La Primavera Ristorante

As I sip my on-point negroni sbagliato, I look up to see ‘Scandinavian Pain’ emblazoned across the bar in neon pink capital letters. I quietly chuckle to myself; to my mind, the artist Ragnar Kjartansson astutely captures the essence of Nordic living.

Echoing my sentiment, gutsy winds are picking up outside, even as the evening sun casts a peachy pink glow across the harbor, and Harpa, Reykjavik’s jewel box like concert hall twinkles in the distance. What used to be a fish processing plant is today a local destination, with celebrated artist Ólafur Elíasson’s studio on one level, and Italian restaurant La Primavera on another.

A bright, cavernous space on the ground floor, the project has garnered accolades for its sensitive use of light, and minimalist richness, a welcome respite from the otherwise dark and moody industrial grunge ambiance most local joints seem to groove on.

This simplicity extends to the food as well, doing away with diluted tasting menus in favor of traditional Italian courses. The season’s first cod roe is butter fried and served with crunchy slivers of fried garlic and a puttanesca-ish sauce. Spring announces itself with white asparagus and fall sings in the pine mushroom fettuccine. Like a traditional trattoria, the menu is rotational with some steadfast solids such as a textbook-executed veal Milanese. The pasta is always silky, the fish always cooked just so. Fresh veggies are brightened with squirts of lemon, briny anchovies are often used for added oomph and there is always a snow shower of mature Parmigiano. Regional dishes are showcased so a Friulian pasta di girini will jostle alongside an almondy ricciarelli or Calabrian sausages, crumbled into squid ink pasta. The wine selection too reflects this; Romagnian to Sicilian, and everything in between is well represented.

Chef Leifur Kolbeinsson introduced regional Italian cuisine to Reykjavik 25 years ago. He continues to inject every dish with an unabashed intensity for provincial, flavor-forward dishes, eschewing trends, be they tasting menus or fermentation. And that’s a draw, in of itself.

Published, October 2019.