Ristorante Il Cantinone
Fano
Via Arco d'Augusto, 62
61032 Fano (Pesaro)
0721-825-922
Owner / Chef: Leonardo Gentili
Leonardo e Irene
Review copyright - Ginda Simpson
In the very heart of the historic district of Fano, at the crossroads of Via Arco d’Augusto and Corso Matteotti, this family-owned restaurant is a local landmark. Opened in 1958, the restaurant has an interior garden as well as outdoor seating in the square. Following in his father’s footsteps, Leonardo Gentili is now the manager and chef - the role he likes best. This was immediately evident when he persuaded the two of us to sit back and let him “have fun” creating a series of antipasti with fish caught that morning in the waters of the Adriatic. Like a magician, Leonardo took cuttlefish and clams, mussels and swordfish, calamari and shrimp in his deft hands: then from beneath his chef’s hat, he pulled amazing transformations from fresh catch to prepared dish. An insalata di mare arranged on kiwi slices, a carpaccio of swordfish and shrimp in a lemon sauce floated on a glass dish, icy-green in color, reminding me of sea glass. A hearty tomato sauce made with calamari swam deliciously close to a swell of puréed potatoes.
Leonardo makes some mighty tasty pizzas in his wood-burning oven and many are the locals who come just to cut into these larger-than-your-plate pizzas. His “ciclista” flat bread, made simply, brushed with olive oil and coarse salt, is also a favorite. We continued, however, with his seafood offerings, quitting after our pastas – one made with crab and the other with an array of shellfish. Leonardo would not let us go, without a tiny taste of his famous lemon sorbet – freshly made in his special way and it made for a very refreshing end to a very special meal.