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| Restaurants in Italy | |
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These are my notes from our trip to Piedmont, Liguria, Tuscany,
and Rome in September, 2004. Our favorite restaurants are marked with a star (*) |
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| Piedmont | |
*Osteria dell'Arco
5 course meal: 30 Euro
Piazza Savona 5, Alba / Phone: 0173 363974 |
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This was the best meal of our trip -- incredibly consistent and delicious food in a relaxed, but pleasant atmosphere. We got 2 different tasting menus and loved both of them. The highlights of our meal were duck breast with porcini and watercress, agnolotti with sage and butter, tajarin, very flavorful and tender roasted rabbit, brasato al Barolo (beef braised in red wine) that was tender enough to eat with a spoon, and panna cotta with berries. The pastas were some of the best we've ever had - simple, but perfect in texture and flavor. Panna cotta (cream custard made with gelatin instead of eggs) simply defied gravity and felt like it was standing up not due to the gelatin, but to the thickness of its cream. |
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Antinè
5 course meal: 38Euro
Via Torino 34/a, Barbaresco / Phone: 0173 635294 |
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Antinè is a wonderful restaurant with creative variations on traditional dishes. Carne crude (hand-minced raw veal) with truffles had an intoxicating aroma and texture so creamy it resembled raw tuna rather than veal. Risotto with Barbaresco (red wine) had perfect rice texture (not mushy, with just a touch of resistance to the bite). There were a few dishes we were not crazy about - braised veal was a bit chewy, and fig cake was overpowered by the rum zabaglione. The dining room was very pleasant but too hushed for my taste. |
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*Gastronomia UGO
Via Alfieri 4, Alba / Phone: 0173 441454 |
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Excellent casual place for lunch that offers a huge buffet of antipasti. We tried about 8 of them and all were delicious. Roasted peppers with anchovy paste, salami with truffles, and picked mushrooms were particularly memorable. The gnocchi with tomato sauce were fantastic. |
| Cinque Terre (Liguria) | |
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*Ristorante L'Oasi
Dinner for 2 with house wine: 70 - 90 Euro
Piazza Cavour, Levanto / Phone: 0187 800856 |
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L'Oasi is a great restaurant for seafood and pasta. We started our meal with a mixed seafood appetizer that consisted of 8 little dishes. Our favorites were smoked tuna and swordfish, octopus salad, and stewed baby squid. For the second course we shared trufie (small Ligurian pasta) with pesto sauce. I've never had pesto this amazing in my life - it was so delicate and aromatic, it was almost surreal. After the pasta, came a whole grilled fish with mussels and clams. It was similar to sea bream, and was perfectly moist inside with deliciously browned skin. The sauce was the clam and mussel cooking liquid that was full of the flavors of the sea. |
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Osteria a Cantina de Mananan
Via Fieschi 117, Corniglia / Phone: 0187 821166 |
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This osteria serves great Ligurian food in a tiny dining room. Make a reservation for dinner, and come early for lunch because this place is usually packed. Its popularity is well deserved because the food was very good. The bread was delicious with chewy holey crumb and crispy crust. The mussels steamed in white wine were sweet, tender morsels of the sea. The tuna salad was full of delicious vegetables like baby squash, fennel, baby greens, juicy tomatoes, capers, and olives. Smoked tuna with tomatoes and balsamic vinegar was excellent. The atmosphere was not particularly relaxing or intimate because the tables were packed very tightly. I found this place to be perfect for lunch, but I wouldn't go out of my way to come here for dinner. |
| Tuscany | |
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Osteria Nonna Gina
Meal for two without wine: about 60 Euro
Pian dei Montellini 2, Siena / Phone: 0577 1287247 |
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After reading the rave reviews of this place on slowtrav.com, we were very disappointed. The food was often under seasoned, and most of the dishes were really boring. We started with a mixed antipasto plate. Different types of salami were good, toasts with different spreads were made of the bland Tuscan bread. The spreads ranged from creamy herring that was excellent to tomato sauce that was no better than from a can. Canned black olives were sad to see in Italy. Bread salad, grain salad, and potato salad were under seasoned and lifeless. Gnocchi stuffed with cheese in a creamy nut sauce were the only good dish - well seasoned, with good texture, and interesting flavor. The thick spaghetti with basil and tomato sauce were decent, but boring. |
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Trattoria Cibreo
Meal for two without wine: about 60 Euro
Via dei Macci 122r, Florence / Phone: 055 234 11 00 |
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Lunch at Cibreo was our best meal in Tuscany. The price/quality ratio was excellent, but compared to the food we had in Piedmont, and Liguria, this was nothing to write home about. Appetizer of crostini with chicken liver spread was excellent. The first courses were potato and ricotta flan that was delicate and delicious, and pureed porcini mushroom soup that was creamy and comforting. The main courses were raw sliced tuna, and stuffed chicken neck. Raw sliced tuna was just that - raw sliced tuna. There was some chopped raw celery on the plate, and some olive oil. The tuna was of excellent quality, and tasted very good once we added a little salt. The chicken neck was stuffed with minced chicken and veal, poached, and served cold with mayo. It was overall pretty good, but somehow one dimensional. The flourless chocolate cake was very rich and bitter. I am not a big chocolate eater, but Jason liked it. The cheesecake with orange marmalade was very creamy, but too salty for me (maybe salted cheese?) |
| Rome | |
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Al Bric Meal for 2 without wine: about 100 Euro Via del Pellegrino 51, Rome / Phone: 06-687-9533 |
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Al Bric is a very cute and cozy restaurant with exposed brick walls, candles, and lots of wine memorabilia. The wine list is huge, and offers a full range of price levels. Appetizer of fried artichoke heart with cheese and bacon was very yummy. The gnocchi with tomato and shrimp sauce were incredible - very intense shrimp flavor and tender gnocchi texture. The linguini with chicken liver ragu weren't as flavorful as I hoped, but had good textures. The main courses were both disappointing. The beef stew with Barolo had the texture of well done meat that wasn't cooked long enough to become really tender. The duck breast with foie gras sauce and truffles was disappointing considering the ingredients used - it didn't really have the richness of foie gras or the aroma of truffles. Overall, we found the food to be inconsistent and not really worth its price. |
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Cul de Sac
Meal for 2 without wine: 40-50 Euro
Piazza Pasquino, 73, Rome / Phone: 0668801094 |
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We had a fun meal in this wine bar on our last night in Rome. We got a plate of 3 different pâtés all of which were delicious (particularly rabbit). The tomatoes stuffed with rice were very flavorful, but maybe a tad too salty. The marinated eggplant was excellent and not greasy (lots of vinegar and just a touch of oil). Burgundy snails with herb butter were too salty, and the only dish I wouldn't order again. Figs cooked in light syrup were stuffed with cheese and served in whipped cream. It was a perfect dessert to end a great last meal. Cul de Sac is extremely popular, so come very early or expect to wait a very long time. |
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Gusto Meal for 2 without wine: 40-50 Euro Piazza Augusto Imperatore 9, Rome / Phone: 06-322-6273 |
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I don't know why people rave about Gusto. It's chic, it's yappy, and it serves good pizza, but nothing out of the ordinary. I think we would enjoy the whole experience more if the staff wasn't rude to us. We came around 3pm on Sunday and were hoping to get some wine and snacks at the bar. The only thing they had available were 2 types of canapés. The toppings were good, but the bread was mushy and reminded me of Wonderbread. Since there weren't more bar snacks for us to try (maybe we came at a bad time?), we ordered two pizzas with prosciutto and mushrooms. They were very good thin crust pizzas with a flavorful sauce and good toppings. If you are in the area, it's a good place to eat, but I wouldn't go out of my way for it. |
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Il Vineto
Via Vittoria Veneto 6, Rome / Phone: 06 486617 |
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We only had 2 glasses of wine and 2 snacks at this bar, but they were fantastic. I had a little pastry shell with arugula and cheese filling and Jason had a toast topped with truffle spread and cheese. I wish we could come back here for dinner. Maybe next time we are in Rome. |
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