Talk of the Town

Two of the city’s outstanding restaurants are unveiling exciting new menus for spring.

By Galina Stolyarova

The St. Petersburg Times

Published: March 20, 2013 (Issue # 1751)

St. Petersburg meets Las Vegas this week, and the rendezvous has a distinctly gastronomic flavor: Through March 23, the miX restaurant in St. Petersburg is hosting Bruno Riou, an exciting guest chef from Alain Ducasse’s miX in Las Vegas.

Bruno Riou, who currently works as executive chef at the miX restaurant on the top floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort’s THEhotel, has gained international recognition for the contemporary way he interprets chef Ducasse’s classic and refined cuisine.

Riou was first introduced to the art of gastronomy by his family, with his interest in the culinary arts emerging early in his life, inspired by the excitement of wild boar hunts, foraging for mushrooms and a consuming passion for gardening.

Riou has worked at several of Ducasse’s restaurants — including Spoon and Alain Ducasse at the Dorchester, both in London — and has managed a Michelin-starred team. In St. Petersburg, the chef will treat local diners to a sophisticated six-course tasting menu conceived with an eye towards reflecting the essence of Las Vegas, with its particularly American variety of flamboyant bravura.

The menu will feature Thai chicken and coconut soup, a spicy, zesty dish featuring prominent accents of lemongrass and ginger; spicy king crab salad with guacamole, cucumber and cilantro; Atlantic sea bass with celery root fondant, shellfish and parsley jus; beef tenderloin with barbecue marmalade, a buttery potato galette and stuffed piquillo peppers; a mango passion martini with warm coconut foam; and miX’s Candy Bar, served with coconut and lime sorbet.

The dishes are available both as part of the tasting menu and a la carte.

In the meantime, the Borsalino restaurant has appointed an aspiring new head chef, Tonio Greco, who had a thrilling debut at the venue designing a special menu for Valentine’s Day that included shrimp and strawberry risotto, gnocchi with cheese, walnuts and pear sauce and an array of desserts, from sorbets to Sicilian cannoli pastries to chocolate soufflé.

In the near future, Greco will introduce sugar-free desserts, gluten-free dishes and grilled seafood. Every two weeks the chef will refresh his menu based on seasonal products. He is also preparing a series of culinary master-classes for children that will be launched in the coming few months.

His current favorite dishes include Italian chickpea soup, a savory and rich Umbrian dish that takes around six hours to make; linguini with clam sauce, shrimp and zucchini; and a hefty portion of perfectly grilled squid with green vegetables and cherry tomatoes.

A native of Sicily, Greco has worked in some of Italy’s best restaurants from Palermo to Sardinia. His goal as the new chef is to bolster Borsalino’s menu with innovative takes on traditional Italian dishes, including exciting new renditions of pasta, pizza and desserts. Greco has said he will rely strongly on local produce and said that he never blends more than seven ingredients in a single dish.