At Enrico Crippa’s Piazza Duomo restaurant in Alba, Italy, every dish features vegetables and wild herbs. He is deeply committed to growing his own biodynamic fruits and vegetables, which fuel his creative fire in the kitchen: His Salad 21, 31, 41, 51—a nod to the ever-changing number of seasonal ingredients in the dish—is considered exceptional, even by the standards of signature garden salads. All of this has earned Chef Crippa a prominent placement on World’s 50 Best Restaurants list.

Enrico Crippa was born in Carate Brianza, Italy in 1971. His first experience in the restaurant business came at the age of 16 as a commis in the historic Milanese establishment Gualtiero Marchesi. It was here that he began a career that led to collaborative efforts with some of the most famous chefs in Europe. At the age of 25, he left for Japan where he worked for three years. Through this experience he learned classic Japanese cooking, not to be confused with the trendy “sushi-mania,” and developed a profound appreciation for the simple, elegant philosophy that guides Japanese cuisine. Upon his return to Italy, Enrico continued to develop his skills as a world class chef while biding his time until he could establish a restaurant of his own. In 2003 his dream was realized, when in collaboration with the Ceretto family, work began on Ristorante Piazza Duomo.

His approach
The plant-forward philosophy has been influenced by my own past experiences in Japan and France, where they have a great attention on ingredients. Once here in Alba our focus has grown up constantly and we are always trying to improve and do something new. With two gardens and a greenhouse we are discovering the essence of the vegetables, they have completely different flavors and taste from the vegetables you can buy in the market. They have a strong identity. Our research about plants, vegetables, sprouts, flowers is now a symbol for our philosophy: if in the past I tried to find a good match for a pigeon or a seabass, now I start to think on swiss chard, zucchini, cabbages and so on... and how they can be matched with a protein element.: What is your favorite plant at the moment?
I'm currently captivating on ice plant that we can use in a lot of recipes: What three plant-based foods could you not be without in your kitchen?
Asparagus, Fava beans and all the salads during the spring, cabbages for the winter, all the varieties of zucchini in the spring and mushrooms in fall.