Bloomberg Businessweek

67

TRAVEL THE FOOD ISSUE March 11, 2019

From top: Matsuhisa’s classic miso-marinated

black cod is served at all of his hotels; a boun-

tiful kitchen table at Casa Maria Luigia; fillet

of beef with horseradish and shallot confit,

celeriac purée, mushrooms, and red wine sauce

at Lympstone Manor

seasonal bistro cooking in Paris is devoting
his time to a food-focused inn surrounded by
generations-old farms.
After acquiring the 17th century D’Une
Ile almost a year ago, Grébaut and his
business partner, Théophile Pourriat,
upgraded the property through the winter
and reopened it this month, complete
with a new living room space in a former
barn, a sauna, and a swimming pool. These
amenities join eight rooms with stone walls,
exposed beams, and furnishings by Ilse
Crawford and Tom Dixon. True to Grébaut’s
style, expect a “micro-seasonal” menu that
pulls heavily from neighbors’ bounties as
well as his own—the 20-acre estate has an
organic garden and a cellar full of natural
wines. From €113; duneile.com

CASA

MARIA LUIGIA

Modena, Italy

The chef: Italian modernist Massimo Bottura
The place: An 18th century villa gone glam
near the city of slow food and fast cars
Don’t miss: A local aperitivo snack of
gnocco fritto (savory fried dough), served
with salty salumi

Bottura and Lara Gilmore, his wife and
partner, are on a winning streak. For
one thing, Osteria Francescana—a
reconstructionist temple to the food of
Emilia-Romagna—has been recognized
twice in recent years as the top dining
destination by the World’s 50 Best
Restaurant awards. With that platform of
influence have come posh partnerships
with Italian fashion houses and a global
expansion plan, as well as charitable soup
kitchens in underserved neighborhoods
around the world.
But closer to home is something more
intimate: Casa Maria Luigia, the couple’s
soon-to-open 12-room inn. It started when
the pair made a lowball bid for the property
at auction and came away surprise owners;
now it’s a canvas where they can experiment
with a different kind of hospitality. “There’s
this new idea that travel isn’t just about
eating at a restaurant like Francescana—
it can be an opportunity to test your
boundaries,” Gilmore says. “Nowadays there
is a desire to share and connect.”
At Maria Luigia that means fostering
interaction between guests, staff, and
owners: The property has an open kitchen
where guests can learn to make pasta,
a bocce court, and a piazza overlooking