October 11, 2024
Ca’enne
Italian firewood cuisine from the mountains
Ca’enne is an Italian restaurant in Chino, Nagano Prefecture. Located at the base of the Yatsugatake mountains at an altitude of 1,000 meters, even in summer you feel a bracing chill in the air. Chino was home to many Jomon people, inhabitants of ancient Japan, and has 273 Jomon ruins.
Ca’enne’s owner-chef, Noriyuki Usui, uses only ingredients produced in Yatsugatake and the area within a 20-kilometer radius (with the exception of olive oil). “When you combine foods that have been nurtured with the same water, the dishes have flavors that go straight into the body,” Usui said.
After graduating from university, Usui decided to pursue a career as a chef and trained in several Italian restaurants in Tokyo. In 2009, he went to Italy to train further, returning to Japan in 2012. He worked as a chef in Tokyo restaurants, but his wish was to create dishes in an environment rich in nature. Thus, in 2017, he moved to Nagano Prefecture, his wife’s home area. First he opened a restaurant in the Tateshina area, and in April 2020 he relocated to the city of Chino and launched Ca’enne, a restaurant specializing in firewood-cooked cuisine. “With firewood, unlike with a gas stove or a charcoal fire, the ingredients are steamed by the moisture that evaporates from the wood, so they have a plump, fluffy texture when they’re cooked,” Usui said.
Indeed, the restaurant’s spring-water-raised iwana and Suffolk lamb are crisp and golden brown outside but moist inside. When chewed, the meat is exceptionally juicy. Along with firewood-cooked cuisine, a specialty of Ca’enne is the naturally aged prosciutto served as the course menu opener. Usui makes his own prosciutto, which he coats with the rice malt of locally made sake. More and more people are coming to Ca’enne from beyond the mountains and the ocean to experience Usui’s cuisine.
Address
Ca’enne
10222-25 Toyohira-Higashidake, Chino-shi, Nagano Prefecture
http://caenne.com
Shuichi Abe
Governor of Nagano PREFECTURE
I would like to offer my heartfelt congratulations to Ca’enne.
The restaurant’s location in the bountiful natural environment of the Yatsugatake foothills, its carefully selected local ingredients and the chef’s outstanding skills bring out the region’s full flavors and aromas. We express our heartfelt respect to chef Noriyuki Usui, who serves dishes that concentrate the richness of Nagano’s foods and promotes them both in Japan and overseas. We hope many people will visit the area to enjoy his cuisine.
I wish Ca’enne continued success.
Atsushi Imai
Mayor of Chino
I would like to offer heartfelt congratulations to chef Noriyuki Usui, the owner of Ca’enne, over its selection as one of the Destination Restaurants 2024.
I am very proud that a restaurant in our city of Chino, located at the foot of the Yatsugatake mountains, has won this award. I think this is a result of the chef’s passion for cooking with firewood, one of the natural local blessings.
I hope many people will make their way to Chino and get to know more about the charms of our area.
