JmVikmanis's Profile
What Was The First Wine Advertisement That You Recall?
Fun thread. When my husband and I and our long-time travel companions get in our cups while traveling, inevitably we return to our favorite ancient wine commercial;
Temple wine is fine
Serve it when you dine
For eating or treating
Make it Temple Wine
Baraka in Budapest
In planning meals for our upcoming 3 days in Budapest, I booked one dinner at Baraka, a modern, newish looking Asian (Chinese) place that Zagat 09/10 showed as best (overall, not just best Asian) in Budapest. I have searched on this forum in vein for any mention of the place which seems odd. Has anyone dined there? How was it? Am I buying a pig in a poke?
Need Upscale Dinner Recommendations for Budapest
The information on this thread has been incredibly helpful to me. Thank you all. One thing that puzzles me is that I see no mention of Baraka, which I had understood to be one of--if not the best--restaurants in Budapest. Has it closed, lost its cache, never had it?
Lyon splurge
Ok, Daniel and Denise is now firmly on the list for reservations. Thanks mangeur and masha.
Lyon splurge
Thanks EatDrinkLyon. I'll do more checking on Thomas. You make it sound very interesting. And I'm thinking drinks in a couple of places would satisfy my desire to see them, without need to schedule a meal.
Yes, I have been to La Meuniere and I'm trying to decide whether to go again (we liked it a lot) or try other bouchons we haven't yet dined at. Decisions. decisions. Thanks for weighing in with your recs.
Where does this board stand re: Alain Ducasse?
At a certain point, chefs who move beyond cooking, need to be rated not on their cuisine, but on their business acumen. Ducasse has moved well beyond that point, as have almost any chefs whose names are attached to several restaurants or endeavors. We can continue to rate the restaurants in their empires, but we should no longer think of those restaurants as theirs but rather be identifying the chef they have employed/anointed to run that aspect of their empire for them as the individual whose skills and results we are assessing.
Lyon splurge
Thanks ChefJune. I've read a lot of your posts, so I appreciate your info on this one. So La Tour Rose is off the list. Since Nicolas Le Bec was listed in some guides but not in others, I was thinking he may have closed or moved on to something different. I'm starting to think that maybe I should just go with what Lyon does best--bouchons and bistros and splurge at some trendy foodie temple elsewhere. The only thing that worries me about that plan is the possiblilty of burn out on bouchons. OTOH for me that might not be possible.
Lyon splurge
Actually it's from searching that and other threads that I've become a bit confused and was hoping for some clarification and more direction. Is there somewhere you'd point me?
Lyon splurge
Thanks arythmic, this has been on my radar. Now moving up a notch with your recommendation.
Lyon splurge
Yes, the frequent changing of restaurants in Lyon seems hard to keep up with. I am looking at both a Michelin 2006 and a Pudlo 2009 and trying to figure out what's happened to some places.
I apologize for not being clear in my initial post. We like bouchons very much and so are intending to sort through the many recommendations I already have for them (from this site and guidebooks, and even our own previous experience with Lyon) to make picks for most of our meals. However, I am looking for recs for one non-bouchon dinner on a par with Leon de Lyon or perhaps Jofe where we dined last time we were there, for that dinner. We are quite willing to pay significantly for such an experience and would even consider Bocuse except for our preference to remain in Lyon proper rather than take to the suburbs.
We had lunch in La Tassee on a previous trip and liked it well enough but I would consider it more in the bouchon genre than the "fine dining" genre I'd like to pursue for this one dinner. Besides L'Alexandrin, Le Gourmet de Seze supported by arythmic, and your suggestions for the Thomas restaurants and Potager des Halles, I'm wondering about La Tour Rose which certainly looks to be beautiful and Les Trois Domes. Any further guidance given my clarification? Thanks.
Lyon splurge
We'll be in Lyon 4 lunches and dinners in mid June. We love the bouchons and intend to eat most of our meals at them. I'm busily sorting out which ones from the posts I've been reading here and my own experience on two previous trips. Always torn between wanting to return to those we liked previously and the others we still want to try. I'd like one dinner to be at a "nicer" place and that's where I'm having trouble deciding. We don't want to leave the city so Bocuse is out even if we could get a reservation this late. Last time we went to Leon de Lyon so I don't want to repeat that. We're staying on Place Bellecour and since there seem to be multiple options I'd like to stay within reasonable distance from there all other things being almost equal. From my reading I'm leaning toward L'Alexandrin. I'd like to hear from Lyon diners on whether that's a good choice or recommendations for better. Thanks.
Brno, CZ and area
Thanks so much for all this wonderful information. We will be traveling to Czech Republic in August and this will be so helpful.
10 days in Paris - a brief trip report and some random thoughts
Please tell us what you so liked about Les Papilles. It's been on my list forever, but I keep not getting there.
Restaurant recommendations Honfleur, Trouville, Deauville for great lunches this November
Hope you can pick up this response from the internet somewhere in your travels. In Trouville check out Les Vapeurs, a lively brasserie right on the main street across from the fish market. Honfleur has lots of nice places. We enjoyed Le Breard around the corner from the Vieux Bassin but even the places lining the Bassin are fun and some have pretty decent food. Just read the menus and see what appeals--or has the most shade. We did lunch on a Sunday at La Chaumiere, outside of town just a bit beyond the famous Ferme St. Simeon in the Relais and Chateau association. Honfleur's current gastonomic claim to fame is Sa Qua Na with, I think, two stars. We did not care from Entre Terre et Mer finding their service very slow and unconcerned. Hope this is helpful to you and that you get to read it in time for your trip.
Restaurante Jaizkibel in Barcelona
Thanks for this confirmation. On a previous trip, I tried to get into Jaizkibel for lunch on a Sunday without a reservation. Silly me. Booked solid. Didn't make it on our last trip either, but now it's on the definite list for next time. I just knew it would be good. Thanks.
Le Puy en Velay & Thiers
Glad we're only spending one night there on our way to Lyon. So there will be light at the end of the tunnel.
Le Puy en Velay & Thiers
We will be in Puy en Velay in mid June. I had thought that the Gagnaire restaurant there was good. It has one Michelin star. Not so?
Compiling a list of France's best food markets / foodie towns
Piggyinthemiddle, we will be staying 3 nights in Rodez in early June. Would greatly appreciate recs for dining in the area. Intend to go to Aubrac Chez Germaine for aligot and to dine one night at Gouts et Couleurs. Will also lunch at Vieux Pont in Belcastel one day. What am I missing?
Ft. Lauderdale--Cafe Sharaku, a real gem
Just an update for Sharaku fans who have been worried that this lovely small restaurant might not survive. They joined Open Table some time ago and it seems to have helped their business. I was gratified to receive an e-mail from Open Table a day or so ago that featured Cafe Sharaku as #1 in a list of Top Ten Foodie favorites for the Ft. Lauderdale, Miami area--holding its own with the likes of db Bistro moderne Miami, and Michael's Genuine. Heartwarming.
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Cafe Sharaku
2736 N. Federal Highway, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33306
Romantic meal in Paris - Le Petrelle or Cristal Rooms baccarat
I was at Cristal during its heyday, so didn't experience the emptiness that andaba mentions, but it is an incredibly beautiful place and very romantic in a luxurious, opulent sort of a way. Emptiness might be a virtue if you want to feel like you're having a private dinner in a beautiful place. I would guess the emptiness might be due to the fact that while the food is/was good, it was not extraordinary--especially at the prices they charge--so that once you've experienced the decor, you'd probably not return for the food.
Our experience at Le Petrelle was disappointing. Service was miserable. Almost non-existant and we had to wait long periods for everything including the bill even after we'd asked 2 or 3 times. That might not bother you if you want to spend a loooong, quiet, romantic evening. Here, too, we did not find the food exceptional. The place is romantic in a very quirky, Bohemian sort of way.
I hope this helps you decide. Have a wonderful dinner wherever you go.
Eating in Lyon
Great thread. So much information. We return to Lyon in June and I can't wait to try so many of the places listed here. I'll have to try to squeeze in an extra meal each day otherwise I only get 8. Decisions. Decisions!. Thanks for making the job tougher.
Two days in Fleurie and Lyon-- Brief Notes.
Thanks for a great report. We love Lyon and will be there again in June. I have your selections now noted among the places we will seek out.
Restaurant in Brittany-Definitely Worth a Detour
Again, thanks for this post. We dined at La Cascade on our trip to Brittany this summer. Enjoyed it all very much. We stopped for lunch as it was right on our route to Val Andre. At lunch the house was about 2/3 full so I'd say they're doing quite well. I found the decor interesting but quirky in what seemed to me a retro whorehouse vein with 70's style black and gray accented with red and purple. Actually less garish than it sounds but jarring when I was sort of expecting a Normandy farmhouse look.
We opted for the days market menu at 23 euros--a remarkable deal. Entree plat with amuse-like serving of green pea and ham soup, radiccio with sea greens and enoki mushrooms, and duck terrine. Rolls were excellent and the accompanying salt and seaweed butter may have been the best taste of the entire lunch. The main was a nice filet of daurade with crispy skin and a little cone-like horn filled with (of all things) ribbons of tripe--the first time I could ever honestly say I enjoyed tripe. Dessert was a buckwheet waffle accompanied by quinoa and apple, a nice modern presentation of some traditional Brittany tastes. With two glasses of champagne to start and a bottle of white Bordeaux from Blaye at a mere 16.50 euro, the total meal came to 87 euros, amazing. And very, very good. I second the OPs recommendation of this interesting place.
South Lake Tahoe over Christmas--advice requested
Our party of 3 adults will be staying in South Lake Tahoe three nights over Christmas. I have already booked us into Kalani's for Christmas Eve. I'm interested in Swiss Chalet (looks cute and we like raclette and fondue) and saw that Mirabelle is open for Christmas Eve and day. Thinking to book Mirabelle for Christmas Day dinner and Swiss Chalet for dinner on the 26th. Does that sound like a good line up for our dinners or should I look at other places? I note that Cafe Fiore gets good press. Should we go there rather than Swiss Chalet or Mirabelle one night if it's open?
For lunch options I'm looking at Cafe Fiore, Gi Fu Loh (DH is an Asian food fanatic), Fresh Ketch, and Samurai Sushi. Figure I won't need lunch reservations and can check them out a bit before booking or just walking in. Am I on the right track with these places and my no lunch reservations policy? Your advice very much appreciated.
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Swiss Chalet Restaurant
Highway 50, South Lake Tahoe, CA 96150
Kalani's
1001 Heavenly Village Way Ste 26, South Lake Tahoe, CA 96150
Fresh Ketch Restaurant
2433 Venice Dr E, South Lake Tahoe, CA 96150
Restaurant in Brittany-Definitely Worth a Detour
We were in Pont Aven last year and dined at the Michelin recommended Moulin de Rosmadec there. it's beautiful and the food is good but we found indifferent service and no real feeling of gracious hospitality. There was a more modern-looking, casual bistro not far from it on a corner that I would try instead on another visit. Pont Aven is delightful overall.
Restaurant in Brittany-Definitely Worth a Detour
Thanks so much for this recommendation. We leave in about 3 weeks for time in Brittany and Normandy and will be staying at Val Andre, practically within walking distance of this place. I'm going to reserve immediately. Sounds terrific.
Dining report: Barcelona and Madrid
Thanks for a great report. I've always felt guilty about having been to Barcelona 4 or 5 times and still never having gotten to Cal Pep. Just hate line-standing. Guilt gone.
Dining around Lake Como and in the Piemonte region
My husband and I made a trip to Lake Como and the Piemonte area of Italy in October this year. Here’s a run down of some of the places we dined that may be of interest to others traveling to any of these places.
Dining on and near Lake Como, Italy
In Lugano, enroute to Lake Como from Milan Malpensa airport, we chose Sass café and wineria from among the many places lining the main square. What a treat to have the first plate of the trip served to us appear with beautifully folded prosciutto slices arranged in a flower centered by peeled figs with the chartreuse edges encircling their pink seeded centers and topped with fresh red currants and spikes of dark green chives. Absolutely beautiful and very tasty.
My plate of charcuterie had more variety and great taste but certainly nowhere near the same visual appeal. Nonetheless it too was good as was my husband Val’s fettucini with porcini and my gnocchi with trout and gallerini mushrooms. As we dined, exuberant school children were entering the square to whoop and holler after a day’s lessons and some very well-heeled mothers wheeled their expensive baby carriages between the expensive shops. A truly prosperous city and a delight to dine in.
Nuovo Isole 1169, is a new place in Varenna. Little so excites me as the opportunity to try a new place to eat in a destination where we’ve been before, so I was delighted to have this place appear only about 100 yards from the door of our hotel. Cute with nice outdoor seating (though no water view) on a sort of residential square with lovely old trees, the place has been open less than a year and seems to be holding its own with some of the more established places in Varenna.
We started with smoked salmon toasts and a glass of prosecco, then a double order of risotto with gorgonzola and small bits of porcini—the hit of the meal, and secondis of Lavarello, the local Lake Como fish for Val and roasted goat for me (It’s my favorite meat and if it’s on the menu, I have it.) Both were good and at 15 euros each, very reasonable.
I wouldn’t go all out to recommend this new place, but for the traveler staying several nights in Varenna with limited options, it’s certainly a welcome, substantive addition to the dining scene.
Ristorante di Paolo in Menaggio is a place we’ve eaten on previous trips. It is in or shares space with the Hotel Corona right on the main square of Menaggio and we found it serviceable to good when we ate there. We didn’t eat there this time but we did note, that like so much of Menaggio, it’s come in for some spiffing up. New lettering on the windows announces its correct name and a cute bicycle with flowers in a basket sits in front. The interior too has undergone a nice upgrade. While I can’t speak for any changes in the food, (which really didn’t need to change, offering as it did, nice homecooked, family style meals with great mac and cheese, or Quattro fromaggi in Italian, etc.) the place sure seems to merit a meal for anyone staying in Menaggio.
Our lunch that day was in Bellagio to which we took the steamer after renewing our acquaintance with Menaggio. We had planned to have it on the lakeshore under the wisteria vines of the outdoor space served by the Hotel Florence but alas they had closed a day or so previous for the whole season—important information for people to note who are planning trips to Lake Como. Apparently not only does the ferry schedule change in October, but some places close for the season. Anyway, when we were turned away from our intended destination, we walked the area under the arcades across from the ferry stop and perused the menus of the hotels and restaurants there. When I spied pizzochieri on the menu of the one star Suisse Hotel, that was it. We plunked ourselves down in their outdoor seating area and awaited the wonderful buckwheat noodles and bitto cheese dish that is a trademark of the area.
This turned out to be one of the best meals we had in the Lake Como area. Val started with melon and prosciutto (he has a habit of eating habitually) and moved on to lavarello with onions and olives that he liked so well he made notes about it so we could try to duplicate it when we got home. I had beef carpaccio with Dijon vinaigrette and parmesan and some really good, mellow capers of the kind you can never get in jars, and then the piece de resistance or however you say that in Italian—the pizzochieri.
It was something of a deconstructed version with thick, homemade buckwheat noodles (which Val described as “meaty”) accompanied by potatoes that had to have been marinating in butter, and the cheese, all under a cape of par-boiled savoy cabbage as a substitute for the more traditional swiss chard. It was rich and wonderful. Two days into the trip and already I’d had goat and pizzochieri. This was shaping up to be a very good trip.
Dinner that night was in Varenna at the La Contrada Ristorante in the Villa Cipressi. Again, we’d eaten here before and so weren’t expecting great things food-wise, but knew the ambiance would be special—sitting outside next to the lovely villa, looking past the fountains of the garden to the lake on the horizon. Food was ok, but not great. I had octopus with potatoes and arugula in oil and veal with a pistachio coating. Val had shrimp with tomatoes and mozzarella and swordfish with a wimpy tomato sauce. When I say the food was ok, I mean just that. If you are in Varenna for several nights and want some variety in your dining and can accept ok food with a terrific ambiance, this can be a good choice.
The following day, after touring the Villa Carlotta gardens we walked to Tremezzo and stopped under the arcades at the Helvetia Ristorante for lunch. Val again had prosciutto and some very sweet melon and I had an assortment of meats. Then he had an anchovy pizza and I had ravioli with pesto. Again, a serviceable place with reasonable prices.
Dinner was at Vecchia Verenna, on their deck cantilevered over the lake. This place was once quite good and featured in an article Bon Appetit did on Lake Como complete with their recipe for pizzochieri, watered down for American ingredients. It’s no longer so good, but still ok, in the same sense as La Contrada is ok as explained above. I had pumpkin gnocchi which was pretty with a touch of orange in butter and parmesan but not a hint of the promised sage. Val had a nice plate of local sausages including his favorite, boar. His spicy fish soup was pretty much just tomato broth with Tabasco. (He should have stayed with the safe sausages.) My rabbit was nice and tender but the sauce in which it was served and the accompanying potatoes and ratatouille were not exciting. We were in and out in an hour. The saving grace of the place is that the meal, less wine and espresso, cost less than 50 euros.
Bergamo appears to be quite a food-centric town, with its streets of food stores and square surrounded by restaurants. I had a few notes from guidebooks telling me which restaurants to look for, but we wound up at a place I had no notes about but looked good—the Trattoria Sant Ambroeus on the main square in the upper city. Seating was in a nice outdoor area on Phillippe Starck type dark plastic chairs which reflected the buildings of the square opposite us—an interesting, if unintended, touch.
Food here was very good. Val had smoked fish and polenta, then branzino in fenneI and cream sauce with black olives. I had baby octopus in tomato sauce over grainy polenta then ravioli stuffed with meat sauce and pancetta and fried in butter and sage—finally, the sage I’d been expecting but gotten cheated out of at the previous night’s dinner. Again, this was one of our better meals in the Como area—though a bit distant to be technically Lake Como.
Our final dinner in Varenna was at Il Cavatappi, the preferred spot of most foodies staying in the area. Again we’d been there once before and were not as impressed as others who had written about it seemed to have been but were willing to give it another try. It performed better this time than previously but I’m still not sold on the wonderful reviews it is so often given. It is an interesting experience for sure.
The place is teeny, tiny with a crazy chef and one woman who handles the service for the 5 or so tables and helps him in the kitchen. Timing is the reverse of Vacchia Varenna. This place takes a very long time to serve your dinner. We started with salami slices then risotto with crispy porcini (the best dish of the meal) and finished with lamb chops for me and beef with more porcini for Val. My lamb chops were ok. Val pronounced his beef with porcini very good. Price without wine was about the same as at Vecchia Varenna and I must say that this meal was better.
So, in total, our dining in and around Lake Como was not outstanding. It certainly was not awful. But food is not the primary draw for travel in this area of Italy IMO There is some interesting local cuisine to try—pizzochieri and the local Como fish—but there is nothing in my experience to knock your sox off.
Oh, even as I say that, I recall that it isn’t true. There is one place that provided me a truly memorable meal. We just didn’t repeat it this time. That’s the multi-course, rustic, three hour meal with fire and story on the Isola Comacina. Here’s a link to an article that describes it. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/travel/destinations/italy/article5676207.ece
I also enjoy the description that my son-in-law provided in a trip report he did when he went there on his honeymoon. With his permission, here’s his take on it:
Locanda dell'Isola Comacina was my first flag of our trip. I'm far from a foodie, but I'm increasingly enjoying the eating experience, and from what I've heard this was going to be a good one. I was definitely looking forward to it. We had a little difficulty getting to the right boat stop for crossing over to the island. It led to a minor disagreement, but nothing that would tarnish the evening.
We found the correct boat dock, and sitting there was a little vaporetto fishing boat, like the toy one we bought today. Things are looking up! It was 5E a piece for the ride across. It includes a return after dinner. The sun was just setting as we came over. We had 7pm reservations. Kind of early for Italy, but we didn't want to book too late with it only being our second night. We walked from the dock up to the restaurant. We were greeted by our host and the owner Benvenuto Puricelli. He was quite the character all dressed up in a plaid vest wearing a matching ski hat.
Upon seating we were given a couple copies of the menu. It's actually more of program than a menu. They have served the same meal since 1947, and I don't think there are plans to change it anytime soon. It's 55E per person for the food and wine. (Probably more today. This report was written about 7 years ago, but the experience is the same, I’m sure.)
We were the second table to be seated that night. After being greeted came a bottle of white wine and the antipasto. It was huge. If this was a sign of things to come they were going to have to roll us out of there. The antipasto was an array of eight large plates; celery, carrots, baked onions, sweet peppers, courgettes, beans, broccoli and french beans. Then came separate plates for each of us with a slab of prosciutto, some kind of salted beef with cucumbers and melon. All very tasty. More people rolled in.
The second course was local grilled lake trout. It was dressed at the table adding lemon, salt and olive oil. After that came fried chicken which was actually quite tasty, even Liz ate it. Between courses we tried to "secure" a menu that we could abscond with to bring home and frame. Every time we got a hold of one and sort of tucked it away they would come back to the table and find it immediately. They must get a lot of that. By this time the restaurant is packed.
After our two meat courses they rolled out a huge round of parmigiano reggiano cheese. They scoped out blocks of it and deposited them into our hands. Great, gritty texture and very rich. Dessert was peaches in a banana liqueur served with vanilla gelato. They kept bringing us extra gelato so the other customers who arrived later could finish up their meal. The goal is for everyone to finish at once so Bienvenuto can have his big finale.
The lights darken and at the sound of a bell Bienvenuto enters the room and starts to burn brandy in a large black pot. He goes through the history of the island while performing the fire ceremony with the brandy. We actually almost left before this all began. The fire ceremony didn't start until 10pm, three hours after we arrived. It was taking all our strength to hang on, but it was certainly worth it.
We quickly exited after the production to head back to Menaggio and get some rest. We rated the place a 12.5 on our 15 point scale. Bascially 4's across the board, a great experience!
So there you have it. Reports on meals we ate in the Lake Como area and even one we didn’t eat, at least not on this trip. Lake Como is so beautiful that even a dedicated foodie like myself, is willing to make allowances for the less than gourmet food experience overall, to experience the spectacular views and terrific, relaxing ambiance it has to offer.
Dining in the Piemonte region of Italy
After “discovering” Piemonte via a NYTimes article on Turin and Eataly and then starting to see more and more about it on food and travel website, the thing that truly turned me on to it was (what else?!!) the food. Everything I started to see and hear about the area suggested it was gourmet heaven and sure enough it was. I perused my Michelin red guide to Italy and counted 14 stars in about 100 square miles, including 2 one starred restaurants in a town of less than 700 people. Surely these people know how to cook. Considering that it’s also the home of the Slow Food movement with little snail insignias appearing just about everywhere, suddenly Piemonte was calling, not in a whisper but with the insistence of a carnival barker.
We succumbed and in early October of this year, made a trip that started with Lake Como (see other post on that area here), continued in Piemonte and ended in Nice (no report on the latter, since we didn’t eat well there.)
The only tough part of eating in the area is choosing which of the many wonderful options you’ll do this time and which you’ll put off until next time—and the time after that and the time after that. The good thing is that I get the feeling that many/most of the restaurants of Piemonte stay put better than those of larger cities and more trendy areas. Many of the places we ate had the feel of being long established temples that you can count on being there when you return. Of course, then the old problem of whether to return to the tried and true that you loved on your last trip or to try something different will arise, but once again, it’s not a bad problem to have.
As I look back over the list of places we ate I recognize that a lot of big names are missing. Some of this reflects my efforts to try to be a bit more spontaneous in our choices at least for lunches to allow greater flexibility in our sightseeing. This is a big issue between my husband Val and me in our travels. He prefers to just drop into someplace (which he is confident will be fantastic) at the moment he gets hungry. I prefer to have reservations and work our routes of march around them lest we experience a bad meal. In Piemonte we pretty much split the difference and did lunch by the serendipity plan and dinner by reservation, however fate intervened in a couple of instances, requiring a change of plans.
Here’s where we ate and our reactions to our meals.
Caffee Umberto on the piazza Savona, Alba was our first meal in Piemonte and a great introduction. It was total serendipity. We’d been dropped off at Piazza Savona by our taxi driver on the day of the Truffle Festival parade and palio and after walking about the market there to drool over the cheeses, sausages, truffle extensions, etc, etc, we were more than hungry. We were ravenous.
Unlike so many of the Piemonte restaurants we were to eat in later in the week, this one appeared very new and trendy with a sort of hip vibe. Even so the food was trendy in an old-fashioned, stick to the standards sort of way. We took seats at the bar (it was sort of a wine bar surrounding an open kitchen with wine bottles lining the walls in little cubby holes.) Val had anchovies with a variety of sauces including an excellent dill pesto that I, a non-anchovy lover, found quite fantastic. I had a pork neck slice over beans and potatoes which I judged already the best meal of the trip so far. So much for food from the Lake Como area. I immediately noted a preponderance of butter in their cooking and felt at home.
Locanda San Giorgio, in the hills above Neviglie, was a place where I’d made advance reservations with the best of intentions. I presumed Val would be tired from a long day of driving so I wanted a good dinner in a nice place but as close as possible to the Agriturismo Marcarini where we were staying so he’d not have to drive much further.
My extensive research led me to the San Giorgio presumably just a couple of km from our place. Well that must have been measured “as the crow flies” because it took us a while and more than a few km to reach this place—and to make things worse by this time our trusty Garmin had deserted us probably because the connections in the car’s cigarette lighter had died.
It was one of those awful situations where Val threatened to give up, turn around and go back, and I kept urging him on with “it must be just over this knoll” all the while being totally unsure if we were even traveling in the right direction. At this point I not only doubted my choice of a dining venue, but even my choice of lodging, featuring us spending night after night endlessly searching the hills on back roads for the places I’d booked for dinners.
Just as I was about to cry “uncle” the lights of a complex that turned out to be the Locanda appeared and we coasted in to the parking lot, made our way through one of several dining rooms filled with happy diners and grumpily (Val) assumed our chairs in the lovely mostly white dining room we’d been led to. Just to make things more challenging, this was one of the few places where none of the wait staff spoke English and the menu had no translations—and I’d left my translation pages back in the room.
I’m pleased to say that in spite of all of this we had a good if not great meal and finally relaxed and enjoyed ourselves. I had my first truffle experience. I ordered a soft-boiled egg with cream. After putting the dish down on the table, the waiter returned with the holy of holies, the white Alba truffle and his little pocket scale, sort of like a culinary Kindle. He set the scale on the table, proceeded to weigh the truffle, then shave some of it into my dish until I said “stop” or halt or held up my hand, whatever, then weigh the truffle again and record the cost of my shavings—15 euros for about 5 or six swipes over the truffle slicing instrument. Quite a production.
Next came tiny, tasty veal-filled ravioli with sage butter and finally lamb chops with carrots and potatoes. Val meanwhile started with shrimp and crispy prosciutto, then tajarin in tomato sauce and finished off with fried fish in a sort of tempura preparation. All this with a bottle of Barbera pinot nero came to only 115 euros. Everything was nicely presented and the food was good, we just got off on the wrong foot with our journey to the place. So much for trying to plan ahead. BTW we returned to our agiturismo with nary a problem though I spent most of the meal more or less dreading the trip back every time I thought of it.
Our lunch at Antica Torre, just beyond the tower in Barbaresco was one of those wonderful combinations of planning and serendipity. We found ourselves in Barbaresco when we got hungry and I knew where all the likely good places to eat were. It helped that we got to our selection, Antica Torre, early though because by the time we finished our lunch the outdoor area was completely filled so that, had we come later, my efforts at planned serendipity might have come to naught.
This was a delightful lunch in a very unpretentious spot with a nice bustle about it. When we arrived early we were treated to the extra touch of one of the older, grandmotherly ladies of the crew seated at a table outdoors shucking peas. Doesn’t get any fresher or more authentic than that.
We started with salami and Barberesco Langhe, then I had a great ravioli with butter and sage—even better than that I’d had at the two previous meals, and then shiny, glistening rabbit with herbs and colorful carrots. Val was very happy with his two mushroom meal—cold chicken and pickled mushroom salad, then porcini fried with polenta coating.
To prevent further problems like we’d experienced getting to Locanda San Giorgio the previous night, we had “pre-found” our restaurant for dinner the second night—La Luna nel Pozzo atop the hill in the old part of Neive. In fact I hadn’t made advance reservations but rather scouted the place out while walking about the town, and stopped in to make the reservation for that evening while we were there. This gave us two assurances—one that we liked the look of the place and the menu, and two that we would be able to find it without problems.
I knew we’d like it when the owner of the Mom and Pop place (Pop, as it were) was sweeping the small outdoor patio himself, and stopped to welcome me and take my reservation. The place is a throwback to the 60’s or so with tres elegant roses floating in bulbous wine glasses, dark blue candles in silver holders with plastic drip catchers, nice artwork on the walls, and very caring service, solicitous even.
Eschewing the 110 euro truffle menu, we opted for the 55 euro degustation and found excellent value. We started with beef or veal tartare/carne crudo, then rabbit galantine with black truffle garnish, then tagliatelle with shrimp and thin shreds of veggies, and finally two thick lamb chops (making this my third lamb chop dinner in a row, I’ll admit) with potato and spinach purees on the side as well as a baked tomato.
We skipped dessert, as we usually do, but had espresso which they accompanied with an assortment of sweets. We accompanied all of this with arneis by the glass then a bottle of nebbiola selected by Pop for a mere 18 euros. While there was no single outstanding dish the meal in total was very good and the atmosphere and service combined to make it a wonderful dining experience.
La Collina on a main square in Monforte d’Alba was an excellent serendipitous pick when da Felicin which tortured us with its incredible smells and beautiful patio proved not to be serving lunch that day. I’d given thought to staying here also but concluded that the town was not as well positioned as it should be for minimal day trip driving to the places we wanted to see within the area. I’d certainly recommend it to anyone considering that area of the Langhe as a place to stay and to eat. It’s darling. Wonderful outdoor dining area and the cooking smells alone were enough to convince me that the food must be good, really good.
So it was with a heavy heart that we tromped on to see what else might be open in town for lunch that day. I was pleasantly surprised when an apparently new place trying desperately to be trendy and situated in an unfortunately center-of-traffic spot, turned out to have excellent food. We had bagna cauda for the first time ever and promptly pronounced it one of our new favorite dishes of all time. It was beautifully presented in an oval bowl in the middle of a plate where it was surrounded by strips of red and yellow peppers, carrots, tomatoes, celery, fennel, leeks, radishes and boiled potatoes. I can’t imagine why we’ve never ordered it before, or at least why Val, the great anchovy lover, hasn’t, but whatever, as soon as I learn how to prepare it at home it will become the new vehicle to get veggies into his diet without coaxing.
Val followed with tajarin with a great tomato sauce and a smattering of black truffle, and I with gnocchi smothered in a local cheese sauce and then we both had the most delicious pork sausage and pork neck meat over yellow and red peppers, all with a chardonnay (unlike those in the US, thank goodness) by the glass and a bottle of Barolo. The bagna cauda, the gnocchi and the pork sausage made the list of top dishes of the trip. Whoda thunk?!! Especially from an unlisted place with ditzy looking young waitresses selected as a second choice. Just goes to show.
Antine on the main street—via Torino 34, in Barbaresco was the selection for dinner on our third day in Piemonte. It was a disappointment even though the food was very good.
They open at 8 and not a second sooner. After having a glass of wine in a little shop nearby to pass the time, we waited with another couple, our noses pressed to the window, while we got the impression the folks inside were counting down the seconds to the magic hour when they’d spring the doors open and deign to admit us. Another couple approached with the audacity to ask for admittance without reservations and were quickly disabused of any thought that they might get in even though we were one of only four occupied tables that evening—unless the custom there is to dine very late.
The contrast between Antine and La Luna nel Pozzo of the previous night was striking. At the latter, everything was sincere desire to please with overtones of conviviality, though the place was surely not raucous. At Antine everything was hushed tones and formality and to my mind spoke of taking themselves too seriously. At one point a lone diner having the expensive all truffle menu, dropped a knife on the floor which seemed to send reverberations throughout the tiny, u-shaped dining room. I almost expected the waitress to come out and admonish him to take care and be quiet rather than simply present him another knife.
Perhaps I’m being too harsh. Perhaps we were just at the satiation point where we start to doubt the rationality of it all. Whatever, our impressions of the place were just not of a warm and caring establishment. Understand, I don’t need to be coddled when I dine, but I do like to feel comfortable and here I did not.
It’s also seldom that I find service and atmosphere to overshadow food as my reason for liking or not liking a restaurant, but again, here I did—although the food was very good and included two of the best dishes of the trip.
One of those was the first course of sliced veal tongue with itty bitty hand chopped veggies and parsley sauce. It was beautiful, had great texture and tasted delicious. It followed an amuse of unctuous slices of sausage with a hint of allspice in a smooth-as-silk chick pea sauce. After the first course, Val had porcini soup with potatoes in it while I had tajarin with veal sauce, one of the best tajarins of the trip. His final course was duck, again with porcinis, and I had the snails I’d been longing for since our time in Cherasco, a little town given to snails and all things snail, and the other dish I considered among the best of the trip.
The snails came in butter, cream and herbs en cocotte and were the most tender I’ve ever eaten but I could only eat about half the dish since it was too much and too rich after all that had passed before. We finished with espresso and no dessert and amazingly a tab of only 142 euros including a nice bottle of barbaresco, making the place not only good for food, but also good value. Too bad about the service.
Our third day in Piemonte got off to a bad start when I slept until 9:00 or so having been up ill most of the night (most likely not the fault of Antine but rather of the market sausage I’d snacked on, or of the appetizers I’d had at the little wine shop while awaiting our dinner at Antine). Whatever, we got off to an inauspicious start and when I still wasn’t feeling all that well by lunchtime I didn’t much care where we ate.
We happened to be on the Piazza Duomo/Risorgimento in Alba where we found Il Piola, a place I’d noted from a Chowhound post or somesuch. Perhaps because our expectations were low, we found it acceptable. I started with a salad of shaved red cabbage, greens and local cheese with super thing, almost transparent slices of veal head cheese with balsamic vinegar. Pretty and fairly tasty. Val had an appetizer plate of cured veggies, veal tartare, and Russian salad, then another dish of tajarin with veal in tomato sauce—the staple of Piemontese cooking. Nothing outstanding, but acceptable.
Dinner that evening was supposed to be back in Alba where I’d reserved at Osteria dell Arco but an accident caused the local police to set up a roadblock making it impossible for us to follow the route we intended so we stopped in Treiso to which we’d been rerouted. I was secretly kind of glad since I knew that Treiso was the location of Profumo di Vino that I’d seen written about so lovingly on a food and travel site, that friends of ours who own a restaurant in Minneapolis (where veal meatballs with fois gras is a signature dish of the highly rated 112 Eatery) had enjoyed when they’d been there a few week before us and raved about the same veal meatballs and egg dish that a website poster had so enjoyed, and that had created an exchange of some heat when another poster on the same site had dined at the same place and found it quite lacking.
I figured I’d get to weigh in on the controversy but it was not to be. Although we were parked practically beneath Profumo in the main square, it must not have been lit up or I must not have had my wits about me or something, but I couldn’t see it and so opted for another place I could see and that was also on my list of places to try in Treiso—Osteria del Unione, possibly our only representation from the many Slow Food places in the region.
Our dinner there was quintessential Piemonte fare. They served only one menu to all guests. At 30 euros per person it was an incredible bargain. They were kindly willing to call dell Arco to inform them of our inability to keep our reservations with them and seemed not to begrudge our making them second choice.
They served the antipasto in 4 waves--starting with a plate of salami, proscuitto and some wonderful thin sausage of what seemed like raw meat with truffles (about the circumference of a cheap beef jerky stick and terrific tasting.) This was another standout dish of the whole trip. Next came vitello tonnata with the veal slices forming a flower on the plate and slathered in creamy yellow tuna/mayo sauce from the center to about 2 inches from the edges, carrying out the flower look. This was my first ever exposure to vitello tonnata since I've never thought I'd like the flavor combination. I was wrong. Then they (she cooks, he waits tables) brought out a plate of sort of thin, 3" round egg omelets with spinach and finally a vegetable tureen with stinky gruyere-like cheese sauce. We were off to a good start.
The pasta was the ubiquitous tajarin with a tomato sauce--a very good example. The secondi was rabbit in a red pepper and clove studded braising sauce, good but by this point we were pretty full. All payment was cash only.
The place was small, seating probably less than 25 total at about 6 or seven tables, some, like ours for only 2 people. The bathroom facilities could only be reached by going outside and around the corner of the restaurant seating area. By the time we had finished our several antipasta plates, the place was full and they were turning folks away.
It was a good, down to earth meal. Nonetheless, I felt both a little foolish and a little cheated when we left the restaurant and walked to our car with the lights of Profumo shining overhead and realized that, had I just spent a little more time looking around, I might have had those meatballs, the eggs with truffle and joined in the argument. Oh well, next time for sure.
Our sole meal in Turin was nothing special but still good. We didn’t want to spend a lot of time dining with so little time to see the city on a day only side trip. And we’d half expected to eat at Eataly though we had to scrap that plan when we wound up going there first and being done early in the morning, well before lunchtime. So we simply strolled around the main square of town, Piazza San Carlos, looked at all the adjoining restaurants and picked the one with the best looking menu—in short what most tourists do.
The choice was Torino Ristorante, a place with pretty much standard Italian fare for which we were pretty much ready having had so much Piemontese tajarin up to that point. We dined outside in the square itself with other tables occupied by what appeared to me to be local or visiting business people and ladies who shop. Everything was business and shopping respectable and we were quite happy with our choices—proscuitto with melon, risotto with seafood including surprise razor clams, and a trenette alla Genovese, with a hint of cream.
Little did we know that we’d saved our best meal for last. In fact we hadn’t saved it at all. I had not made a prior reservation for dinner that evening but had a list of several I’d seen recommended in the area near the agriturismo Marcarini which I provided the helpful Elisa asking her to reserve for us. When some places turned out not to be available (either full or closed for the evening) she used her discretion and booked us back in Treiso at La Ciau del Tornavento. I’ Piazza Baracco 7.
I had, of course, checked it out previously myself but for some unknown reason not thought to book there so I’m eternally grateful to Elisa for her excellent discretion, even though I admit that I had harbored thoughts of canceling and rebooking myself at Profumo to be able to taste and review the food there that I’d missed on the previous night. Glad I didn’t.
For starters the place is gorgeous. We arrived fairly early and you could still see a bit of the view from the full length windows. It must be fantastic in the sunlight. The things I found most ingenious and stunning about the décor were the perfect use of small spotlights to highlight the greenery throughout as well as the lovely flowers and glassware on the tables. The greenery was large and exuberant as it could be in the large, expansive dining room (a renovated and enlarged school house I was told when I asked). Palms, cycades and columns were judiciously placed so as to provide separation among tables in the vast—but pretty much filled—dining area. It was wholly pleasing.
With so large a space, it would have been easy to have felt a bit small and unattended had the welcome and the service not have been so kind and attentive. The hostess welcomed us with a handshake, shook our hands again as we left and gave us a nice postcard with a picture of the restaurant interior as a memento of our visit. Val insisted on ordering the wine he wanted rather than putting ourselves in the hands of the sommelier as drbb and Mike so wisely did, causing us not to get quite as special a treatment from him as they did, but he was attentive to our glasses and responded to my request for info about the provenance of the restaurant.
This is plainly a special occasion restaurant and folks were more dressed up than we saw them at other dining venues. It is also apparently a smart place for folks to wine and dine visiting business people since two of the tables the night we were there were filled with business people, one a mixed group another of about twelve men, both appearing to be completely immersed not in conversation about business but about the food and wine they were consuming. We entered the restaurant just ahead of a party of three Americans, a perfectly behaved young lady of about 12 and her parents. The rest were 2, 3 and 4 tops, all appearing to enjoy themselves as we were.
Our meals included 4 of the best dishes of the trip—the most at any single restaurant.
The amuses included a red pepper encasing tuna mousse, black truffle over fois gras on a tiny toast round and my picture shows a sort of lollipop thing that I can’t recall and didn’t write about in my log. Hmmm. But the most outstanding amuse was a separate plate for each of us of two perfectly pink veal slices with adjoining dollops of tuna, a shard of deep maroon radicchio and a sprinkling of ruby red pomegranate seeds-–the chef’s take on vitello tonnata, and a study in shades of red, absolutely arresting.
Val had the “soup” of porcini slices, poached egg and mushroom cream covered with black truffle slices, at 18 euros a real steal and one of his favorite dishes of the trip. Meanwhile I was rhapsodizing about my whole baked onion—one of my favorite dishes of the trip. It had been baked skin on, with the top cut off and some of the onion scooped out to make room for sausage from Bra and smothered with a local cheese sauce (fonduto) which puddled on the plate and was oddly but tastily studded with tiny chunks of amaretto cookie, giving it a sweet touch and good texture.
Both of us chose the same pasta course, another favorite dish of the trip—Plin, a tiny, handmade ravioli stuffed with green cabbage and three different kinds of meat. I often find that the secondi provides the least interesting dishes of any Italian meal, so it wasn’t unexpected to find that neither of ours made the favorite dishes of the trip list, but they were surely good and provided us some of our favorite secondi offerings. Val had the wild duck and I had the kid prepared two ways—roasted and fried in a light crust of polenta, as were the mushrooms and apples that accompanied it. The roasted part had excellent skin and it was a bonus to be able to have goat at all, my favorite meat.
We finished with double espressos and the house sweets—tiny cookies and jells, most notable for being served on a diminutive square cookie sheet complete with little turned up sides and set on legs. As with this “course” overall, this was interesting more for its appearance and cuteness than for its tastes, though the jells provided a nice sweet ending.
Our wines came to 60 euros of our 200 euro total but considering the enjoyment we got from the food and the wine as well as the ambiance and service, it was certainly “worth it”—for whatever that’s worth. It was the most memorable meal of the trip. Perhaps next time we’ll break down and opt for the truffle extravaganza even if it is 200 euros a person. You only live once.
So we left Piemonte with tighter clothing and good memories.
Happy to respond to any questions.
Dining in Paris for Christmas
You don't say whether you're concerned about Christmas Day or Christmas Eve, but many of the places you can count on being open for both are the large 24/7 Brasseries, like Pied de Cochon, Bofinger, etc. which are not dark and romantic. We had Christmas Eve dinner at Chez Vong one year. It's a very lovely, dark and somewhat romantic Chinese place with excellent food on Blvd. Truanderie just off Blvd. St. Denis in the Les Halles area. Other places you might check are hotel restaurants.
New Year's Eve in Lyon
Once again, thank you ChefJune. I'm embarrassed to say, however, that I'm confused. One of your earlier posts said that you dined one NYEve at Bistrot de Lyon, and gave a website to see the place. It looks lovely in that wonderful old-fashioned bistro way. The website URL appears to be the same as the one you provided here to show Leon de Lyon, but I can't find Bistrot de Lyon on the newer URL. Actually I'm thinking we might want to eat at both places--Bistrot de Lyon, for NYEve because it looks more old fashioned convivial, and Leon de Lyon because it's apparently THE place to dine in Lyon. Does this sound like a sensible choice to you or am I mixing up restaurants hopelessly? Thanks for any light you can shed on my conundrum here.
