Livingston, Montana eatery makes the New York Times’ best restaurant list

Welcome to “Wide Open Table,” a bi-monthly Montana Free Press column on all issues meals and cooking. “Wide Open Table” is written via Montanan Jon Bennion, who posts recipes and different kitchen content material on Instagram as Intermediate Chef. 

As any person who was once born and raised in Montana, I knew when I began riding on highways that I had to decelerate and stay two arms on the wheel after I handed via the wind-gusty scenic the city of Livingston. In the previous few years, I’ve began to decelerate for one more reason — to prevent at a restaurant there referred to as Campione. 

This somewhat younger restaurant has been a delectable eating spot for us over the previous few years as we traveled from Clancy to the circle of relatives cabin on the Boulder River in the hotter months. Locals in Livingston have recognized it’s a treasure because it opened. Foodies round Montana have had it pop up on their radar. I wasn’t the least bit stunned to be informed that it just lately landed on the New York Times’ 50 best restaurants of 2023 list. 

The identify “Campione” is the Italian phrase for “Champion.” The menu mirrors the identify with a robust Italian affect, however that’s simplest a part of the tale. The true spirit of the restaurant is taking one in every of the number one tenets of the Italian kitchen — use simplest the very best elements — and making use of it in a Montana kitchen with native elements. 

So the scratch-made linguine and meatballs that’s without end on Campione’s menu is unquestionably Italian as a dish, however its DNA could be very a lot Montanan, with its red meat, pork, flour, eggs and different elements all sourced from inside a couple of hundred miles of the restaurant. 

That was once the imaginative and prescient of Campione’s co-owners, Jeffrey Galli, Josh Adams, and Anthony Sferra, who’ve greater than 50 years of mixed enjoy in the hospitality trade. In October, I had a possibility to seek advice from with Galli about the restaurant’s origins, their first 3 years in trade, and the news that their Montana eatery had landed on a prestigious nationwide list. 

The former basic retailer house the place Campione is living on the nook of Main and Callender in downtown Livingston will have to be an excellent spot for any trade, however the earlier tenants struggled to make ends meet. So on peak of in need of to carry tasty meals to Livingston, Jeffrey mentioned, the Campione crew sought after a “stable, solid place for the community to gather.”

When the thought of a brand new restaurant was once simply formulating of their minds, Campione’s founders had been in an instant bought on the location. Without a menu, funds, or marketing strategy, they knew their idea of a neighborhood accumulating position with nice native meals may thrive there.

Then, with a goal of opening inside six months, the international threw them a curveball. In March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic delivered devastation to many current eating places, simply as Campione was once taking a look to open its doorways in past due spring. With the hire signed, there was once no query the crew needed to press ahead. Campione was once in a position to open in August 2020, slightly later than deliberate. 

Since then, the menu has featured many constant choices that Galli guarantees will all the time have a liked spot at the desk. At the similar time, the restaurant’s reliance on native elements additionally requires seasonal specials and small diversifications to account for which produce, herbs, grains, lentils, and proteins are recent and to be had in any given week. A just right instance is the vegan marinated eggplant dish, which may have extra roasted greens and a cashew sauce to heat wintry weather diners, whilst it options extra vibrant and pickled flavors in the summer season. 

One facet I particularly admire in the construction of Campione’s menu is creativity and innovation. If you realize Italian delicacies, you almost certainly already know that Italians will also be sticklers with regards to traditions in the kitchen. The other folks at Campione have simple wisdom of and recognize for the ones traditions, however fortunately they don’t really feel 100% constrained via them. 

“We just wanted to separate ourselves … and be a little bit more open to following our inspiration,” Galli explains. 

A working example is Campione’s manicotti. I actually do you should be adventurous and department out in my menu alternatives, however from time to time a dish helps to keep calling me again. A standard model may marry tubular pasta with creamy ricotta cheese, herbs, and a vibrant tomato sauce. Nothing unsuitable with that. 

The Campione model takes a tasty detour, the use of selfmade pasta sheets wrapped round ricotta cheese and caramelized onions, and crowned with braised Montana oxtail. The tomato sauce is changed with a savory “brodo” that actually places the meal right into a league of its personal.

It’s the roughly dish that helped draw the consideration of the New York Times. Asked about the reputation, Galli says the crew has long gone via a “wave of different emotions,” however that the reputation received’t trade anything else about their focal point on offering a super native spot to consume top-notch meals. 

If you understand about Campione, you almost certainly needless to say desk reservations are inspired, however now not required. Campione additionally has seven seats at the bar which might be first come, first served. An definitely tasty enjoy I’ve but to partake of is their Saturday and Sunday brunch, or a reserved spot for his or her Feast of the Seven Fishes vacation dinners in December. Take-out may be an choice for the ones taking a look to snatch a high quality meal and pass.

Campione is situated at 101 North Main St. in Livingston.