The silhouette and tone had already made it clear to MasterChef fans that this was the “shadow chef” of the talent show, who helped the judges Antonino Cannavacciuolo, Giorgio Locatelli and Bruno Barbieri select the candidates in the first two episodes of the thirteenth edition In the master class it was Davide Scabin, who is considered one of the most visionary chefs in the history of Italian gastronomy. But also as one of the most controversial and ambivalent, split between genius and ruthlessness, between insightful creations and bad mood, between conversational skills and “bad boy” attitude. Legendary, he says, are the long nights in the “living room” of his “Combal.Zero” in Rivoli, spent with friends and customers with “cold herbal teas” (gin and vodka). Looking through old newspaper articles, drunk driving also comes to light: in short, Scabin has always been the bad boy of Italian cuisine in the industry's imagination.
The Lost Stars
Scabin was born in Rivoli, Piedmont in 1965 to a truck driver father and a cook in the restaurant he owned. He took his first steps in the kitchen as a child. In 1993, together with his sister Barbara, he opened “Combal”, a term derived from the Piedmontese “conca”, in Almese (Turin). In 2002 he revolutionized the place, moving it to the Castello di Rivoli Contemporary Art Museum and calling it “Combal.Zero”. A new beginning in a place that was still unknown for a restaurant at the time. Just like his menus: dishes like the virtual oyster, the cyber eggs, Black is black (black spaghetti with squid ink) have made history. Flavor explosions, sophisticated techniques, a very precise menu concept that had to surprise but always remain balanced from a nutritional perspective. Years of extreme creativity and success followed: in a short time, the restaurant won two Michelin stars and was ranked 28th in the ranking of the 50 best restaurants in the world (2011). The blow came in December 2015. When his restaurant was demoted at the unveiling of the 2016 Michelin Guide in Milan: Scabin lost a star and didn't react particularly well: “I feel like crying – he said at the time – my goodness.” team thought to the third”. And to support him, there was a whole movement of supporters, customers and friends who launched the hashtag #JeSuisScabin on social media at the time, with a conscious reference to the #JesuisCharlie wave that followed Massacre at Charlie Hebdo's Paris office arose.
The problem with the rent
But beyond Michelin's culinary rejection, Scabin already had disagreements with the castle where he was staying at the time: the chef complained that the restaurant had to be closed for lunch due to work on the historic building and had been unusable for a long time Time. And instead, the castle demanded that he pay additional rent of 230,000 euros, which was never paid (in 2015). “Combal.Zero” will finally be closed in 2020. After opening the “Qb Scabin” in the summer of 2021 at the Mercato Centrale in Turin, which died a year later, the Piedmontese chef is now head chef at the Michelin-starred “Carignano” in Turin, where he offers a tasting menu for 260 euros (without wine).
The “shadow” of MasterChef
Introduced by Barbieri as a “friend of MasterChef” – he was also a guest in an episode last year – in this edition Scabin was the shadow, taking notes on the different contestants in order to create the most suitable stress test for each of them. From spaghetti with garlic, oil and chili to omelettes, from creative salads to schnitzel. Objectively accurate testing to understand participants' actual preparation, but it is the constant emphasis on anxiety, fear and stress that is troubling in 2023. “Are you nervous, Cassandra? “We have everything we need to operate here,” was Scabin’s debut. Despite it? Do we want to maintain this terror-based working model? Do we really need it?
December 22, 2023, 1:47 p.m. – Updated December 22, 2023, 1:48 p.m
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