It was December 14, 2014 when Thomas Pardowith old friends Martino Scarpa e Nicholas Braccioloreopened the history restaurant “Antica Torre” in via Inferiore Treviso. He was less than thirty years old, a vocation for cooking that had captivated him since he was a child, already many significant experiences in various restaurants.
But he felt all the great responsibility of taking over the management of theunforgotten Zorzo Journey, which had made the restaurant one of the most popular in the city. But on the eighth birthday of the business, he can well say he won that bet.
«We started off quietly», he recalls, «and among the three of us friends, all from the Venetian area, I was the only one who knew Treviso a little since we have always worked between Jesolo and Venice. It was precisely while we were managing a restaurant in Venice that we were asked to take over the Antica Torre: I had lived a frenetic life since the days of the “Cornaro” hotel in Jesolo between work in restaurants, studies and a research and development experience with a important company that produces technological equipment for the food sector that I didn’t want to give up. Hence the dimensions of the Ancient Tower, with its 25-28 coversit seemed to me ideal to be able to manage it without giving up the other activity, which in fact I still continue».
Pardo with his staff
Tommaso manages, in fact, to follow every detail of the restaurant even if he is often busy in various parts of the world, thanks to a skilful management and a well-established team. «Manuel Bellio has been working with me for several years, he is very good and even though he is only 25 he is a valid helmsman in the kitchen when I’m not around. More recently, Matteo Benvenuti has also arrived, also very good. In the hall, then, the maître and sommelier Cesare Raguso it is a safe point of reference for customers. I am very proud of my team and happy to feel fundamental but not indispensable when I have to be away for a few days».
«For several years now, the restaurant has been at full capacity», continues Pardo, «and it is difficult to find a place unless you book a couple of weeks in advance. Thanks to the excellent relationships with customers, we are able to offer many tastings also innovativelike that of raw fish combined with gin and tonic or like the “Oltre” menu, which offers dishes “in the dark” and which is therefore based on the trust of the customer, in whom we express all our creativity, without ever distorting the raw material. But let’s not overlook the traditional Venetian dishesit’s ours “Roots” is inspired by it: creamed cod, bigoli with sardines or baked sea bass always satisfy even the palates less suited to experimentation. Then there are the sensitivity and professionalism of Cesare and of Erica Fincotto, in the roomto ensure that customer expectations are understood and met».
«Our task, in fact», explains Raguso, «is both to welcome and pamper customers, and to accompany them in their search for classic or unconventional flavours. And this as much in the choice from the menu as in the wine list, which I personally take care of and which we love is always wide and sometimes even unusual, precisely to support the continuous research of the kitchen».
And consolidated and close-knit team and a place that is always full, yet some concern for the future is not lacking even at the Antica Torre. Pardo explains: «We have successfully overcome the delicate start-up phase and we have also emerged unscathed from the inconveniences connected to the pandemic and from the lockdowns. With a little romanticism I would say that the economic loss of those periods was my tribute to spend more time with my partner Liesbeth and with my daughter Lucrezia. But I admit that I am much more worried now than then: I have chosen not to the many different price increases of the moment to fall on customers, reducing margins, but I don’t know how long I will be able to sustain this choice».
«Furthermore, our pastry chef decided to change her activity a few months ago and reintegrating her is quite difficult, due to this crisis of “vocations” for a wonderful job that seems to be no longer attractive for many», she concludes, «I continue to consider myself very lucky because I chose this job when I was more or less four years old and I’m doing it with great satisfaction. But his future, in this period, is very uncertain ».