Combal.0: Veramente, Un Miracolo!

[Bill Klapp]

First, the particulars for Robert Brown: it is located in Rivoli, west of Torino just off of the tangenziale, as part of a complex, once a House of Savoy summer palace, which now houses a contemporary art museum in addition to the ristorante. It is a new ristorante replacing chef Davide Scabin's former place, Al Combal in Almese (Combal is the localita of Almese where the old ristorante was located). It is a Michelin one-star (as was the old place), 88 in the 2004 Gambero Rosso (tying it for second best in the Piemonte with Flipot, both trailing Villa Crespi's 90)and 96-101 Veronelli. Open for lunch, closed Monday and Tuesday and also August 5-26 and December 24-January 2. E-mail davidescabin@hotmail.com, phone (011) 9565225, no website.

The ristorante itself is a contemporary art museum of sorts. Nice, conservative modern works placed around the dining room, along with artsy wooden crates. Glossy wood floors throughout, large, well-spaced but undecorated tables, stylish modern black, white and grey tableware, almost Japanese in its look. The food is clearly intended to be the ultimate (and nearly only) color-based decorative touch. The "walls" are floor-to-ceiling glass, with a commanding view of Torino. It is long rather than wide (only two tables wide), so every table benefits from the light and open nature of the room. There appears to be a rooftop terrace for summer dining. Our two servers were dressed in black, and all but invisible in their flawless, competent service, as in all of the best Italian ristoranti. The winelist features bottles from all over Italy and around the world, with a somewhat surprising focus on value rather than just the greatest bottles of our time. Sure, there are enough great Piemontese bottles for the hard-core types, but also interesting things like (decidedly) off-vintage Sandrone Cannubi Boschis (1992 and 1994) for 40 Euro a bottle. Pretty tony stuff for "restaurant" vintage wines. Barrique wines are clearly indicated as such on the list.

There were 6 of us. We had a very dry, unoaked Friuli tokay selected by our friend Piero (I want to say De Lenardo "Toh", but in truth, I was so absorbed with the food that I did not pay close enough attention!). Our red was a 1989 Gastaldi Rosso, made by an increasingly famous neighbor of ours in Neive, Dino Gastaldi. The wine is huge and rustic, but ultimately outstanding when opened up and IMPOSSIBLE to find. (Florida Jim got an interesting thread going on that wine a couple of months ago on Craig's wine board.) 42 Euro for the Gastaldi (giving it away, really) and twenty-something for the tokay. Both wines were fantastic with the food.

As luck would have it, Combal was hosting a private winemaker's dinner last night, so we were offered lunch instead. We were the only ones in the restaurant! I know, I know, you would usually think this a bad sign, but not in this case. Rivoli is a bedroom community too far from the heart of Torino for lunch, and not housing enough businessmen to fill up a place like this. In addition, my sense is that the palace is a seasonal attraction, and only schoolkids were attracted yesterday. The place is also too far out of the way for the truffle worshippers to seek it out. I would not be surprised to see it closed for lunch in the future. By the same token, it does not have the feel of a place hurting for business, and I am told that young wannabes are lined up around the block to do a stage with Scabin, who is as close as Italy comes to Ferran Adria. In any event, the moment had the feel of Scabin cooking a private lunch for six of us, and it was perfection as far as we were concerned.

And now the food. After some reflection, deconstruction, intellectualization, anti-intellectualization and general cogitation, I have concluded that Combal.0 ties Al Sorriso and Flipot for the best ristorante that I have known in Italy, and one of the five best LIFETIME. (To give you a frame of reference, Enoteca Pinchiorri in Florence cannot make my "top ten in Italy" list.) We started with an amuse-bouche of two tiny dates wrapped in speck and quickly grilled. Perfectly seasoned, very rich and flavorful, but accompanied by the first of the Adria-like wonders: a polenta CHIP, about two inches square, and quite literally, as thin as a single ply of two-ply toilet paper! It, too, was lightly seasoned, and left the essence of polenta on the palate. Next, the antipasti. First, two sunnyside-up quail eggs with little pieces of fried nori (lattuga di mare, or high-quality seaweed) and a light, delicate peanut and butter (no, not peanut butter!) sauce. This was obviously intended for white truffles, not much in evidence this year. This simple plate was all about technique-the edges of the fried egg white were as crisp as potato chips, white the yolks were perfectly runny. I suspect that I would run through ten dozen quail eggs trying to duplicate it. The nori added the salt, while the peanut sauce added a touch of sweetness and richness. Next, a take on the classic vitello tonnato: six miniature disks of poached veal folded over a tuna sauce that was more butter than mayonnaise, served on a bed of curly endive, with marinated sweet red Tropea onions as a garnish. As good as the old Guido's, and far more delicate, but also more intensely flavored, because the veal had been poached in a broth which contained the elements of salsa tonnato, such as tuna and anchovies. Next, one of everyone's two favorites, a cartoccio di panelle with cream of pea and mint soup. This was the second major Adria experience. In Liguria, they make a popular snack called farinata, which is, in essence, a thick chickpea flour crepe. It is also found in the Piemonte. Scabin fashioned a small paper cone, and filled it with tiny cubes, not unlike home-fried potatoes, that carried the flavor of the best farinata that I have ever tasted. It was served with a crisp of Parmesan, and a shot glass of the sweetest, most intense cream of fresh green pea-mint soup I have tasted. The latter was served without a spoon, which made it seem all the more precious. The final antipasto was a dead heat with the cartoccio for dish of the meal. It, too, exhibited Scabin's unfailing devotion to the classic Piemontese ingredients and recipes. The base was a classic, rich crema Parmentier, a potato soup that is more solid than liquid. In the center, he placed a ball of the traditional merluzzo mantecato, reconstituted dried cod beaten together with butter and coarsely riced potatoes. Around the edge of the crema were slices of taggiasche olives, the premium black eating (and oil) olive from Arma di Taggia in Liguria. Finally, it was drizzled with fresh parsley EVOO. Beyond that, I do not have words to describe how delicious it was. Nothing that we ate was as much as a degree off in the precision of the seasoning.

And then the pasta course: a choice of saffron risotto endowed with threads of the best buffala that I have ever tasted, with a dollop of a concentrated marrow-black truffle sauce in the center, done to perfection, or heavenly, lighter than air potato gnocchi with a light pesto sauce and haricots verts. The first is a take on the classic risotto Milanese, the second a take on a classic Ligurian pesto dish, both of which are popular in the Piemonte. Again, no real experimentation here, just sublime execution.

For the secondo, there was a choice of rack of lamb garnished with a potato gallantine and roasted sweet peppers, or veal tongue braised in Barolo with a cauliflower ganache. Again, these were not Adria-style dishes (many more of those appear on the 110 Euro Menu Combal.0), but both were perfectly executed. Along with the dessert, these were two of only three dishes all day that were even remotely ordinary, and to be fair, no secondo I have ever eaten in Italy could triumpgh over the antipasti. My wife remarked at how much the tongue resembled corned beef (but braising in Barolo makes all the difference)!

The palate cleanser before dessert gave us our last glimpse of experimental whimsey. We were served a tall shot glass with a parfait of crema di latte (the taste of panna cotta, but given its lightness, obviously made from a deft reduction of milk) topped with a cappucchino foam. No cheese course. We finished with an exquisite cold Grand Marnier souffle on a bed of orange slices, ganache and a classic Torinese chocolate sauce. The mignonettes at the end were all house-made, and included cubes of raspberry jelly, tiny cylindrical chocolate truffles, zabaione in miniature chou pastry cups and candied ginger. I cannot wait to try the more exotic Menu Combal.0 next time!

[pepep]

Wonderful post Bill. I've already pencilled it in for my next trip to Piemonte. Thanks - your worth every cent that Fat Guy pays you!

[robert brown]

Bill, this sounds terrific. It looks like you lost some of your post. I'll try to make it there before Christmas.

[Bill Klapp]

Robert and other readers: I posted the above unfinished because I was working from a laptop in Italy and did not want to risk losing it to connectivity problems. It is now complete.

[cork]

Great report. Makes me think of starting the engine right away. But I have to wait for Sunday, Nov. 9. We are holding a reservation for the "menu creativo" that evening. To step up we will be at Trattoria della Posta in/near Monforte and at Cracco Peck in Milano Friday and Saturday night. Posta will hold its standard I am sure. We haven enjoyed it very much last May. But Cracco Peck? Anyone been there recently?

[Alberts]

I had a conversation here in Portland yesterday with a winemaker from Piemonte (Canale across the Tanaro River), named Antonio Deltetto . I asked him about Combal. He was familiar at least with the reputation and told me that the influence was a touch of Vietnamese (you mentioned "almost Japanese in its look").

His description was una parte piemontese e una parte fantasia!Seemed appropriate. We can't wait to try it.

[Bill Klapp]

Mike, I do not know whether the influence is Japanese, Vietnamese or otherwise, but my friend Marisa, a retired chef, sensed an Asian hand at work in the kitchen. Very, very subtle, though. By the way, I mentioned in another post that Villa Crespi is Gambero Rosso's best overall Piemontese ristorante with a 90 score. I should have also said that Combal.0 rates highest for food quality, at 53. Al Sorriso also trumps Villa Crespi for food quality (52 to 51). But this is splitting hairs!