Isabella Potì twenty-four years old, is already in the Forbes Under thirty list among the Head emerging more rampant in Europe, and that's no small feat! It has a Michelin star, which in the world is a bit like winning a silver ribbon, the David di Donatello or a formula one grand prix.
Rather sure of what she is doing, as well as aware of her potential and aware of the work to be done, Potì must be sent on a growing career.
Isabella Potì and the Bros
Born in Rome to a Polish mother and a father from Lecce, she was educated by Claude Bosi in London, by Martin Berasategui and Paco Torreblanca, in Spain. He had already known the Pellegrino Bros its current partners of work, as an intern; then On 26 December 2015 the return to Italy, to be part of the adventure of "Bros", for a conceptualized territorial cuisine.
The "mission" was to return to the essence of the Salento tradition. Considered one of the thirty young people to watch in Europe in the field of the arts, Isabella is smiling but determined; presenting its absolutely contemporary desserts, never too sugary. Not to mention the soufflés, for Potì they are now an iconic dish. And then she continues to study, in fact, she was working in the brigades of Mauro Colagreco at Mirazur in Mentone and by Rasmus Kofoed at Geranium in Denmark. However, Isabella Potì does not feel she has arrived at all.
The essential is visible to the taste
Everything takes place in a context that is anything but frivolous, since everything in the kitchen must be concrete; you cannot cheat, but only meritocracy counts. Isabella, stir-fry, stir-fry, plate, dish and produce revealing scents, with the ease of a veteran. Discipline is key, as is camaraderie, but private life generally stays out of the kitchen.
Isabella Potì and her group represent a brand; from the restaurant, to the chef-character, plates with the logo imprinted, t-shirt e-shop, crockery in local terracotta. They ride the wave, the moment, and the technologies with the tools at their disposal; Isabella and hers are millennials, born in this era and they express it. One of the mottos of the Bros', that is of his team is "The essential is visible to the taste", therefore presenting ricotta, scampi and sea urchins means proposing; the strong ricotta, fermented according to a Salento tradition, then the delicacy of the scampi, and the brackish sweetness of the sea urchins.
Salento cuisine
Isabella Poti he knows that he has a lot of work to do at the age of twenty-four, and has many projects underway, personal and professional improvements to be made day after day. He knows he represents the new generation, but without neglecting tradition, carrying on ingredients and techniques for many "out of fashion". Old customs cannot be put aside.
For example, for many amaro is a taboo-taste, while for Isabella and her "team" it is the tradition of Salento, amaro means Salento. In addition to ricotta forte, there are sweetbreads, the ancient garum, a condiment obtained from the maceration of certain types of fish, pork fat. The latter is an important local ingredient, which at Bros' is assembled as if it were a cream, smoked, and combined with raspberry. How to present bread and pork fat as an amuse-bouche? Isabella is capable of this and more in the kitchen!
Isabella Potì and Floriano Pellegrino
There are ancient traditions that cannot be forgotten. In the past, when ricotta was made, the excess prepared was kept by putting it in an amphora with a little salt; “Forgetting it” and letting it ferment almost creating the rancid, a flavor that connects very distant generations between them.
These are ancient tastes mixed with modernity, perhaps risky, but winning. Today Isabella Potì is the column of the Bros restaurant in Lecce, as a chef since 2019 with a penchant for pastry, and for Floriano Pellegrino, supervisor of the venue, and partner in life, in fact they will soon get married. And then there are always the second and third stars to be conquered, not bad for a XNUMX-year-old on the rise.
