Late last December, Milan entered an unofficial state of mourning when the beloved Brera-neighborhood restaurant La Latteria — known for its spicy lemon pasta and strict no-reservations policy — closed after 58 years of service. But despite this loss, the city’s food scene has never been more vibrant. The last six months have seen a wave of new bars, restaurants and cafes — many of them run by young people from the fashion and design worlds — open their doors. With them, a fresh energy has been injected into a city better known for old-school haunts like the cocktail institution Bar Basso and the four-decade-old cafe Fioraio Bianchi. Here, seven new arrivals, from a revived family-run trattoria to a Lebanese-inspired dessert shop.
The hand-painted signage outside Bar Nico, in the quiet Acquabella district, remains unchanged from its days as a Bolognese pastificio (a pasta maker specializing in recipes from Bologna), but inside, the place has been transformed into a modern bar, where a steel and concrete counter anchors a sparse room furnished with wooden bistro-style tables. Founders Chiara Pino, a model, and Riccardo Ganelli, who previously worked for the fashion brand Sunnei, were inspired by the lively neighborhood wine bars they found on their travels to Paris and Barcelona. They’ve curated a menu of natural wines mostly from small producers in France and Italy: Temps des Cerises from the Languedoc-Roussillon; Contrada Contro, made near Monti Sibillini in the Marche; De L’avant, from Les Varrons in France. Also on offer are a selection of nonalcoholic kombuchas and simple small plates like a radicchio and balsamic salad, canned mussels in escabeche sauce and raw sausage from Bra, a town in Italy’s Piedmont region, served with spicy mustard and arranged in the shape of a smiley face.
Yoji Tokuyoshi, the former sous chef at the revered Osteria Francescana in Modena, about 100 miles south, opened Pan with the restaurateur Alice Yamada last April after the shokupan (Japanese milk bread) at Bentoteca, his Japanese fine dining restaurant in the Ticinese neighborhood, began to garner attention. Pan serves pastries and desserts made with a mix of European and Japanese techniques and flavors, like flaky miso cinnamon rolls, Basque-style matcha cheesecake and anpan, sweet rolls filled with red bean paste. There’s also lunch — and, on the weekends, brunch — with an ever-changing menu that has included dishes like avocado toast with poached eggs and spicy shichimi powder on shokupan; pappa al pomodoro, the traditional Tuscan tomato and bread stew; and omurice, a Japanese dish that combines an omelet with fried rice. The mint green interiors, designed by the local architecture firm Studio Wok, include a bar made of gridded fiberglass panels and rows of pale green textiles along the ceiling inspired by noren, the fabric room dividers commonly used in Japan.
