About us
An ognivo is a fire steel: the steel and flint that strike the first spark. Every evening of ours begins with it.
A room around the fire
Forty seats, oak tables and an open hearth in the middle of the room: you can see the fire from every seat. Six stools stand right at the counter facing the grill, where you can watch every dish being cooked.
The light is warm and low, the music quiet. The fire sets the pace of the evening.
What we believe in
No stove
Only the oven, the grill and the embers. If a dish can’t be done over fire, it isn’t on the menu.
Dry wood
Every log dries for a year under cover. Wet wood gives acrid smoke, not flavour.
A seasonal menu
We change it four times a year, and a little every week, depending on what our suppliers bring.
Nothing goes to waste
Embers light the bread oven, ash goes into salt and butter, trimmings into sauces and stocks.
The team
There are fourteen of us: the chef, four cooks at the fire, a pastry cook who bakes in the cooling oven, the waiters and the host. Many of us first came here as guests.
Every new cook spends the first month only tending the fire — and only then stands at the grill.
