I have had a great time eating my way across Italy. In fact, I bought so many specialty food items, cookbooks, table cloths, and other food-themed items that we needed to get another suitcase in which to carry them all home.
Our first night in Italy was in the port town of Bari, located on the southern Adriatic coast just above the “heel” of Italy’s boot-shaped silhouette. We decided to eat at Sumo – a sushi restaurant, since after 16 days away from home, we were craving something familiar. It was Bob’s first time in Italy so I made him order some bruschetta (why they serve that at a sushi restaurant is beyond me), and it was really good – probably the best we had during our trip. The tomatoes were extremely fresh and were just slightly cooked with a terrific infused flavor of basil and balsamic vinegar in just the right proportions. We followed that with chirashi – an assortment of mixed raw fish typically served with a bowl of rice. It was light and delicious, with salmon and tuna sliced as thin as prosciutto and piled on a plate with garnishes of sliced lemon. We asked for wasabi and got strange looks but eventually the waitress brought some out. The best part of the meal was the drinks – I had some kind of orange-flavored cocktail which was akin to a mojito made of crushed mint and crushed orange wedges, an orange liqueur (the name of which I did not recognize), and vodka. We selected the restaurant, which was located on the main drag of Emmanuel Vittorio, because there was a large crowd of locals eating there.
Our second day in Italy was in Matera, where we had a great lunch but a not-so good dinner. Lunch was freshly made mushroom ravioli in a thyme-based butter/wine sauce, served with a glass of light-bodied locally produced red wine. Our hosts had recommended some restaurants for dinner but we could not find them, since we’d lost our map earlier in the day, so we picked a place close to our B&B, which turned out to be somewhat disappointing. We started off with the house anti-pasti platter, made up of assorted olives, artichoke hearts, red bell peppers, and sliced eggplant but each item had the same flavors and could have come out of a can. Bob had a pasta in marinara sauce which was a bit bland, and I had the house specialty – a skewer of veal sausages which were tasty but too heavy for the hot and humid night. Wine was only so-so. I decided to stick with Bob’s plan and avoid eating meat after that.
Our second night in Matera was much better, excellent in fact. We ate at a place called il Cantuccio and we were lucky to get in without reservations. Our first plate was labeled as mushroom soup but was actually a brioche split open and filled with chunks of porcini mushrooms sautéed in a thyme infused wine sauce. Bob enjoyed an excellent tuna tartare which was prepared with a very subtle tarragon-flavored olive oil dressing, and I had a delicious and spicy dish of orriechiette with arrabatica sauce, pancetta, and mozzarella cheeses. As usual, we were served bread, which in this region is made with a special type of faro that gives the bread a light brown color and moist, slightly chewy texture. It was really good.
The food in Positano was fabulous. I had done a bit of research on Trip Advisor when planning the trip, and made a note to eat at Bucca di Bacco – a stylish restaurant right on the beach associated with the hotel of the same name, which we’d tried to stay at but couldn’t get in. Our waiter was very fun and enthusiastic, and talked with us for while about kayaking from Positano to some islands that were about 3 kilometers offshore. We had salmon tartare as an appetizer (huge portions, delicious, with a slight smoked salmon taste, mixed with olive oil and capers) and then shared an awesome dish of extra-thick tagliatelle (wide, long noodles) with a zesty tomato-based sauce and mixed frutti di mare. The “fruitti” included razor clams that were about the size of an index finger, quarter-sized regular claims, black mussels, large prawns, langostini (looked like a cross between a crawdad and a prawn, with long jagged front claws), squid, and octopus. For our main entrée, we shared the mixed seafood grill, another delicious preparation of chunks of swordfish, ribbon fish (a small mild white fish), octopus, whole squids, and extra large prawns all with a lemon, caper, and parsley infused glaze.
Our second meal in Positano was disappointing. The bruschetta was bland and caprese salad uninspiring. I splurged on an order of what I hoped would be a rich, cheesy lasagna but what I was served was slippery, mushy, and boring. Bob had a grilled fish fillet served with overcooked potato slices lacking any sort of flavor, and flacid vegetables. The only thing nice about this restaurant was our waiter, who was very attentive and amusing, and the family sitting across from us, from Atherton, with whom we shared lively conversation all evening. The sea breeze and views were also refreshing, so the evening was not a total loss.
Da Vincenza was our choice for our last night in Positano. The restaurant has great reviews, and although it doesn’t have waterfront vistas (it’s actually built into a cave in the hillside in the upper regions of town), it had a nice ambiance and good service. We started out with Spiedini di Polpo i Carciuffi Friti – skewer of octopus and fried artichoke. The octopus legs were cut into chunks about three inches long, marinated in an herb, wine, and garlic mixture, skewered and grilled to perfection. The skewer was dressed with a small deep fried artichoke that had been stuffed with a lemon-garlic-breadcrumb mixture. The artichoke, when fried, had opened out to take the shape of a peony flower and it made a beautiful garnish for the end of the skewer. The whole dish was surprisingly delicious and remains one of my favorite items from this trip.
Our shared pasta dish was Gnocchi Sorrentino – a regional dish of potato gnocchi in a red sauce. It was a little bit bland since we ordered it without the ricotta salata and pecorino parmesan cheese that is usually baked in, to suit Bob’s vegan dietary requirements. Our entrees were incredible – Bob’s dish was superb – filet of seared tuna, cooked with small bits of fresh tomato, olive oil and just the slightest infusion of tarragon. Molto Bene! I had a local rock fish cooked whole and splayed open, crusted and baked with a delicate but crispy mixture of fresh bread crumbs, herbs, and orange zest, and garnished with fresh chopped parsley. It was hard to leave the Positano cuisine, and I hope to be able to go back again some day!
The next day was spent driving through central Italy up to the very tiny hill town of Filecchio. We stayed at a B&B run by a British couple, and dinner was included with our room. Karen served us a mixture of English and Tuscan tradition – appetizer of onion tartlet with persimmon chutney, a chilled melon and basil soup, and a main course of chicken baked in a sauce of rosemary, green olives, and lemon halves. It was really good and a perfect dish for the cooler, rainy evening we were experiencing. Dessert was fresh whipped cream with strawberries, and pieces of dark-chocolate covered orange peel. To make this dinner even nicer, it was served in the farmhouse kitchen which was an amazing 17th century room, complete with old stone floors and walls, beamed ceilings, and a rustic antique table. Dinner company was good as well, with six of us taking a leisurely 3 hours to eat our meal.
For our last supper (how appropriate, given that we were in Milan, home to da Vinci’s Last Supper), I wanted something special and I went on a quest to gather recommendations from far and wide. Many wonderful places were suggested, and I narrowed the list down with the help of Trip Advisor and the Italian version of Yelp. Making a short list, I ranked the choices and began calling for reservations, giving up on those who didn’t answer their phone, or who answered but couldn’t understand my horrible Italian. Several spots were booked for the evening, but we ended up with an excellent venue, written up in the Michelin guide for several years in a row. Put off at first by the neighborhood, which seemed a little suspect, we walked into this little gem of a place – La Rosa dei Venti. It had only 11 tables and was completely booked for the evening. We were the only foreigners in the place, and everyone there seemed to have been before, judging by the greetings they were receiving from the wait staff. The maître de spoke perfect English and he greeted us with a glass of prosseco and an amuse bouche of artfully prepared bruschetta and marinated anchovies. While we were studying the menu, he brought over a large tray of fish, lobsters, and shellfish, allowing us to inspect our future meal and select the pieces we’d prefer. We had seen this in Croatia – it is standard offering there, but this was the first time we’d had this treatment in Italy. For an appetizer, we selected the house assortment of mixed seafood – which consisted of paper-thin slices of raw octopus, marinated calamari, breadcrumb-crusted scampi, and scallops baked in a spinach pesto, all served in little seashells and garnished with spicy sprigs of arugula. Our primi piatti was bucconcini spaghetti – extra fat noodles – with fresh lobster and an aromatic red sauce. The presentation of this plate was also lovely, with the lobster shell garnishing the plate. Our segundi piatti was grilled turbo cooked in a subtle orange sauce. The fish was extra-fresh and sweet with a mild white flesh. It was incredible. We had to try dessert since everything else had been so good. I choose an extra large snow white, light as a feather meringue cookie which was crumbled and served over hazelnut gelato with a warm, dark chocolate sauce. Bob had a house-made sorbet of tart apples and fig – a unique and flavorful preparation which tasted like biting into a crisp green apple. The house served us an additional finisher of cookies and toffee with our coffee – the smallest of biscotti (about the size of a large kidney bean), quarter-sized ginger cookies, bits of buttery nut toffee, and candied ginger pieces. The meal was accompanied by a fruity, floral white wine from Sardinia, recommended by the sommelier which complemented the meal perfectly. I would have to say this was probably the best meal we had during our entire trip. I am getting inspired to plan a cooking party around the menus from this trip – standby!
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