La Cucoma

Adriatic fish carried inland

The grill marks the fish before the plate leaves the pass. La Cucoma in San Pancrazio carries the Adriatic catch inland and cooks it in the marinara tradition, without frills. Dino and Novella Amadori founded the house in 1978, and their sons Emiliano and Marco are now part of the operation, and the conduzione familiare is still the hallmark rather than a story told about the place. The menu changes daily on what the market has, because the house sells only fresh fish, and pesce azzurro sits at the centre of that. Michelin gave the address a Bib Gourmand in the 2026 Guide Italia. Forty-five years in, the discipline is narrow and repeatable: buy well in the morning, cut cleanly, keep the fire honest.

A market menu with a wood-fired edge

The method shows in dishes that leave little room for correction. Spaghetti with clams depends on pasta timing, shellfish liquor and restraint with the seasoning. Mazzancolle al sale grosso need the salt to season without dulling sweetness. Canocchie al vapore ask for clean steaming and a light hand at the finish. Grigliata mista di pescato is the hardest of them: several fish, different thicknesses, one fire, and a narrow interval between smoke and dryness. Raw fish and fried seafood run alongside, and a mixed fry comes to the table to share. Tagliolini with white seafood has been made without tomato on request, and a Catalana plate with lobster sits among the antipasti next to cozze alla tarantina. Nothing here is a tasting menu. It is a la carte with a specials list that depends on the morning.

The room under the portico

The room is bright, simple and quiet, closer to a family trattoria than a staged dining room. A portico covers the outdoor tables, and the inside stays warm rather than designed. Service runs fast without pressing, attentive and unforced, and guests leave feeling coccolato, which is the word the house itself uses. Plates move with the directness of a place used to regulars, families and travellers who have driven inland for fish rather than for ceremony. That plainness matters. A counter does not need theatre when the work is freshness, heat and service rhythm, and the dining room fills mid-week without a special occasion to justify it, with a crowd that includes diners from further south who take fish seriously.

Why the inland table holds

La Cucoma’s standing in Romagna rests on continuity rather than reinvention. A seafood restaurant founded in 1978 can settle into habit; this one keeps its edge through the market, the fire and the family, with a second generation now carrying the brief its founders set. The Bib Gourmand recognises value rather than ambition, which is the correct compliment for a house that has never tried to be more than the best fish in an inland village. One local verdict puts it plainly: a name, a guarantee. What stays is the same plate of grigliata mista di pescato leaving the wood fire at La Cucoma.