Bill Klapp
-
Posts
831 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Store
Help Articles
Posts posted by Bill Klapp
-
-
Conti Roero was awarded a Michelin star in the 2006 guide just out (maybe the shortest distance between opening your doors and a Michelin star in Italian restaurant history), as well as big scores from Gambero Rosso and all of the other Italian restaurant guides. Duomo is one of three restaurants in Italy awarded Michelin's new "rising star" status, which indicates it will probably get its star in 2007. It is in front of the duomo in Alba, and owned and operated by the Ceretto wine family. Both are creating quite a local stir (not Michelin-driven, for the Michelin skeptics among us, but appears to be concensus). I have just received all of my 2006 restaurant guides from Italy, and I will try to post more on these two after I have reviewed and translated them. FYI, long-time favorites Anguilli in Candelo and Le Carmagnole in Carmagnola closed last year.
-
Peter, I think that you need to perform a public service for the board and hit both Conti Roero and Duomo, two of the hottest new places in the Alba area...
-
Peter, Robert and I had very different experiences at Villa Crespi. My rooms have been neither dark nor small, but rather, spacious and opulent (and I never reserved other than the basic room or one step up). And I find nothing creepy about the Moorish decor. It is on Lago d'Orta, but the lake is at a distance with a lot of foliage in between, so it is not readily visible from all rooms. I find the place incredibly romantic. I ate there in the fall, and despite all of the press and Michelin star that it has received, I still prefer nearby Sorriso, although I cannot fault the dining experience. I have also eaten at Ranco, and I find Crespi and Sorriso to be superior. Sorriso also has rooms, but they are the size of pullman sleepers! San Rocco is almost IN the lake, but it is a modern business/conference center hotel.
-
Antine in Barbaresco never disappoints. On the exotic side, Combal.zero in Rivoli outside Torino is terrific. For more casual dining, Osteria Lalibera in Alba is first-rate, especially in the fall. I have always dined well at Trattoria della Posta outside Monforte, but it has taken a little criticism from truffle-season diners on this board. Its truffle pricing is usually on the high end, and in years when the quality isn't there, I suspect that the complaints are justified. Solve that problem by eating outdoors in the summertime. Some traditional favorites like Il Centro in Priocca are still good, but are beginning to seem a little ordinary to me, while others, like Il Belvedere in La Morra, which had begun to seem a little ordinary over the past few years, was better than ever this past fall. As previously posted, the highly vaunted Villa Crespi was quality, to be sure, but it did not blow me away. Frankly, in recent visits, I have been eating too much home cooking in the Piemonte. There are a number of established places that I have not tried lately (All' Enoteca in Canale, Gener Neuv in Asti, Il Cascinale Nuovo in Isola d' Asti, the new Guidos in Pollenzo and Santo Stefano Belbo), as well as a number of new places attracting a lot of attention (Conti Roero and the new restaurants near the duomo in Alba run by the Ceretto wine family).
-
Swiss_Chef, it is terrific that you discovered Cornale! The owner is close friends with Alice Waters, one of America's most famous culinary figures, and others who are important in the Slow Food movement. But alas, I must warn you against the restaurant. I and my friends have tried it many times, and one comes away feeling like you have just eaten in a bad health food restaurant. There are too many outstanding options in the area to waste one on Cornale. This truth comes, however, from a regular patron of the shop and an absolute supporter of what Elena is doing there. In particular, the cheeses and breads are unlike any other to be found in the area.
-
I think that Ken has given as good a short course as one needs. Moby P does not have it quite right about sourcing, however. It is true that white truffles, sometimes of inferior quality, are found in Eastern Europe, and some make their way into Italy (I am doubtful that many Chinese truffles find their way to Alba), but it is also true that quality white truffles are found in areas of Italy other than Alba, and that most of the white truffles consumed in the Alba area are local. What IS true is that the Perigord area of France cannot possibly meet demand, and thus, many black "Perigord" truffles come from the area around Norcia in Umbria, which is Italy's source of excellent quality and quantity of black truffles. I think that it is also wrong to suggest, despite the dominant aromatics, that white truffles generally lack taste. Instead, the taste is subtle and builds as you eat them, cumulatively, so that, if you eat a generous portion of good white truffles, the wonderful taste will linger for hours. I think that Marcella Hazan said it best, with words to the effect "black truffles are something that you eat when no white truffles are available". That accounts for the fact that white truffles are generally three times the cost of black. Lastly, summer truffles are, to my mind, merely decorative. They have little aroma and less taste, and in the Alba area, where they are abundant, they are all but given away. As noted above, the last of them are seen side by side with white truffles early in the white truffle season in Alba, and sold to bargain-hunting tourists who don't know much about truffles.
-
vinobiondo, good to hear about everything (except, of course, the fight with the girlfriend!). I did not make it to Della Posta, and your report is a little troubling. It is early in the truffle season, but all that I ate were much better than usual for first of the season, and also plentiful, so there should be little excuse for poor quality truffles (and as I recall, Della Posta doesn't exactly give them away pricewise, either). Also glad to hear the good report on La Pergola. I haven't been there in several years and my experiences were always good, but I often wondered if Michelin didn't demote them for the odd location and dark dining room!
-
The place that Geoff was pointing you to is Al Cavallino Bianco in Polesine Parmense, which is not far from the intersection of the A-21 and A-1 autostrade. It is the finest culatello that I have ever eaten, and beautifully presented. I was at Slow Food's Salone del Gusto last fall and attended a session with its owner in which he offered up culatelli made from various rare or nearly extinct breeds of pigs. Fascinating and utterly delicious! I routinely drive 90 minutes from the Piemonte to have lunch there. I hasten to add that Marco_Polo's two suggestions are first-rate as well.
-
Ah, well, it appears that Robert was unimpressed with Jonathan's thoughtful post. Leaving aside the question of using guide ratings to justify a personal opinion (except to say that it could be a notch above no justification at all), I must beg to differ on the subject of importance of ratings. While I believe that any of us can take issue with the evaluation of one particular ristorante by one particular source, and certainly, can find a given experience to be the best of its kind but still not to our liking (especially on a single visit), I have maintained and updated annually for many years a database of all highly rated dining establishments in Italy from the osteria level on up, and the bottom line is that the numbers don't lie. When the stars all align for a particular place, generally speaking, it takes a change in ownership or chef or some other calamity to call the concensus into doubt. For those readers who cannot claim "greatest gastronome" status, I heartily endorse the use of guides, Michelin, Gambero Rosso and Osterie d' Italia topping the list for reliability, in my view...
-
Thanks for your thoughts, Jonathan. I think that there is a real issue here only about Flipot, because, while I think that I have explained my personal philosophy well enough, I am also convinced that Flipot is outstanding when measured by ANY yardstick one would care to apply to it, including mine. I defend the right of Robert and Vedat to disagree with me (and vice versa, obviously), but at the same time, I feel that it is fair comment to note that they are rather dramatically out of step with the consistently rising critical opinions of Flipot over the past several years. Certainly, the restaurant critics are (and have been) all of one mind: two Michelin stars, making it no worse than one of the 27 best restaurants in Italy in Michelin's view (and perhaps as high as 5th-best, given that all 22 Michelin two stars rank equally only behind the 4 three-stars); effectively 102 out of 100 from Veronelli; 16.5/20 in the 2006 Espresso guide, placing it within Italy's top 50 and one of the top 6 in the Piemonte; 10/10 from Piccinardi; 3+ out of 3 from Massobrio; and 88 from Gambero Rosso, which ranks it no. 2 in the Piemonte behind Villa Crespi (proving (to me) that everybody makes mistakes!) and among the top 31 in Italy. In the old days, Robert, Vedat and I used to ruffle Craig Camp's feathers because we all loved the high-end experiences so, while Craig had always been a champion of the undiscovered osterie and trattorie. I have learned to appreciate both worlds, but if this discussion and my aggressive comment re: Flipot are properly viewed in context, I mean to say only that, while we have agreed upon our high-end restaurant assessments many times in the past, yes, I think that Robert, Vedat and their wives risk doing Flipot a disservice based upon their palates and experiences, when the overwhelming weight of critical opinion and my numerous experiences there over several years run counter to their view. I think that Flipot is ultimately for each diner to judge as he or she will, but I want to make the case that I find Flipot to be such an unique and extraordinary dining experience and value that everyone who can should try it. I don't mean to pick a fight! As a peace offering, I will concede that my opinion of Da Renzo is running counter to current critical opinion!
-
Hathor, I think that it boils down to this: eating what is in season (i.e., no strawberries from southern Italy in February), fresh, local and simply prepared in a way that showcases, rather than embellishes or masks, the central ingredients. I find that I am even losing a little patience with the Piemontese tendency to add extra richness to many dishes, usually via extra egg yolks, quail eggs or the like. It rarely seems necessary when the raw materials are of superior quality. It may have to do with the fact that my best friends in Italy are retired restauranteurs and that I eat at their house so often, where virtually everything (other than meats, fowl and seafood, of course) is right out of their garden (organically raised) or the preserved version of the same. (For example, I am feasting right now on peach and apricot preserves from a friend's orchard, canned at the peaks of the respective seasons with no extra sugar added and only the fruit's natural pectin supplying any jelling. Unbelievable!) Thus, whenever a ristorante, trattoria or osteria does the same, I generally find the results to be superior to those where the chef may secure first-quality ingredients from other places and then work his/her artistry upon them. I have no problem with the latter approach, to be sure, but it does not always yield the best possible result.
-
Robert, my every instinct is to offer you and The Sultan an apology, but alas, I cannot. I have dined at Flipot on multiple occasions over the years with Italian friends whose palates and food knowledge I consider to be superior to my own (and lest anyone thinks that I am getting soft in my dotage, there are only two of them, and I give them only the slightest edge!), and always with the same outstanding result. This has nothing to do with the twin Michelin stars, which I think were awarded more for the beautiful, peaceful dining room and the impeccable service, regardless of what Michelin may claim. Like terroir in wine, this is food which derives solely from a totally unique Alpine microclimate: the lamb, the herbs found nowhere else, the cheeses, the lavender, the salmon trout perfectly broiled on a piece of the local lucerna stone used for roofing, the freshwater crawfish known locally as river shrimp, the duck breast gently smoked and reduced to a foam which is the essence of duck a la Adria. Food does not get any fresher, any more simply or perfectly prepared or any more beautifully presented. Flipot dwarfs so many Italian (and French) restaurants which I once thought superior (Soriso comes to mind). And it just keeps getting better. I can apologize only for this: I have become Italian in all things culinary, and I evaluate what I eat there from that perspective.
As long as I have offended, let me go ahead and get it all out of my system, so that we can one day be friends again!
Your quote from Alberto's post on 2006 Italian restaurant guides:
"Alberto, I don't think you peer into the soul of Italian restaurants until you get to Antica Corona da Renzo in Piemonte. What do you think?"
While this was addressed to Alberto, I feel compelled to answer. Da Renzo is one of the last places I would look to peer into the soul of PIEMONTESE ristoranti, much less Italian ristoranti in general. Does it merit a Michelin star and some, if not all, of the recent positive press that it has received? Probably, although much of the press seems driven by the fact that the place was "discovered" by the Agnelli family (of Fiat fame) or another similarly situated group of Torinese industrial titans (I forget which). It is a good ristorante, and its dining room is pretty, if unexceptional. But like many in the Piemonte today, it is neither purely traditional nor new wave, but rather, someplace in between. In that (and I am a big fan of lightening classic Piemontese cuisine, by the way), it does not do nearly as well as many others, and I would include among its betters Antine in Barbaresco (despite its rather drab dining room) and Enoteca in Canale. As a town, Cervere is one of the major truck-route armpits of the province of Cuneo. The waitstaff is dominantly Eastern European rather than Italian, but the service does not suffer for that. At a recent lunch, I found the food to be generally well prepared and presented, but often so subtle in taste as to be flavorless. A friend and I had the following between us: a red tuna carpaccio not on a par with a good NYC sushi joint; a duck liver terrine that was rather dry and dramatically unremarkable, but for a decent presentation; a carne cruda not up to stuff with many local trattorie that raise their own veal; run-of-the-mill agnolotti dal plin; a ricotta-filled tortellini in butter that was pretty but essentially flavorless; and the house signature dish, Borgo San Dalmazzo snails with the famous leeks of Cervere (in fairness, admittedly before the heart of leek season), which, while good, was not worth finishing and DEFINITELY was not anything that I would feature as the best that Da Renzo has to offer. Worse, there were a limited number of other offerings, and I fear that we chose the best. Overall, the meal was fine, despite my quibbles, but much more satisfying food is available for a lot less money in many places in that region. But fret not: I felt the same way about the highly touted Villa Crespi. I will not deny it its due, but it manages to deliver a consistently good meal made of fine ingredients without causing your heart to skip a single beat. For that kind of money, I want to be transported. Flipot delivered that, and the other two did not...
-
Trattoria del Peso in Castagnito (open for lunch only, closed Mondays). Terrific, old-style Piemontese trattoria, set menu with choice of pasta and secondo. The fresh ricotta with mirtilli (like blueberries, but with flavor!) preserves will make you weep openly, as will the hot focaccia. Also hit Flipot (I encourage all of you to be totally dismissive of anyone on this board that cannot recognize this as one of Italy's, and maybe Europe's, finest dining experiences), Belvedere, Antine (both better than ever), Villa Crespi and Da Renzo. The latter two were excellent, but I couldn't get that excited about either. I think my palate is becoming jaded...
-
I've answered my own question! Just back (with a tartufo bianco weighing in at just shy of a third of a pound!). The truffles are really good (for first of the season) and priced (at the time of the Alba truffle fair which, along with Christmas week, is the highest price) at 200 Euro for 100 grams, or about $1,100 per pound. I have my own truffle man, who says that by November, the truffles will be exceptional. (Wine may not fare as well. The barbera was harvested before the rains, and could be the finest since 1990, according to some producers. Some got their nebbiolo in before a week-long rain, others didn't, so barolo, barbaresco and nebbiolo will be hit or miss.) In other news, it is a record year for porcini. For a brief moment, there were rumors that they were being dumped for 1-2 Euro a kilo out in the countryside, and many friends were harvesting their own. Sweet, delicious and abundant! Also a great year for ovuli reali, fenferli and other mushrooms, as well as a super year for sweet peppers, which are also dirt cheap. If anybody is going, don't miss Lalibera in Alba, which had 8 different porcini offerings, including shaved raw like white truffles in a mound over parmesan with an egg yolk-mustard sauce drizzled around the edges! Buon appetito!
-
I'm on my way to the Piemonte Thursday for a few weeks. Do any of our Italian friends have a report on what kind of year we can expect for tartufi bianchi? Grazie!
-
Ed,
The hotel in Acqui Terme looked really interesting and the price is right, but I must tell you that, unless you want a spa vacation and nothing else, Peter is right. Acqui Terme is 45 minutes from most of the great ristoranti, better shopping, etc. Closer to Alba is the ticket, as the wineries and ristoranti are dominantly to the north and south of Alba.
-
Plotkin's Recipes from Paradise is the definitive book on Ligurian cuisine, and also has the more recent volume on Friuli called La Terra Fortunata. I agree with the less-history, more recipes on the latter, but the former must have had a hundred different pesto recipes, or so it seemed! Biba Caggiano has several good cookbooks that I have used to great success which capture Lombardia and Emilia-Romagna. I heartily endorse Marcella, of course. She is the Julia Child of Italian cooking generally. And even though it is out of print, Matt Kramer's A Passion for Piedmont is the definitive English-language tome on Piemontese cooking (not to mention the fact that the photo on the front and back cover is the view of Neive I enjoy every morning out of my back door-see my avatar!). He lived there for a year, and returns often. He "gets" both the food and wine of the region.
-
Bravo, cinghiale, for dredging up the debate of a few years ago! It was my first foray on eGullet, and the absurdity of a guy who is allergic to pasta (?????) coming on the Italy board for the express purpose of trashing Italian food was more than I could stand.
-
Pedro: Sadly, most all of the snails served in restaurants in the U.S. come out of cans...
-
Cherasco snails are of a rare and wonderful quality, and always served fresh. I believe that snails are local only to a few locations in Italy. Interestingly, Cherasco was Napoleon's HQ when he took Italy, which may have much to do with the snail mystique.
-
70 Euros for an antipasto? Really?
-
I was told that eGullet management used to snort lines of it at executive committee meetings a couple of years ago, but gave it up when the celebrity chefs picked up on it and it became too rare and expensive for that crowd!
-
Thanks, Mike, I'm weeping uncontrollably at the moment. As soon as my clients give me a moment's peace, I will be serving up an update on my most recent adventures with that oven!
-
Hey, I don't want to jump off-topic, but what's up with hot AND sweet peppers on the Italian hoagie at Tony Luke's? When I was a kid growing up in suburban Philly, it was hot peppers only, and usually banana peppers at that. No complaint here, mind you, but it struck me as perhaps a quirk of the hoagie's evolution since I left (and I have been gone long enough for evolution to have occurred!).
Fragolino
in Italy: Cooking & Baking
Posted
It is the dominant eating grape in my area of the Piemonte (Neive), and in such abundant supply that I never see it sold anywhere. My Italian friends just give me a basketful now and again.