Piemonte Restaurants: Reviews & Recommendations

[Steve Plotnicki]

After all the board banter about the relevancy of Italian cuisine, I was eager to depart for a few days of wining and dining in Italy. No matter how hard you try, it’s hard to argue about these things in the abstract. Because while over the last 20 years I have done my fair share of dining there, I hadn’t been there since 2000. And more importantly, I have not eaten there since the inception of the board and I was eager to experience the cuisine given the way it has affected the way I see a meal.

We arrived in Torino at about 11:00am and picked up a rental car. Soon enough we were sitting in bumper to bumper traffic on the Torino Tangeziale. All thoughts of a leisurely drive to our lunch destination were gone. Originally we had intended to lunch at Davide Scabine’s restaurant in order to try “gas mask dining,” but the exact name of the restaurant and the address couldn’t be secured in time. So off we were headed to Piemonte for some home cooking.

Our first two choices for lunch, Tratorria della Posta in Monforte and I Bologna were closed that day (in spite of my Faith Heller Willinger guide claiming they were both open) so I had to do a little last minute research on where to eat. Prior to boarding the flight, after some minor calculations, I called Tratorria della Unione in Treiso and secured us a table. For me, choosing that restaurant was like swimming into the mouth of the whale as it is one of the Slow Food organizations most famous members. In fact, a number of years ago, some food writer anointed it one of the top ten restaurants in Italy and there was a stretch where it was impossible to get a tablel.

We pulled into the town of Treiso at about 1:15. It’s a picturesque Italian village with a nice sunny piazza that is slightly too big for a village that size. An also seemingly large for a village that size elementary school sits smack in the middle of the piazza. The Unione is just at the foot of the piazza and is on the left side and slightly downhill from it when approaching from the direction of Alba. There is a small sign announcing the restaurant (I’m sure they would have a slow sign if they could figure out how to do that) and once inside there are six tables in a smallish room. Maybe the place seats 30 diners. On one side sits some built in shelves with copies of various Italian food and wine guides including a complete collection of the Osterria del Italy published by the Slow Food Organization, a book I had never seen before and one which I eagerly grabbed and flipped through the pages of.

The Unione only serves a “carta del giorno.” At first I was troubled because I don’t eat pasta (allergies) and the second course was taillerin (egg tagliatelle.) And despite my being able to communicate this to the non-English speaking and seemingly non-simpatico waitress, who didn’t seem to be offering to have them cook me something else, it was too late to go elsewhere so I figured the worst would be that I would grab a nosh in town later. Of course this proved to be unnecessary as they immediately proceed to shower us with a host of antipasti that weren’t on the menu. They started us with some crostini of liver (unidentified and sort of sweetish) that was followed by a plate of thinly sliced salami and prosciutto. Good quality salami, really fragrant and not very dry. And the ham was from a part of the proscuitto I had never seen before. It was almost all fat with a very thin ribbon of meat in the center. The fat was soft and silky, like the texture of the best quality smoked salmon. It just melted in your mouth and then you were left with the ribbon of meat that also melted in your mouth but had more texture to it. Then (and I possibly could have the order wrong,) they served us Vittello Tonnato. This was just okay as the meat was overcooked and the tuna sauce didn’t taste much of tuna. But it was the next dish that launched us into space as they served a Flan of Cardoons with Anchovy. For those who don’t know, cardoons are an artichoke type of vegetable except long and thin. These were chopped into a coarse puree and formed into a loaf with the entire top of the loaf covered with anchovies. Each of us was served what would be a thick terrine like slice with an additional anchovy on the side. It was so good. I’m not sure what they mix into the cardoons but when they bake the terrine, the oil from the anchovies seeps into the terrine and when they serve you a slice, it is drenched (not too much) with the oil the anchovy is packed in. A stunning dish and a must eat for all you anchovy lovers out there.

Pasta was up next. My two companions were served taillerin with a ragu of veal and they set a plate of cheeses down in front of me. And the finale was what I understand is the house specialty, rabbit braised in barbaresco wine. It was slightly overcooked, but it was tasty and the schmutz in the plate was the best part. Whatever they stew the rabbit in, the bits of the rabbit that fall off into the gravy, cooked down, is the best part. In fact, a nice bowl of polenta topped with spoonfuls of that rabbit schmutz would be terrific. More cheese for dessert, and we drank a really good bottle of 1997 Giacomo Bologna Barbera Bricco d’Uccelone. The grand total for this lunch for three people with the wine was 118 euros. Welcome to Italy.

We didn’t get to our hotel in Alba until nearly four o’clock. After we checked in, two of us took a spazir though the town. If you have never been to Alba, it is truly one of the world’s great food cities. It is also a pretty affluent place for a town of that size. One only has to take a half a dozen steps inside the old city proper to realize that they are not in some two-bit provincial place. Sure provinciality exists, but it has been washed over with the wealth the region has accumulated from the food and wine industry, not to mention ordinary industry. I find it to be much less provincial then say Burgundy where the business is mainly wine and not much else. On the two main shopping streets, which form an L-shape and are probably not more then seven or eight blocks long between them, there must be at least 25 stores that are dedicated to food and wine in some fashion. And we are not talking about cheap food and wine. Top quality ingredients and preparations wherever you look. And there also must be at least a half dozen cafes where one can take some pastries or gelato with their coffee and hot chocolate. But I was on a mission. I needed to bring back some truffles to a dinner I had been invited to on Sunday. So we made a beeline for the truffle market. Unfortunately it had already closed that day. But a sign was up saying the next market was going to be held that Friday at 8:00 in the morning.

After a friend from Laussanne joined us at around 8:00pm, we headed out to Albaretta della Torre to da Cesare for dinner. The chef/owner, Cesare Giaconne, became sort of a cult figure a few years back when Patrica Wells put his restaurant on the list of the top ten casual restaurants in the world. I had eaten a great meal there in 1998, and an ordinary one a year later. But about a year and a half ago Cesare was diagnosed with a brain tumor. And although the restaurant stayed open while he was being treated, the reports were pretty bad. But I had heard that he recovered and was back to work. And indeed this summer in the Hamptons, someone gave a luncheon where he prepared dishes that were to going to be featured in a cookbook he was publishing in English. And then there was a review on this site not that long ago. But I didn’t make the decision to try it again until I was having dinner at Tommaso’s in Bensonhurst two weeks ago where Tommy the owner prevailed on me to go see Cesare and say hello for him.

After a 25 minute drive from the center of Alba, you enter Da Cesare into a long, narrow room. At the front of the room is a long table that must hold a dozen plus people or more. Invariably, every time I’ve been there it is full with some type of gastronomic club that has traveled from some far away region in Europe to dine there. This night wasn’t much different and there were three German families with young children who were dining there. As you walk past the table, there is a break in the room and there is a door that leads to a second, smaller dining room. But if you continued ahead, there are two smaller tables and then there is a fireplace where capretto (baby goat) is roasting on a spit. They brought us into the second room, and seated us at the foursome in the back of the room. Luck would have it that all three times I’ve dined there I had the same table. The service seemed pretty unorganized. There were only four people working both rooms and this turned out to be one of the worst things about our meal as it took forever to get anything ordered (including wine for which we had to wait an inordinate amount of time to order.)

I started with one of their most famous dishes, sliced porcini mushrooms and peaches. They are served in a sauce that seems to be an emulsion of a mixture of cream and some of the juice of the mushrooms as they cook down. The dish seemed to be a little short on the peaches. What makes the dish work is when the contrast between the sweetness of the peaches and the earthiness (and saltiness) of the mushrooms is present in each bite. If they achieve that balance, the bubbly, creamy sauce acts as a good backdrop for those flavors. But because it was short on peaches it seemed bland. It also seemed a bit watery. They need to cook the peach/mushroom liquid down some more before they add the cream. What could be a great dish served incorrectly. Then the waiter came over top tell us that Cesare would like to prepare for us (on the house of course) an onion stuffed with fontina cheese and then baked in the oven. This was the result of my sending regards from Tommaso when he visited us earlier. About ten minutes later they arrived with an onion the size of a good juice orange that had the top cut off and the center scooped out. It was filled with bubbling cheese. They served us small spoons and as you took a some cheese on it, one tried to scrape the inside of the onion which had been salted to get a little onion pulp on it and also to combine the two flavors. Quite simple and quite yummy.

The ubiquitous pasta course was up next. My three companions opted for the agnolotti topped with shaved truffles. Fortunately for me they were offering a polenta dish. It was a shallow pasta bowl where a mound of polenta was smoothed to fit in the bowl, and it sat in a small pool of cream sauce. But in the middle of the bowl, buried underneath the polenta was a red egg yolk. Then they came and completely coated the dish with white truffle. Now the dish was great, but at this point I have to take exception to the Italian way versus the French way. In order to eat the dish properly so the egg gets integrated into the dish (you can imagine the red yolk against the yellow polenta being an attractive combination,) you have to mix the egg into the polenta. But when you mix the egg into the polenta you end up with a sort of porridge concoction that has truffles mixed throughout. Fortunately for me, I forgot about the egg and the issue of what to do with it didn’t come up until I ate my way to the center of the bowl. At that point I mixed it but it was much better beforehand. I think the presentation and taste would be better if they put the egg on top of the polenta by making a small well in the center, and then they cut some grooves so as to let the yolk distribute out in a star shape. Then it would semi-set from the heat of the polenta and they could shave the truffles on tpp. Why hide the great presentation the red yolk makes and why force people to turn what is a great dish into porridge? Okay I’m picking some big nits here on what otherwise would be a great dish (and one I truly enjoyed) but I can’t resist pointing out where great food fails to reach its highest expression as a cuisine.

The goat roasted on the spit was next. What they do is to put up various parts of baby goats on spits and then serve it to whomever in the restaurant ordered it on a large platter. The waiter comes to your table with a selection of cuts and you are free to choose which pieces and how many of them you want. This includes seconds, and possibly thirds (I didn’t get that far as my first two portions could be described as ample.) The goat itself had crisp and salty skin with a thin layer of fat under most of it. The meat was sort of whitish in color and it was moist and stringy and was more like the meat you find from veal ribs then what you would see from say lamb. The flavor was mild, with only a slight hint of gaminess. Served with a few nondescript fried potatoes, it was earthy country cooking that gave some decent pleasure. Dessert was a little bit harder to get right. I had wanted the sabayon with moscato d’Asti but it was served with hazelnut cookies. And despite my telling the waiter that I was allergico, and could he substitute something for the cookies, specifically, the Fruitetta dessert they were offering, he insisted on there being no substitutions and he made me order two desserts (I should have just passed as neither was particularly very good.) We drank a bottle of 2000 Sandrone Barbera d’Alba which was a little modern in style for the picky winos at our table. We followed it with a 1996 Bruno Giacosa Barolo Falleto Riserva which is going to be a beauty when it is mature. All in all I enjoyed Cesare though it still didn’t hit the heights of my first meal there.

We set Thursday aside for wine tasting. We spent the morning at the estate of Aldo Conterno and we followed it with a tasting at Giacomo Conterno, both of which are in Monforte. Both visits were exceptionally good as we toured the facilites (both beautiful,) toured the Aldo Conterno vineyards in a jeep and had exceptionally good tastings at both places with the 1996 Gran Bussia and the 1995 Monfortino being the standouts as expected.

For lunch, our first choice the Tratorria della Posta in Monforte was still closed. So we chose to drive to Cossano Belbo for lunch. About forty minutes later we found ourselves in the Tratorria della Posta di Camulin. “Camulin” as it is known, has a bright and cheery dining room, which surprisingly is an unusual attribute in this part of Italy. I have often found to my astonishment, that in both France and Italy, those who built structures in the old days weren’t sensitive to the exposure of sunlight. It was a welcome surprise to be seated in a naturally well-lit room. And to make your meal all that much cheery, the greeting and service at the Camulin is both warm and friendly. There were four starters available, but our waiter (who I believe is the owner’s son) sold us on having an assortment. We started with some salumi of fine quality. This was followed by yellow and orange pepperoncini (roasted peppers,) that were stuffed with chopped mushrooms. The peppers were really fresh tasting, with flesh that seemed thicker then what I’m used to getting in NYC. They had a good crunch to them and each bite would demonstrate a firm yet gentle hand of their being lightly pickled in a vinegar solution. Then they served us Vitello Tonato. I kind of liked the presentation here. They came around with a large platter that had many slices of veal on it sitting alongside a large mound of the tuna mayonnaise. If you wanted a piece, they picked up a slice of veal with some tongs and they wiped it in the mayo and then placed it on your plate. Viola. It looked perfect. Unfortunately as with the Unione, the veal was overcooked although I much preferred the tuna sauce at Camulin, as it was just good quality mayo with a hint of tuna taste. But the next starter set the standard for our trip. They brought us each a plate of Carne Crudo, which was raw veal that was ground ala steak tartar. It was seasoned with just salt, pepper and lemon juice. After they set the plate down they showered it with white truffles. It was so good and fresh tasting that I can still imagine its flavor in my mouth. Clearly this was the dish of the trip and much to my surprise, all four of us agreed.

I sat out the pasta course but my three companions enjoyed some taillerin in butter sauce with a gracious shaving of white truffles atop. And for our main dish, we nixed the cooked food that was roast veal and rabbit and we had simply fried eggs with guess what, more shaved truffles on top. We drank a 1998 Pin from La Spinetta. A nice wine, if a bit modern for our palates. And this terrific feast cost 151 euros for the four of us. Bravo. Italian meal of the trip.

The afternoon appointments were with Luciano Sandrone and then back to the Barbaresco region to meet with Giorgio Rivetti at La Spinetta. I had tasted with Sandrone in 1998. But I had heard he had built a new cantina since then. This new cantina turned out to be a building worthy of being an estate in Bordeaux. Luciano himself took us around the amazing facility. If you have ever met Luciano, he is a simple man. He appears more the farmer then the businessman. So he seemed a little out of place in his multi-million dollar extravaganza of a cantina, which included an elevator to take us to the various floors in the winery. But prosperity hasn’t changed his demeanor or his level of sincerity and his explanations of the region and its wines are unsurpassed by anyone. If you are familiar with Sandrone’s wines, he was one of the original instigators of the modern style in Barolo. But I found the tasting enjoyable and even the detractors among us were complimenting the wines for their clean taste. We didn’t pull into La Spinetta until about 5:30. They led us into a large tasting room where two other groups were tasting. Giorgio Rivetti, a nice looking man who appears to be in his early 40’s and who also speaks perfect English was working the room. His tasting room was a different scene then at the other wineries. They were all serious and dour. This was like a party where there was cheese available if you wanted it, and there was also a beautiful old deli style meat slicer at one end of the room, surely for times where they slice up salumi for the guests. We tasted through the range of wines and to a man we were tremendously impressed with both Barbarescos, La Gallina and the Starderi which at least two of our party thought was the wine of the day. Hmm, it might not be bad to get some of those into my cellar.

Dinner was at Guido. In spite of reading mixed reports about it lately, I had never been. And since they are closing at the end of the year to move into the new location, I figured I needed to try it at least once. Guido is located about a twenty minute drive north of Alba in the small village of Costiogle d’Asti. It’s easy enough to get there, until the last five kilometers, which of course take you up a number of switchbacks to get to the village. The restaurant is in the main piazza in the center of town, in a building that looks like a bank. And to make it even less sunny and cheery, it’s in the basement of the building. Well I guess the rent is cheap. To cut to the chase, our meal was resolutely disappointing. We had the ubiquitous Vitello Tonnato. For once someone cooked the veal properly pink. But I found the tuna sauce to be grainy and chalky. It was better in the simple manner it was served in at Camulin. The other new dish they served us was a plate of sliced cardoons in a fondutta (sauce of cheese and cream) that was resolutely mediocre. My risotto with truffles could have been had anywhere, and my beef braised in Barolo sauce was so overcooked and dry that the two of us that ordered it found it inedible. Fortuntely Piero (a really sweet guy) noticed we weren’t eating it and he replaced it with baby goat. Slightly better but it paled in comparison to the goat at Cesare. We drank a 1989 Sandone Cannubi Boschis, which in keeping with our afternoon tasting, was as clean as a wine gets. I enjoyed it, especially as the black cherry flavor intensified with air. But others at the table were less impressed with the modern style and the lack of complexity they seek in a Barolo. We followed it with a 1985 Riccardo Ratti Barolo which was slightly lighter in style and kind of funky. A decent wine but not one that wets my whistle. We finished up with a 1986 Barolo (Serralunga I believe) from Giacosa. That was drinking particularly well for a non-heralded vintage.

On the way back to Alba we recapped the events of the prior two days. We all agreed that the wine tastings we had were superior and we were sorry we didn’t allocate an additional day to visit other wineries. We could easily have filled the day by visiting Altare, Scavino, Gaja and Giacosa. As for the food, my friend Dwight, who is both smarter than I and also thinks in a more concise manner, put it succinctly. “Lunches are really good” he said, “but dinner is the same as lunch. And to make things worse, they try to make the food fancier at dinner which screws it up.” I couldn’t agree more. And it both reminded me of why I travel to Italy less often then I do in France, as well as pinpoint a certain aspect of the French/Italy debate that goes on around here. As to my travels, I have said for years that I am always disappointed with my evenings in Italy. There is just less variety there as to what to eat. And that is mainly a function of the restaurants in a region almost all being the same. I mean that they served us Vittelo Tonato at three of the four places we ate in is really silly. And if you were to compare the menus all across Piemonte, I would bet that the restaurants all serve pretty much the same food. The other thing is that there seems to be nobody in the region (by that I mean the Langhe and surrounding areas) that has elevated the cuisine to a higher level. One would think that in a zona gastronomica that somebody would be breaking (or would have broken) new ground. But Vitello Tonatto in the design of a flower isn’t exactly new ground in my book. And if you add this lack of interesting technique to the issue of the menus being the same everywhere, it can make those evenings pretty disappointing, especially compared to the variety of foods, and variety of presentations you can find in France, or even in the U.S. or U.K. But the dishes that are good, Mama Mia, boy they are really great. Maybe I can take day trips?

A final note about truffles, we made it to the market on Friday morning. For somewhere between $75 and $125, one could buy themselves a pretty large truffle. And there was no shortage of them as there must have been a few thousands examples for sale. And I can tell you that the two I brought home with me seem to be of much better quality then what they were serving us in the restaurants. In fact my sons have been complaining about the aroma in the fridge ever since I got home last night. Fortunately for them, I will have to eat them quickly.

[Beachfan]

Lovely post Steve! As I am hard pressed to do both lunch and dinner out, dinner being the same as lunch doesn't sound too bad. Sounds like the truffle portions were ample!

PS With your wheat intolerance, how do you eat cous cous?

[Steve Plotnicki]

Beachfan - I don't eat the cous cous. But I do prepare a bowl of the boullion with the fixings and hot sauce and eat it with a tagine. It's cous cous-less cous cous . And yes, the restaurants were pretty liberal with their truffle shavings.

[Beachfan]

How was the wine pricing at the restaurants?

One thing great about the Rhone is that some of the restaurant's wine lists haven't been picked over and you can find some great bargains (like Chave 1990 Hermitage for 100 euros).

[Steve Plotnicki]

The wine pricing was pretty good. Guido had 1996 Conterno Gran Bussia for 65 euros. Our big score though was 1994 dal Forno Romano Amarone at 123 euros at Da Giacomo in Milan. That's about $100 less then the retail price in the U.S.

[robert brown]

Steve, that was great reading and of great practical interest to those of us who enjoy dining in Piedmont. I'm short of time now, but I look forward to adding more in the next day or two. I think you made out quite well; perhaps even better than in just about any well-defined region of provincial France. And you have to admit that the wine drinking is terrific any way you look at it. I never took note of the difference between lunches and dinners. Perhaps you have a point that I can now be cognizant of when I am over there next month. Peter Rodgers and I are no doubt both disappointed that Guido wasn't up to snuff. Were you able to figure out who in the family is going where? Peter said that Lydia was retiring, Ugo was opening his own restaurant and that Piero and Adriano were going to the Relais San Maurizio. Maybe it was playing out the string, family strife, whatever. I am still going to stick with it, however.

I'm glad you scored well in the wine dept. at da Giacomo. At least if you crap on a restaurant I have been touting a lot on the boards, you will have at least drunk well. Welcome back.

[Robert Schonfeld]

So, Steve, by your own definition, Italian cuisine: relevant or not?

(A fun read; thanks.)

[jaybee]

Verry nice post, Steverino. I wish I coulda joined you.

[Steve Plotnicki]

Let's see, one correction. The first course at Camulin wasn't salumi, but a small cotechino sausage that was split on top and covered with fondutta.

Robert B. - I left the review of da Giacomo for another thread. Let's just say that the day we ate there (which was for dinner) was one of mishaps. First, it was All Saints Day and when we got to Milan everything was shut down tight. I mean really tight. The only stores open were the department stores alongside the Duomo. So instead of sitting around Milan doing nothing, I had this bright idea that we should drive out to Concesio to the Miramonte Altri for lunch. So I booked a table and asked the concierge for directions. He offered turn by turn or just simple directions so I took both. Then on the way there, first there was a lot of traffic and then a car caught fire and they shut down the autostrada for a half hour. By the time we got to Concesio it was nearly 2:00pm. And it wasn't until we got there that we realized the concierge only gave us directions to the town and not to the restaurant. So we figured there would be a sign for the place in the

"cute" town of Concesio which turned out to be more like urban sprawl. So we looked around for someone to ask but everything was shut tight including the police station. And the few people we could find on the street had never heard of the place. After 45 minutes of driving around without any luck, we bit hard and drove back to Milan where we arrived at about 4:00pm. At least the window shopping was nice.

I had reserved a table at da Giacomo for a light and latish dinner. But the consensus among our crew was that since lunch was a bust, they would prefer to have dinner at a place with a list full of older wines. So I consulted with the concierge (I sometimes don't learn from my mistakes) who suggested Sadler. He called the place where they assured him they had over 700 diferent wines on the list including selections from the 70's and 80's. So at 8:15 we got into a taxi headed for Sadler. Well at least we thought we were headed for Sadler because it wasn't until we got to the corner that the taxi driver let on that he had no idea where Sadler was. This was despite of the doorman of the hotel telling him the address. One would have thunk that if he didn't know, he could have asked the doorman. But instead he waited until he drove away and then he took out a pocket street guide to Milan. It turned out it was in the Navigli District. But he couldn't find the street and we had to call the concierge for the exact directions.

Our downhill slide continued after we finnaly located Sadler because after sitting down, the entire selection of "old wine" from the 70's and 80's was a single from the1978 vinmtage and another one from the 1987 vintage. This was at last, with everything that had already happened that day, too much for me and despite the horror and shock of my dining companions, I announced we were leaving for da Giacomo where our reservation was still standing. I called the dopey concierge at the hotel and I held on while he ordered a taxi to ferry us to da Giacomo. The I got up to find the maitre d' and told him we were leaving and I asked him for a check for the drinks we had ordered. When he asked me why, I told him the story about old wine etc. He said he would speak to Mr. Sadler. But I guess he didn't really mean it because about three minutes later Claudio Sadler, dressed in his chef's whites, appeared at our table with his order pad and asked us what we wanted. I began explaining the situation to him and the longer I spoke the more his eyes were bulging out of his head. Finally when I asked for a check, he responded "it's alright, you can go." I guess he thought that was better then having his head explode. Fortunately the taxi was waiting for us which was the first thing that worked out for us since we got to Milan.

We all liked Giacomo as soon as we walked in. We were happier being in a place with a trattoria vibe as opposed to a semi-stuffy restaurant. And we were further rewarded when we got the wine list. Because although it didn't really have much old wine, the list was full of great bottles of recent vintages. Our meal was fine, if not exactly inspired. Large red scampi are in season and I had them in each course I ordered. I started with some Pesci Crudo, then they were kind enough to make me a seafood risotto for one (even though the menu describes it as "for two.") Then I tried to order the turbot but they were recommending the combination the grilled shrimp/scamponi combo. It was all fine, but I found that they had a tendency to overcook things. But the place was lively and fun, and the staff was terrific, spoke english well and went out of their way to make sure we understood what was on the menu. But I will stick to my friends "better for lunch" statement here as well.

Robert S. - I think that there is limited relevancy here. What amazes me is that the people in the Piemonte region eat the same thing meal after meal after meal. One would think that with Savona just a mere 45 minutes to an hour away, there would be good and plentiful fish to eat. But I don't think I saw a fish dish being offered anywhere. I wish there was a guide book that only listed "important dishes to eat." Then I could dispense with alot of ceremony and just go eat the few dishes that make dining fun.

[robert brown]

Steve, I can't tell if my reputation is still intact.

[Steve Plotnicki]

Your reputation is doing just fine. But I would have been happier if Giacomo was just a hair better. Otherwise, keep those recomendations coming.

[Jonathan Day]

Steve, thanks for some evocative and informative posts. You have sharpened my appetite for a Piedmontese trip.

In my experience – and many Italian friends confirm this – nothing in Italy ever quite ‘works’ as it is supposed to. Governments rise and fall, telecommunications come and go, water supplies vanish suddenly. Most of all, transport is incredibly unreliable. All sorts of things get in the way: ‘lightning’ strikes, road accidents, police interventions, extended lunch hours. It is worse than Britain, and that is saying a lot.

That said, the Italians somehow manage to get on with life in a way that makes some of us envious. Appointments can always be rescheduled. Things can be worked out. Life goes on. I sometimes wonder whether the Italian love for mobile telephones stems, in part, from the fact that life there must be lived more flexibly and adaptively than in some parts of the world. Contrast this with environments that are more efficient but also more ‘brittle’. In financial circles in Frankfurt, for example, the infrastructure works almost flawlessly, but woe betide anyone who is late for an appointment. Which system is better?

[Steve Plotnicki]

Well the German system suits my personality and demeanor better. I can withstand a level of inefficiency based on human failing but not to the extent that it can ruin my day. That it can ruin the Italian day, and that they do not get upset about it to the extent that they actually do something about it, means to me that have come to accept the futility of the situation. I wonder why that is?

[Jinmyo]

Great great posts, Steve.

Rabbit schmutz. Heh.

[robert brown]

Steve, it's nice to be able to breathe a sigh of relief.

I thought there was a sign on top of a lamp post on the main drag for the Miramonte. I am sorry you missed it. These "minor" Catholic holidays have hung me up numerous times in Europe. It's usually All Saints Day or Ascension Day. I always forget when they are and what they mean. Christ rising to Heaven I gues is the latter. "Toussaint" is French for "All Saints", but I can't remember what the holiday represents. But I don;t know all the "minor" Jewish ones either: Succoth, Shavuos (sp.), etc.

Speaking of Italian regional restaurants, I think the Tuscan ones have a lot less variety than the Piemontese ones. However, I think you inadvertently wrote something that runs contrary to your sentiment. The fact that you can drive 45 miles and come upon a highly different cuisine is what makes gastronomic touring in Italy so special. If you drive5-6 miles north of Ventimiglia into the hills and dine at Gastone's in Dolceaqua, I don't think you will see much, if any, fish or seafood on the menu; rather frogs, rabbit, meat pastas,etc.

What well-defined area of regional France offers the quality and variety of restaurants that Piedmont does? Cote d'Azur maybe some of the year? But what else?

[Peter Rodgers]

Steve,

Thoroughly enjoyed your report and found myself feeling very jealous of your winery visits (Sandrone, etc.). Unless it is a house secret, I'd be most appreciative of knowing how one arranges these things absent special connections. I've learned how to navigate Northern California wineries and had good luck in Bordeaux, but access to the Burgundy and Piemonte wine makers seems elusive -- and even though I speak reasonably decent Italian, I find the wine vocabulary in Italy daunting.

I share your thoughts about lunch vs. dinners in Piemonte. I am not sure I could fully articulate why, but invariably our lunches seem better than our dinners (particularly this last trip's visits to Enoteca del Roero, I Bologna and Il Centro). As noted in my post, we thought the food at Guido came up short, but I must say I still love their antipasti and I suspect that if you were a pasta person, you would not quibble with their agnolotti.

I'll bet that you would have enjoyed I Bologna and Trattoria della Posta had you found them open. They suffer from being "stuck" in the traditional mold, I suppose, but in both cases the execution is flawless. Better, I think, than the more rustic versions of similar dishes found at Camulin.

If you are looking for more creativity during your next visit, I'd try Enoteca del Roero, where the chef hails from elsewhere and is trying to do different things. Il Cascinale Nuovo also is a bit more adventurous, as is La Ciau del Tornavento in Treiso. Having said this, given that we manage to get to Piemonte perhaps once or twice a year, I usually am very happy to eat the traditional dishes, leaving the leaps of creativity to places we like in New York, the Bay Area and occasionally France (e.g. Michel Bras, Maison de Briccourt and no doubt places like Gagnaire in Paris (where I've never been able to get a reservation)).

[Vanessa]

I share your thoughts about lunch vs. dinners in Piemonte.

Just a quick thought - isn't lunch traditionally the main meal of the day in Southern European countries? In the same vein, re-Steve's comment about old buildings being dark - windows in the past would have been an extravagance. Also, as people would have been spending the larger part of the day working outdoors, wouldn't they be wanting to get away from sunlight when indoors?

Just conjecture.

v

[Charles Smith]

Steve-

Great reading!-

Thanks.

[Steve Plotnicki]

Peter - Fortunately we were traveling with a major wine wholesaler so any appointment we wanted was ours.

Robert B. - I think it's a stretch and you are trying to help Italy when the standard you impose is "gastronomic touring." The issue isn't can you get a different meal 45 minutes away, the issue is why every meal in the region you're in has to be based on the same menu. I think I would go mad if I lived in the Piemonte and had to eat the same thing day after day without much variety. And as for variety between regions, for me, the variety between say Liguria, Tuscany, Lazio and Campagna is less then the variety between the Basque region, Gascony and the Dordogne, Brittany and Normandy. And that is probably because the cooking fuel in France changes from region to region and it stays the same in Italy.

[cabrales]

Steve -- Do you believe refridgeration is the best way to keep white truffles going? Do you place them into the refridgerator "as is"? I've always wondered about rumours that one can permeate an uncooked egg (in its shell) with truffle aromas by placing it in a jar with a white truffle. Also, I wonder what the effect of rice might be for the truffle's storage?

[Steve Plotnicki]

Cabby - I always bring back truffles from Italy and France the same way. I buy a jar of risotto, empty some of the rice out, stick the truffles in and then pour the rice back in and cover them and then put the top back on the jar. And while refrigeration is a good idea, it isn't absolutely necessary until you get home. The reason you use rice is that the truffles give off moisture and the rice captures the moisture. Otherwise the truffles shrink. And yes, the aroma of the ruffles will permeate the shell of an egg.

[cabrales]

Steve -- Is the rice in which the truffles were stored thrown away?

[Jinmyo]

The issue isn't can you get a different meal 45 minutes away, the issue is why every meal in the region you're in has to be based on the same menu. I think I would go mad if I lived in the Piemonte and had to eat the same thing day after day without much variety. And as for variety between regions, for me, the variety between say Liguria, Tuscany, Lazio and Campagna is less then the variety between the Basque region, Gascony and the Dordogne, Brittany and Normandy. And that is probably because the cooking fuel in France changes from region to region and it stays the same in Italy.

The regionality of Italian cuisines is both their strength and their weakness. The development of a pan-Italian and national cuisine, one that borrows freely from all regions, is something one is more likely to see in the U.S. than in Italy.

My experiences of Italy were extended camping tours with family, going here and there for weeks and months. Consequently, I was never bored with the food. But I have to agree with Steve that, as I am now, I couldn't stand living in one spot in Italy for more than a month.

[Steve Plotnicki]

Only if you son't cook it and eat it .

[robert brown]

Steve, are you saying that Gaz de France supplies a different kind of gas to me than it does to someone living in Lyon, say? The index of Waverly Root's "The Food of France" has nothing about fuel.

White truffles should be kept in a paper towel. Rice also sucks out the flavor and aroma. Of course if you want an expensive way of flavoring the rice, you can put a truffle in it. A fresh-bought truffle should be good for a couple of weeks if stored in the refrigerator in a paper towel.

I don't live in Italy and almost none of the e-Gullet members do either. Thus we are more or less interested in what is available nation-wide and in a state of mobility rather than how it might be if we were condemend to live in a place in either country. You are probably right in that there are more diverse culinary gradations from region to region in France than in Italy, but you hear it time after time that for everyday eating Italy is best. I also think that you would not want to eat day after day in Alsatian, Auvergnat, Midi, Pyrenees, and possibly even Brittany restaurants either. I don't think the menus are any more diverse in Nice than in Turin, as well. Now Paris versus Milan or Rome is a different story, but that's about being cosmopolitan rather than generic.