Francesco Oppido in Bologna, known for his contemporary pizza and his quality beers is set to open a new pizzeria in Bologna but Italian food magazine Gambero Rosso has announced that he is currently working on his first ever project outside Italy.
The team at Moeder Lambic have recently signed a deal with the new owners of a hotel, A la Grande Cloche, that was built in 1840. The owner of the hotel will be completely restoring the hotel while the restaurant will be in the hands of Francesco Oppido, in partnership with Moeder Lambic.
Pasta Madre will be a pizzeria which will open in the beginning of 2019, Jean Hummler of Moeder Lambic told Food and Wine Gazette. It will also have a small kitchen which will accompany the pizza oven.
Oppido is known for his doughs (he comes from a family of pizzaioli though he started his career as a pastry chef).Originally from Crotone, he has become famous in Bologna for his restaurants that are focused on his two passions, pizza and artisanal beer. He first opened Ranzani13 in 2012. He sold it earlier this year to focus on new projects. At the end of 2016 he opened Storie Dipinte and is opening a second restaurant in Bologna later this month.
The new project will be in Brussels. Gambero Rosso said that the Belgian capital city is Francesco’s second home with friends and also the beer. “It is not a coincidence that the partner in the Pasta Madre project is Moeder Lambic of Jean Hummler and Andy Mengal from the legendary brewery of Place Fontainas.
The new pizzeria will cater for around 55-60 covers. “We will have 180 metres squared but we don’t want to have more covers because we want to work well.”
The restaurant will serve breakfast in the morning and will then serve a lunch and dinner. There will be a specific lunch menu accompany the normal menu and the restaurant will serve contemporary pizza, burgers and a small number of pasta dishes using Gentile pasta. The restaurant will serve around 15 beers of draft which will be selected by the Moeder Lambic team. Half of these will be Italian beers.
Most of the produce will come direct from Italy but Francesco will be using vegetables and some cheese from Belgium. He told Gambero Rosso that the most important thing for him is the quality of the ingredients and variety. “We want people to have fun. The bread and the croissants will be supplied by a local youngster who has taken over a bakery and works in an artisanal approach. He has already partnered with Moeder Lambic for Matinal.”
Francesco is expected to stay in Brussels three weeks each month for the first year until the project gets going. He will be bringing over 4 members of his team in Italy and they will be joined by another four from Moeder Lambic.
Pasta Madre – Brussels, Place Rouppe, (Open from November 2018)
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