When Your Friends (& Stuzzi co-creators) Are Given Their Due, Twice

I first met my co-founders, Ethel Hoon and Jakob Zeller, when they were running Restaurant Klösterle in the Austrian Alps in 2020. A year later, they would be awarded the Gault Millau “Newcomer of the Year” 2021 award for their outstanding, imaginative cooking there.

(Ethel with a large fish; that fish’s tail served the same evening at Klösterle, 2021)

Since then they’ve had a daughter (Nina!), hosted multiple international pop-ups (Japan!, their Singaporean concept Hoons in Northern Italy!) and this past year have realized their vision of a ‘carefree mountain refuge’ at Pramol Alto in Eppan, overlooking the valley below and the town of Bolzano in the Italian Alps. Last week, they were once again awarded the Gault Millau Newcomer of the Year 2026 for their work there. We are immensely proud of them!

(Jakob, Ethel, and Core, Pramol Alto’s sommelier, causing a ruckus last week at the awards show; the PA team)

I went to Pramol Alto this summer to visit Ethel and Jakob, to work on some new Stuzzi flavors (released Summer 2026!), and to see what kind of magic they’ve been up to perched on a mountain overlooking the Italian Dolomites. 

(The bonkers view from the outdoor seating at Pramol Alto overlooking the Dolomites; their summer 2025 menu)

Suffice it to say, their same signature cooking style of local ingredients infused with pieces of their own cultural backgrounds (think: produce grown in the restaurant’s garden but umami-fied with ponzu, shiso, XO sauce and of course Stuzzi) was on full glorious display. 


 (Filled Peppers from the summer 2025 menu; Stuzzi in its natural element: the Italian Alps)

If you’ve ever had the pleasure of enjoying their cooking, there’s a thrilling balance between high end execution and an irreverent mash-up of deliciousness-at-level-10 flavors that defy categorization. Their food is true, it is clean and beautiful, it is completely their own. We are wildly lucky to have them in our Stuzzi family. 

(Me adoring Jakob & Ethel)

A few more nice articles about Pramol Alto, Ethel, and Jakob here and here.