Treviglio's Nosh becomes “Ribelle”: here, red wine also pairs with fish

Ruggero tells us all this during dinner, guiding the table through dishes, bottles, and selections that explain better than any statement the direction Nosh has taken: a recognizable cuisine, a curious wine research, and the attempt to combine quality, pleasure, and sustainability.

From the old venue to the Nosh by Ribelle project

The space housing Nosh has a history spanning nearly thirty years. It was previously an appliance store, before being transformed into a restaurant designed by architect De Cottis. "We've always loved this place because it's wonderful," Ruggero Del Zotti tells us. "It also allows us to offer a different type of service because there's a larger kitchen and a large warehouse for our wines. The Ribelle space was truly too small. Now we can host groups, do things a little more comfortably, and above all, work during lunch, which is a crucial tool." Or organize themed evenings, like the Cena e Canta on October 7th, where service will be accompanied by live music.

The move, however, isn't just a matter of space. The project stems from the desire to build a more balanced restaurant business, including financially, maintaining the same level of quality without necessarily passing on all the costs of ambitious cuisine to prices. "We chose to maintain a competitive approach because we believe the restaurant industry should be more aligned with normality." This philosophy also translates into the idea of ​​not chasing surprise at all costs. "We want people to eat what they know, or think they know, but to be surprised." The concept of sustainability also encompasses teamwork and the need to build a financially sound business. "The restaurant business is an extremely complex profession. It means you work hard for very, very little."

That's why Nosh by Ribelle and Rascasse also focuses on lunch, with a daily menu that changes daily and offers a wide variety of choices, at a more than reasonable price considering the high quality: €23 for two courses, water, and coffee included. The kitchen is also entrusted to the young Greta Lanzeni, who previously worked in the city at the Michelin-starred San Martino, and was part of the team at her previous experience. She displays a mastery of preparation you wouldn't expect from a 26-year-old. A true talent worth keeping a record of.

Gazpacho, raw seafood, and the first wine game

Dinner begins with a gazpacho of tomato water, yogurt, mint, extra virgin olive oil, and samphire, with seared shrimp served inside. The idea is to scoop the gazpacho and shellfish together with a spoon, concentrating the different components in a single bite. An explosion of freshness on the palate. Next comes an appetizer of raw seafood, which makes up the Rascasse, one of the dishes that best represents the seafood component of the cuisine. Grouper, salmon, scallops, tuna, and amberjack, seasoned with Maldon salt and extra virgin olive oil.

Completing the menu is a delicious tuna and guacamole taco. The wine pairs with the same freedom as the cuisine. The Nosh by Ribelle e Rascasse menu seeks out less predictable labels and producers capable of bringing diverse stories and territories to the table.

The first red of the evening is Animoso, a pure Sangiovese from a sandy area in the Grosseto area. It's a deliberately unconventional choice for fish: an elegant red, used to alternate the wines along the way, rather than strictly following the traditional color pairing of seafood and white wines.

Linguine with red mullet and Nero d'Avola: the off-menu takes center stage.

The same freedom emerges with the linguine with red mullet, offered off-menu. The pasta is served with a sauce featuring a strong tomato base and paired with Respiro, an excellent Nero d'Avola from Valdibella. The choice of wine is based on the structure of the dish: the red maintains a light and fresh profile, with a component that lends itself to the tomato sauce and allows for a playful color combination.

The presence of off-menu items is set to become increasingly important in the Nosh project. By working with a large amount of fresh fish, the kitchen can create dishes based on the availability of the ingredients and the number of possible portions, without necessarily having to make every dish a fixed item on the menu.

The future menu will follow this same logic: a Guilty Pleasure section with some always-available dishes, six seasonal offerings, and two or three off-menu options that can change more freely. "We have some iconic dishes that we even bring from previous experiences, which our customers know and come back for more: the vitello tonnato, the risotto, and our parmigiana. Extremely classic dishes, but taken to a level that is the best we can achieve," adds Ruggero.

Among the new dishes, which are undoubtedly enjoying the greatest success, are the soft gnocchetti, rabbit, its stock, and aromas of marjoram. Despite its very high average quality, in our opinion, this is a true signature dish from Greta Lanzeni, one of those dishes that, as is often said, is worth the trip. Among the seasonal ideas for the near future is calamari with salmoriglio sauce. The off-menu options will instead follow the seasons of the ingredients, from mushrooms to truffles to pumpkin.

Sea bass, courgettes and a base built like a jus

The journey continues with a seared sea bass, arriving that day directly from Greece. The fish is cooked almost entirely skin-on, then turned over at the end and left to finish with the heat off, taking advantage of the residual heat. The flesh remains tender, while the skin takes on a crispy texture. The sea bass is accompanied by a zucchini cream made with the vegetable itself and small zucchini, seared on one side only. The zucchini are then vacuum-packed with mint, garlic, and oil and left to rest for two days, resulting in a dish similar to cooking in oil.

Completing the dish is a sea bass stock, constructed using a technique similar to that used for meat stock. The bones and heads are first toasted in the oven at 200°C, then combined with celery, carrot, onion, and water, and left to reduce. After defatting and further reduction, the result is a concentrated sauce that complements the fish. It's a dish that perfectly encapsulates the approach espoused by Nosh by Ribelle and Rascasse: recognizable ingredients, precise techniques, and a gastronomic construction that strives to maintain immediacy.

A cuisine that grows without losing wine

The transition from Ribelle to Nosh doesn't mean abandoning the world the owners come from. Wine remains a central element of the project, but today it's more closely linked to the cuisine. The same evolution applies to the clientele: the restaurant aims to appeal to a clientele who appreciates both the culinary expertise and the winemaking research, and who will return time and again, finding a constantly evolving offering.

"Choosing a clientele that's more knowledgeable, of a different age, has traveled more, and therefore appreciates what you do differently. Plus, there's also a desire of our own to take on a more mature, more adult project, given our age and the experience we've gained. Ribelle was a place where many young people would come simply for a cocktail, with their own schedules and habits. Here at Nosh, we have a true restaurant concept."

At Nosh by Ribelle the finale is a promise of return

Dinner concludes with dessert: a chocolate wafer enclosing berries and berry gelato, a delicious yet refreshing finale. It's the final course of an evening that leaves you with the feeling of having encountered a place still in flux, with an identity that's being defined dish by dish, bottle by bottle.

At Nosh by Ribelle and Rascasse, food, wine, and hospitality don't run on separate tracks, but rather seek and complement one another, within a project that strives to grow without losing its sense of surprise. And perhaps this is precisely what lingers the longest after you leave: the curiosity to return to see how far this restaurant has come at your next dinner.