Italy loses a three-star Michelin restaurant. After René Radzepi, one of the world’s most celebrated restaurants, announced the closure of Noma, another piece of news shocks the restaurant world.
Chef Norbert Niederkofler’s three-star Michelin restaurant St. Hubertus closes. Down the shutters on March 24. A usually end-of-season closure. But one that will mark a major change this year. Both from the perspective of the restaurant and the chef. Let’s get this in order. The St. Hubertus will definitely lose its three stars. In fact, the Rosa Alpina hotel, where the restaurant is located, will undergo extensive renovations after the Aman group joined the ownership structure alongside the Pizzinini family. The chef, as it transpires, will remain within the group, but will no longer be operating at the stove. “We are stopping for a year and a half for work and we have to redefine the whole concept of catering. The St. Hubertus,” Ursula Mahlknecht Pizzinini tells Il Gusto, “will change, it will be smaller, with fewer place settings, with another formula maybe more exclusive. Norbert has been with us since 1994 so he is family, he will be part of the Rosa Alpina think tank.”
The restaurant is famous because it celebrates the philosophy of mountain life and uses only ingredients from the Alps, obviously seasonal, reflecting the character and history of the mountain villages. With Niederkofler at the stove, it has transformed from a small space within the hotel’s pizzeria to a destination for connoisseurs, earning its first Michelin star in 2000, its second in 2007, and its third in 2018, accompanied by a green star in 2020. What will happen next for Niederkofler is hard to know. Some rumors have him at the helm of a new restaurant of his in Bruneck on the premises of Villa Moessmer, a true historical jewel (surrounded by parkland) for which the provincial Office for Architectural and Artistic Heritage has given a favorable opinion on the renovation plans submitted last June. Rumors, however, not yet confirmed. But neither denied by the person directly concerned.
Source: Cronache di Gusto
