A Couple of Days in Genova

[Abra]

We're thinking of taking the train from Nice to Genova next month for a little Valentine's Day celebration. We've never been to Genova, and in fact have spent very little time in Italy. We're much more for beautiful traditional food than starred extravaganza stuff, and I'd love to get some recommendations.

[tupac17616]

Abra, I've got a friend who was born in Genova and has lived there for the past, oh, 60 years. Needless to say, the guy knows the food in that town very, very well. Just shoot me a PM and I could gladly get you in touch with him, if you'd like.

[Abra]

Thanks, Tupac - I was starting to think that no one here knows Genova!

[Boris_A]

We spent this new year's eve in Genova.

We liked the atmosphere and the traditional food of "Antica Corona di Ferro" (just below Via Garibaldi), a beautyful trattoria since a.D. 1790.

We liked the wonderful food of "Antica Osteria di Vico Palla" very much (tupac was also there, btw).

For more elegant, but rather expensive dining, we liked "Zeffirino". If you stick with "insalata di frutta die mare" and to some "pasta al pesto", the bill will be still ok. Service is great, and it offers "Ristorante elegante" with an interior in the style of the 60ies.

At least at that time of the year, reservation was mandatory for all three places (crowded). The old town and the "Le Strade Nuove" quarter is stuffed with truly impressive "palazzi". As for accomodation, we liked the Bristol, **** and very central. They can offer great prices. We spent € 110, but the room was offcially at €390, so watch out. I think it's what they charge during the boat show an other big events.

Enjoy your trip and report back!

[tupac17616]

I'm very glad to hear you enjoyed Antica Osteria Vico Palla, Boris. That was a place I quite liked.

Thanks, also, for alluding to my old Eating the Boot thread from the summer 2007. For Abra, I've copied below the bit I wrote on Genova...

I'd read about Antica Osteria Vico Palla, Vico Palla 15r, in the Michelin guide, where it received a Bib Gourmand. I was pleased to see a menu so filled with fish after meat-heavy Tuscany. I started with the traditional Ligurian dish of pansoti con salsa di noci e pinoli. This was flat out fantastic. The best pasta dish of the trip up to that point. The velvety sauce, the handmade pasta, the tasty filling, everything was the perfect consistency and had wonderful flavor. Definitely a winner. Then I had the grigliata di scampi, gamberi S.M., e calamaretti. I'm not sure what was with the S.M. moniker for the shrimp, but they were wonderful. Juicy and cooked just right, as were the scampi and calamaretti. Unless they just look like chainsaws, 9 times out of 10, I eat the shells, and the shells of the jumbo shrimp, especially were very tasty. This meal cost €29, and was definitely worth it. A very nice lunch. So nice, in fact, that I actually returned that evening for a bowl of soup. The minestrone lucchese, had thick balls of pasta that were not unlike moghrabia (a.k.a. Israeli couscous), and was generously laced with a tasty pesto. Very tasty, I think this was about €8. Nice start to dinner.

After finding a hotel, I started to walk around, and stumbled upon Gelateria Profumo, Via Superiore del Ferro 4r, which looked very promising. My cone of pistacchio e fichi (what can I say, I am a sucker for those two flavors) was wonderful. Really great flavor, and texture, too. I would certainly go back there. On their business card, I noticed there is a pastry shop by the same name, so the next day, I visited Pasticceria Profumo, Via del Portello 2, where I bought some tiny sweets. Bacio di dama, a small cookie "kiss" filled with chocolate. A very tasty lemon tart. A chocolate mousse tart. And a pinoli tart. All very good, and very fresh. They made a great snack on the train to my next stop.

The second part of the dinner I mentioned earlier was at La Cantina di Colombo, Via di Porta Soprana 55r, which I'd found on the Gambero Rosso site. I had a plate of traditional Genovese pasta: trenette al pesto con fagiolini e patate. Long, thin, flat noodles served with dressed green beans, boiled potatoes, and pesto, Genova's main claim to culinary fame. The pasta was okay, but to me, the basil was a tad bitter and lacked the slight sweetness I tend to enjoy in fresh basil. But hey, for €8, I can deal with just "good".

As I walked around the city both days, I also grabbed some snacks here and there. At Pietro Romanegro Fu Stefano, Via Soziglia 74r, I had a bit of canded orange peel dipped in chocolate, and a piece of marzipan. At Foccaceria Luccoli, Via Luccoli 55/57, I had a really wonderul piece of plain foccacia. Very flavorful, soft, slightly chewy, quite good. From Sapore di Pane, Via Luccoli 30, I had a bocconcino al basilico, a small basil-flavored roll of bread, as well as a wedge of torta pasqualina, the vegetable pies so common in the region of Liguria. Both were pretty good, and I was glad to have tried another regional specialty I'd not had before.

Without any hesitation whatsoever, I would recommend Gelateria Profumo to anyone. And my friend tells me there is another gelateria in town that is just as good, so definitely ask him about that. He also claims Vico Palla has been or is currently going downhill. But who knows? I really liked my meal there and so, apparently, did Boris, so maybe it's still a good option to consider.

[Abra]

Thanks for all that, I'd somehow missed the original thread. When you say you found it on the Gambero Rosso website, do you mean gamberorosso.it? I see a wine-based site there...

[RDB]

For "beautiful traditional " I would recommend Trattoria da Maria Vico Testadoro 14r, Genoa. We were recommended it by a local food trader in the city, who told us it was traditional Genoa food. It was amazing a real buzz to the place and diverse mixture of clientele, all local. Food traditional and amazing. If you google there is a NY times review of the place.

Also pick up some curzetti stampae pasta, it is amazing with homemade Pesto.

[tupac17616]

Thanks for all that, I'd somehow missed the original thread.  When you say you found it on the Gambero Rosso website, do you mean gamberorosso.it?  I see a wine-based site there...

Exactly, gamberorosso.it. Unfortunately, their website was "improved" a few months ago so the link I alluded to is no longer on the home page. I'm not sure whether or not you must register and log-in first (I think so). But once you've done that, in the top menu (under the big logo) click "FOOD", then below that "Ristoranti", then you can search by province, city, region, restaurant name, etc to find the Gambero Rosso recommended places in that area. Hope this helps!