchetti type), pansoti, ravioli, trocchioli (rough spaghettoni type), orecchiette;
- the filling of the stuffed pasta is made with vegetables, herbs, ricotta, dairy products and meats from our farm.
VEGETABLES
- Vegetables have always been very important in the chef's kitchen;
- now all the vegetables used in the preparation of our dishes come from our organic farm;
- sometimes, in case of problems, we source from organic or natural farms we trust;
- in the cultivation of our vegetables we do not use chemical fertilizers, herbicides or pesticides;
- the flavor and crunchiness of "REAL" vegetables can only be known by those who have their own garden or are supplied by trusted farmers !!
THE NATURAL WINE: The best accompaniment for your dinner.
Italy means FOOD but it also means WINE.
In a lunch or dinner at the "Filo di Paglia" both are given the right value and both are bearers of the highest quality.
Furthermore, with a type of cuisine like ours we could only marry the philosophy that drives natural wine producers.
If you already know them you know why we love them.
If you don't know them, you have to come and taste them with someone with a minimum of open mind, since the tastes are often not the same as we are used to.
We boast a cellar with more than one hundred wines, regional, national and foreign, only natural.
The Sommelier Francesca and the great lover of natural wines Sergio will surely be able to recommend one of the excellent natural labels to combine with your meal.