Alba Restaurants: Reviews & Recommendations

[wino666]

I'm new to this board so any help would be appreciated. We're going to be in Alba for the truffel festival this year and I recently found out that Il Vicoletto (our favorite place in the area) has closed. I'm looking for suggestions for other restaurants in Alba, particularly if they do a good job with tarajin. My wife thought that Vicoletto had the best.

[marcus]

In Alba itself, the Arcades restaurant is a very good middle level restaurant with a tarajin that's just fine. However, if you're looking for a comparable place to Vicoletto, Alba centers on an area where you can find at least a dozen truly excellent restaurants, among the best in Italy, within a 20-25 minute drive. I would recommend the Borgo Antico in Barolo and Enoteca, don't remember the town, but both have Michelin stars. There are many others just as good, you can look at the Michelin Guide or even better get ahold of the Gambero Rosso which is more accurate and more nuanced.

[Bill Klapp]

wino666, welcome! And you are in luck. My wife and I have a retirement home in Neive, next to Alba. I, too, lament the passing of Il Vicoletto, but the ristorante has been replaced with a gourmet shop selling most of their classic dishes to go, the legendary cheeses (including Castelmagno and my personal favorite, the ultra-rare toma d' Elva), culatello and other great salume and an assortment of wines, olive oils and other products. Even if you do not have cooking facilities, you could do much worse than to fashion a cold lunch or dinner there. My current favorite osteria in Alba is Lalibera, which will deliver, among other wonderful things, killer tajarin. Cafe Umberto/Enoclub is also very good, but open only at night. Osteria dell' Arco, a long-time favorite of many, has slipped considerably in the past couple of years, in my opinion. Locanda del Pilone, just outside town, serves a traditional menu and was recently awarded a Michelin star, but I have not made it there yet.

To really live, you need a car and need to travel to the neighboring towns.

TO THE NORTH: Antine, next to Gaja's winery in Barbaresco, is superb, and cheap, given its Michelin star. Its wine list is young, but fairly choice. Vecchio Tre Stelle, also a relatively new Michelin star in Tre Stelle (near Barbaresco) is very pretty and certainly good, but Antine is less pretentious and, to my taste, superior. La Contea in Neive is capable of brilliance, but in high truffle season, the kitchen sometimes fails to keep pace. La Luna nel Pozzo, also in Neive (the high pre-Roman town), has a kitchen given to experimentation with traditional local ingredients, which can deliver real genius on occasion. For a more casual lunch or dinner, try Cantina del Rondo, where the back road from Alba joins the road leading to upper and lower Neive. They offer multiple wines from steel tanks in any quantity you choose, their own and such things as Bruno Giacosa's latest Barbaresco release. You do not get many opportunities to try six or seven local (i.e., Barbaresco/Neive-produced) wines before choosing those you wish to have with your meal. The food is ultra-traditional and superior. House-made salume and lardo with mountain butter, great pasta dishes and one of my favorite desserts, homemade fruit gelatina (usually Mandarin orange in the fall). Il Centro in Priocca has never been better. (There is also a pizzeria in Magliano Alfieri, just off SS231 at the turn for Priocca, called Il Pomodoro, which delivers good pizza and salads, with the added bonus that, a few doors down, there is one of the best gelaterias in the area.) Il Cascinale Nuovo on SS231 in Isola d' Asti is excellent, if a little pricey (especially the wine list). If you can find it, Vittoria in Tigliole d' Asti is also superb, although rather far from Alba. Finally, to the north, Gener Neuv in Asti has never been better.

TO THE SOUTH: My current favorite is Trattoria della Posta, in the countryside a few kilometers beyond Monforte d' Alba. Borgo Antico in Barolo is first-rate, as is a little bar-ristorante on the main drag (Via Roma) across from the municipal building called Cantinetta (not to be confused with CantineLLa, also in Barolo). One should not miss Il Belvedere in La Morra during truffle season, either.

Closer in to Alba, All' Enoteca in Canale d' Alba (referred to in a post above) is another place, like Antine, run by an ambitious and creative young chef who is recreating the classics without doing violence to them. I could go on at some length, but this sums up the best of those within easy striking distance of Alba.

[bastien]

Be careful with the tartufo this year! There almost hasn't been any rain, so that means a bad tartufo and porcini year! (Just to let you know.)

[marcus]

You should also be aware that buying truffles as the truffle market in Alba is high risk, with a number of unscrupulous dealers whose truffles actually come from Bulgaria and are not as good. Most of the best truffles are sold privately.

[wino666]

Thanks for all the info. We are going to be in Alba the first weekend in October for the palio, which we have not yet been to and t hen we are coming back for a week in mid-October when we are renting an apartment so I can cook. I'm glad to hear about the gastronomy shop in place of Vicoletto and we wil ldefinitely check this out. We have not yet tried Lalibera or Antine and these were on the agenda for this trip as well as going back to Belvedere where we have eaten many times!

We're planning to stay a couple of days in Monforte d'Alba just before returning to Alba and I was going to try della Posta. Are they open for lunch? We normally try to eat the main meal at lunch so we have time to digest. Cantina del Rondo sounds very interesting, do you have an address for them?

Marcus, we do want to buy a few truffles when we rent an apartment. If the truffle market is not a good place to buy then how would I find individuals?

We are also going to stay in Torino for a few days. Anyone have restaurant or shop suggestions there?

Thanks

[Bill Klapp]

wino666, Trattoria della Posta is open for lunch. Rondo is a tricky piece of business to find. There is a beautiful back road from Alba (if you are on Corso Coppino, you head up the hill toward Localita Altavilla at Piazza Mons Grassi) which winds through the Barbaresco vineyards, through a little localita known as Tre Stelle, past the street which runs into the center of Barbaresco and then dead-ends in a "T" in Neive. If you turn right, you are heading down the hill to lower Neive. If you turn left, you are heading toward the street leading up to old Neive, and if you stay on the road, ultimately back to SS231. At the "T", it is also possible to essentially double back to the left and slightly up the hill. That is where Rondo is. You can actually see it if you look left and behind you when you are stopped at the "T". (If you come from SS231, you will be making the first right just BEFORE the "T', which is identified by all of the blue-and-white directional signs.) I highly recommend it, as it is the genuine item. (He does cater to German tourists, and at some places, you see wurstel and other German foodstuffs on the menus of establishments that serve the significant German population, but do not be fooled-the menu is 100% old-fashioned Piemontese osteria.) Re: truffles, the best and cheapest sources are, of course, non-commercial, but you need Italian friends to tap into that. Your best bet may be a bookstore/foodstore on the main shopping drag in Alba (Vittorio Emanuelle II) called Piacere del Gusto. Gigi, the balding, bearded owner, delivers good quality at a fair price. If his truffles are lame, you can assume that the worst suspicions above came true! I would not buy until you come back in mid-October. A lot of scamming goes on during the truffle fair, as suggested above (see my earlier thread called "Schroder Cancels Beach Trip" for more on this). Re: Torino, it is simply not a great restaurant city. The most exciting prospect is Combal.0 (pronounced "Combal punto zero"). It is in a wing of the savoy palace in Rivoli. I have not yet eaten there, but the chef, Davide Scabin, ran a restaurant called Al Combal in Almese for years, and he is one hot ticket. He has deep Piemontese roots, but he is doing the Ferran Adria/El Bulli thing with traditional Piemontese foodstuffs, apparently to great effect. (Some may think that Adria overdoes it a bit with his "inventions", not all of which work; what I read suggests that Scabin does not, instead opting to let the Adrias of the world remain at the forefront of the avant-garde, while adapting some of Adria's techniques to give the local cuisine a fresh face.) I also note that, in advance of the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino and environs, more and more ethnic restaurants (notably Indian (Ghandi and Passagio in India) and Japanese (Wasabi)) are popping up, although I have not tried any of those, either. Do not miss the Porto Palazzo market, however. It is now viewed as one of the best in Europe, especially for more exotic, non-Italian ingredients. There are stories of French chefs driving four hours to shop there, several times a week!

[ecr]

May I jump in here and recommend, if one is willing to do a bit of driving to the east, Crota 'd Calos in Calosso (what a wine cellar!) and Cirio Madonna della Neive in Cessole. Madonna's agnolotti in Barolo is intoxicating, in more ways than one.

If one is willing to forgo stuffy formality in Torino, Spacca Napoli does a fine rendition of Naples-style pizza (and it's always packed).

[wino666]

What type of food does Crota d Calos have and how far from Alba? Any place with a great wine list is certainly somewhere to consider. Do they specialize in any particular types of wines?

[ecr]

Crota is a small (maybe 8 or 9 tables in a cozy vaulted brick-ceilinged dining room ... but I guess also the veranda with its lovely view might be open when you're there) trattoria-vineria serving mostly traditional Piemontese dishes. We were there in Dec and I remember gnocchi with gorgonzola sauce, tajarin with funghi sauce, acciughe en verde (my addiction), carne cruda, chicken with sage and rolled veal, perfect vegetables, and the best panna cotta of the trip, in orange sauce. The owner is enthusiastic, to say the least ... they have many many wines from local producers, many of which are exceptional but underpriced bec the vines are not located on DOC land. We had a fine barbera that was called something else for this reason. And then there's the wine "cave", right off of the dining room, which we had a peak at before we left ---- this is the sort of place that I would dispense with the wine list and put yourself in the proprietor's hands, accompanying him into the cellar. I think it's safe to say you could not go wrong.

Crota 'D Calos, closed Wed

Via Cairoli, 7 Calosso

0141/853232

I wasn't driving from Alba, but I imagine it might take you 45 minutes? It's a beautiful drive, Calosso is perched on a little hill. Go at lunch and spend 3 hours, as we did.

[JosephB]

Hi gang,

My wife and I are trying to escape NY in late October for a 4-day trip to Piemonte (From there we may go for a day or two to Genoa or Torino; and from there we will probably fly to Palermo for a few days; and from there go to Paris for a few days). We are looking for a charming B&B (or hotel), with friendly hosts, as a base for exploring Southern Piemonte during the last weekend of the truffle festival (yes, I know that truffles are iffy this year, but I'm optimistic). You guys have provided superb info about restaurants and other gastronomic points of interest. Can you help us with some ideas? Thank you much.

--Joe

[Bill Klapp]

Easy! La Meridiana, which is an estate perched on a hill above Alba. The owners, the Giacosa family, are close friends who helped us find our home there. E-mail: cascinareine@libero.it. Phone/fax: 011-39-0173-440112. They do book up in the fall, however, so I would jump on it. If you book at La Meridiana, feel free to mention me. Another thread also mentions the best B&B in Monforte d' Alba (name escapes me), which I have seen but not stayed in. It is very nice, but I believe more expensive. Also, Monforte is considerably less central than Alba (but drop-dead beautiful, to be sure). I think I updated local restaurants on that thread as well. Lastly, there are a number of B&Bs in the Neive area-one called Sura, a couple in the town of Neive and also La Contea, a well-known ristorante which also has rooms. Avoid the hotels in Alba at all costs.

[JosephB]

Thanks very much Bill. I've already sent an e-mail to the Giacosa family. I hope to get a reply soon. Villa Beccaris looks fabulous, but a bit expensive -- we would prefer to eat and drink our money. I'll let you know how things turn out.

[Bill Klapp]

Joe, I take it that you saw the Alba Restaurants thread a bit further down...

[JosephB]

I sure did. In fact, those discussions played a big part in our decision focus on Alba on this trip.

I haven't heard from your friends at Villa Meridiana. We'll call there late tonight or tomorrow.

By the way, what are your thoughts on dining in Genoa?

[JosephB]

La Meridiana is booked on weekends for all of Oct., as is the other places we've tried. We're thinking of changing our itinerary so that we begin in Genoa for the weekend and drive to Alba on Sunday morning. The festival events are on Sunday afternoon. No problem for reservations on Sunday night.

[russ parsons]

Easy!  La Meridiana, which is an estate perched on a hill above Alba.  The owners, the Giacosa family, are close friends who helped us find our home there.

that's too funny. i've stayed htere a couple of times, the first probably 10 years ago. absolutely a marvelous place (matt kramer recommended it). but i never know what to call it. at various times it's been cascina reine, and a couple of other things that refuse to come immediately to mind. when faith w. wrote her first eating in italy, if i remember correctly, she included two different names for it. and neither was la meridiana.

[Bill Klapp]

Russ: One post at the gate says Villa La Meridiana, the other Cascina Reine! The Giacosas call it La Meridiana, but the e-mail address is "cascinareine". I suspect that part of the problem is that the owners' personal dwelling is in fact a true villa, while the guest quarters are part of a very large cascina (farmhouse) attached to it. And you're right, Matt Kramer has often stayed there. They made it into Michelin last year (the only Alba B&B so honored), so they must be doing something right. The prices do not hurt, to be sure.

[russ parsons]

and as you doubtless know better than me, bill, for a very reasonable fee, sra giacosa will fix dinner for you. i've only done that once but it was a memorable experience. not so much for the cuisine (truth be told, she's probably someone who has been cooked for more often than she cooks) but for the whole gestalt of the deal. almost everything we had was grown on their farm, from the corn for the polenta to the chamomile that steeped in the grappa. i helped and at one point she asked me to go to the storage room to fetch something. there, stacked upright, were hundreds of bottles of barolo from many of the area's best producers dating back to the 1950s. i have such fond memories of that area, i can't believe it's been 5 or 6 years since i last visited.

[hmspector]

Bill (and others)

We dined at Il Cascinale Nuovo on SS231 in Isola d' Asti; I would second your recommendation. We are going back this fall and will eat there for dinner again.

Where, close to Asti or even Allesandria, would you suggest for lunch? Gener Neuv, Vittoria or elsewhere? Truffles are a high priority as we are just passing through for the day and want to maximize our white truffle exposure.

Thanks,

Howard Marc Spector (new member)

[Bill Klapp]

Vittoria and Gener Neuv are my top two choices to the north. I do not find that the trattoria/osteria-level places are as good around Asti. Re: truffles, unless it rained a lot in Croatia, it looks like we are in for a tough year.

[Craig Camp]

Vittoria and Gener Neuv are my top two choices to the north.  I do not find that the trattoria/osteria-level places are as good around Asti.  Re: truffles, unless it rained a lot in Croatia, it looks like we are in for a tough year.

Bill it has been raining for almost 2 days now.

[Bill Klapp]

Craig, go out in the rain and sniff around a little. See if you can detect even the faintest hint of tartufi bianchi! We never did settle on the other thread whether or not the rain is coming too late to save the truffles. I could settle for a taste or two of too-small, too-expensive and below-average, but the idea of being shut out altogether is repugnant to me!

[Bill Klapp]

At the risk of being hissed off of my own board, I have to say that Signora Giacosa cooks for us too often, and for no charge! (We reciprocate as best we can, but our best pales by comparison to her worst day in the kitchen.) She also supplies us with her justly famous apricot preserves, as well as fresh eggs and plenty of other fruits and vegetables from the estate. Actually, she cooks almost every day for her family. I am not sure that she is doing dinners for guests much anymore, but it would be worth begging. One thing about the old wines there, though: they don't drink them! Instead, they, like our other Piemontese friends who make wine, drink their own, which is lighter and more food-friendly than the store-bought stuff (yes, that is actually possible!). La Meridiana produces Dolcetto, Barbera and Nebbiolo, alone and blended. Early on in our relationship, I used to give them really great bottles as gifts, only to discover them sitting on a shelf in the dining room years later. You need to go back, Russ!

[Matthew Grant]

Edit disclosure: Forget it, change of plan!

Edited September 21, 2003 by Matthew Grant (log)