the essential
For a year, Valerio has been delighting Saint-Cyprien with his Italian street cuisine, combining fresh produce, simplicity and conviviality. Between homemade dishes and warm exchanges, this Italian from Toulouse seduces gourmets and enriches the left bank with flavors and stories.
A year ago “L’Italien” and his street food arrived in Saint-Cyprien. To enjoy on site or to take away, a popular and accessible cuisine, composed of fresh quality products, and whose success cannot be denied. Instinctual cuisine that varies according to the seasons, simple, authentic, homemade, often à la minute and in front of the customer, that’s all that Valerio, the master of the place, offers. Soft and generous sandwiches, pure beef Bolognese lasagna with six layers of dough, coffee tiramisu, in a tray or in recycled yogurt pots depending on the desired format, without forgetting its focaccia, its Proust madeleine.
“I’m happy here”
A revelation, the first time he tasted it, and although it took him twenty years before launching into this specialty, he hopes to conquer the entire left bank, and even beyond. But in Saint-Cyprien when we go to “L’Italien”, it’s also to see Valerio.
Talkative and generous, he is the most Italian of Toulouse. Because if he has a real passion for the country of his ancestors, where he says “we don’t have the same relationship with time”, it was in the Pink City that he took his first steps. After studying at the hotel high school, his profession took him, for 25 years, throughout Europe and even to Canada. “I’ve seen everything, from the canteen to 3 Michelin stars, but today, I do what I like, at my own pace. I work conscientiously, but I no longer seek to be the best”, confides -he. Through his cooking, Valerio wants to give love, and receives it in return.
“In one year in this neighborhood, I met more people than in 10 years in the profession. I feel good here and I want to be part of this territory.” For him, nourishing the body is also nourishing the mind, and it must be said that Valerio, inexhaustible both on gastronomy and on the history of Italy, gets down to it. Damien, a regular, doesn’t just appreciate his lasagna or his spianata sandwiches. “Beyond the quality/price ratio, I like the atmosphere of this place, and then, with Valerio, I learn a lot,” he assures.
