San Domenico in Imola(near Bologna)makes dining delicious, elegant and a true two Michelin star experience(6-29-19)

Knowing that Imola was about 40 minutes east of Bologna, I suggested we hop the fast train heading there last night and we arrived in 20 minutes flat with a ten minute walk to the restaurant through the quaint and quiet town. San Domenico sits opposite the huge churchyard of the same name and we got worried again when we saw all the elegant outdoor umbrellas and awnings as seating here was also outside. We gave it a try and indeed there was a breeze and it was quite pleasant as we arrived at 8pm. Three hours later by the end of dinner, we were all wishing for the air conditioning! Service here was impeccable and the gorgeous woven peach colored linens, silver chargers and elegant glassware and silverware were all top notch. There were several tastings and a la carte(which Samuel did) and Will & I opted for the shorter 6 course option which of course was about 10 courses in the end! Priced at 160Euros(about $180), this was a deal for a top quality 2 Michelin star establishment where Chef Valentino Mercattilli kept looking out the door to survey his staff and clientele; he was very hand on. All the staff were sheer perfection and we even got extra wine for the pairings when we asked. The wine pairings were an extra 80Euros and well worth the price as the wine prices here are not 20 Euros a bottle as elsewhere but more like our USA prices of 30-80 Euros).

Sam started with the Tortellini with Prosciutto & Pea Sauce which is one of the definitive specialties of this area and he declared it truly amazing. He went on to the Lambetto di agnello nostrano con crema di piselli al basilico which was also our last course in the tasting menu before the desserts.The lamb was cooked perfectly with another peas sauce, here with balsamic (which we learned a lot about on our day tour of the factory in Modena. 

But I am moving too fast, as we sat there were beautifully displayed grissini on the table with slightly spiced and salted chips(think large pita chips). Will & I started with Campari & Tonic, because we had forgotten how refreshing they are on a hot day and Sam had a nice Moretti blond beer. We moved on to even more refreshing Sbalgiato's which were beautifully served with the prosecco poured at the table. Everything here was about service, presentation and elegance...and it was all great.

The amuses began to arrive and seemed to go on and on. First (sorry I forgot the FB photo) was Sea Bass Tartare loaded with flavor but simple and classy in a silver spoon, gazpacho with basil, veal terrine with tuna sauce (I think this was my favorite), mussel with parsley sauce & toasted walnut and then watermelon & burrata on a toothpick.!! These were cleared tvo make room for the next two seats. Fried tortellini, mini-grilled fontina cheese & ham on toast, aubergine with coffee powder and tomato jelly and the magnificent lollipop sticks with fried olives stuffed with lamb and pork(maybe this was my fave)--FB photos of these are online now!

Our trips to the loo were even adorably cute as the bathrooms have a pushbutton door in front of them as if you are taking an elevator, but it is just a door and they are elegant and clean and loaded with accolades for the chef.

Our first wine arrived and I was thrilled to see a sweet Chateau Simon 2014 Sauternes from Barsac for the foie gras dish, Mattonella di fegato d'oca, a goose foie with golden apple puree, pork jelly, port and balsamic reductions and toasted brioche and fruitbreads. It was simply divine and made great love of the simple rich meat with the tasty accoutrements.

Cuore di filetto baccala in olio cultura was a superb steamed cod with potato emulsion, tomato powder and tomato chips. The wine was Tres Plus from Orlando Abrigo 2016 Langhe in Piemonte made from chardonnay and nascieta, a blend I could easily drink a lot of.!! 

We moved on to a less exciting white blend of 2017 Frescobaldi Poggio alle Gazze which accompanied the gorgeos Noci di Cappasante alla plancia a grilled sea scallop in a reduction of oyster & dry Martini sauce with small clams. Even Will who is not a scallop fan fell in love with this dish.

Uovo in Ravolo "San Domenico" is one of the signature dishes here and I think it has been on the menu since 1970. I was so enthralled when it arrived, I devoured half of the huge ravioli stuffed with egg and served in brown butter sauce with parmigiano and  white truffles. A photo of half the dish can be seen on Facebook! The wine was a 2018 Cersuolo d'Abruzzo from Valle Reale; I felt like we were on a wine tour of Italy!

We had started to feel full, but the timing of the dishes was simply perfect and we knew just one more savory was coming until the sommelier poured another white wine, Chablis 2015 1er Cru from Julien Baillard meant that something off the menu was arriving and we marveled at the special treat of Toasted onion and caramelized sugar Risotto as more and more different breads(fig, local and so much more) were offered and our heads began to spin.

A long rest came before the lamb and I had to offer Sam and Will most of my portion, though it was not so large. It was tasty, but I was filling up fast. The red wine was a 2015 Thea Tremonti/Sangiovese which was local and ideal with the intensity of the meat.

Will prayed that we would get only the one dessert on the menu, but I laughed and then cherries, apricots and cookies(coconut amaretto and fruit) as well as chocolate cake arrived with a flourish as a Viva La Pepa Manzanilla Sanchez Romate was served. I am not a dry Sherry fan, so I let Sam have it as the intense Textures of Chocolate Dessert arrived which can be seen in the FB photo as it defies explanation. Different percentages of chocolates were arrayed in different textures and designs making for a marvelously beautiful presentation, and I did manage to have several bites before declaring an end.

I am glad that this is as high as we go in stars and tonight we head back to a very local in town trattoria for our last night in Bologna.

But no fear folks, we head to Parma tomorrow, home of the famous prosciutto, which I am surely to feature here.

Ciao belli.

Marconi in Sasso Marconi makes for some novel esoteric food, but perhaps its Michelin star sways a bit(6-28-19)

We decided to dine about 25 minutes out of town at the novel and exciting Marconi in the small village of Sasso Marconi, south of Bologna. Chef Aurora Mazzucchelli has earned a Michelin star for her innovative cuisine which verges on odd, but has some wonderful flavors. Alas, we arrived at 730pm to a deserted space and they escorted us onto a large shaded terrace where all the tables were most elegantly set. We all looked at each other in the 90+degree heat and settled in to melt. We ordered some water and then more and more and a bottle of the De Fratelli Extra Brut Ca' de Noci 2014 which is made by the owners of the restaurant and was quite refreshing with a deep amber color and a slight hint of yeast. A server brought over a small tray covered with a towel and showed us a loaf of raw dough and whisked it away to cook for us. We looked at the menu and could not agree on a multi-course meal(everyone at the table must choose the same number of courses) so went a la carte.

A while later we were served some bread made from camut flour, sweet potato and almond with an EVOO from Loretto Apertino in Abruzzo, which was nice, but Will did not like it at all...Amuses arrived on multiple plates and we were happy. A small bowl of bacon cream with egg yolk mixed in and barley crumbs for a crunch which was heavenly was first followed by adorable giant toothpicks held vertical in salt(FB pictures abound) skewered with fried octopus and fried whitefish(bianchetto). A large plate had multiples foreach of us of fried meatballs, a pickled and fried radish(extremely intense flavor), fried pasta, bread with mayo and red shrimp for us and paprika-mayo for Sam, beignet with mortadella mousse and pistachio which was a favorite for us all and something with monkfish butter.

It took us a while to get through all these yummy and odd bites and we wondered if the chef had a fetish for frying?? 

We finished our bubbly and ordered a bottle of Sacrisassi 2014 La Due Terre from Friuli to the north of us made from Shioppettino, Refresco and Prepotto grapes, all new to us. The wine had an intense Sulphurous nose, but we all agreed it was tasty with our quite wild starters.

Will had the Octopus with fig leaf milk, salted lemon & thyme mayo sauce and I chose the Hering Ice Cream with peach sauce and raw rose shrimps. The former came shaped and cannelloni as a play on pasta and mine was wonderfully tasty and novel. Sam skipped the first course and went directly to the pasta, but before that the loaf of bread arrived and the baker broke it open to steam and cool tableside. It was so hot we had to wait a good 15minutes before we could eat it, and it was delish!

Sam had the Parmigiano Reggiano cheese tortelli with lavender, nutmeg and almonds, Will chose the Pasta with pork and ricotta while I had the Risotto with raw fish mosaic which was huge and tasty with raw shrimp(gamberetto), scallop, amberjack and egg sac all topped with algae powder.

I moved to a glass of red wine with a Pignoletto Classico Vigna del Grotto from Vigneto San Vito in Orsi right in Bologna which was ideal with my Lamb flank, brains, sweetbread, tongue and cheek served with cheese bread crumbs which needed only a small veggie on the side. Will had the Sweet & Sour Eel which was smokey with white corn polenta and leeks while Sam went for the Diaphragm of beef with red algae and caramelized onion.

We were all quite full and my risotto was huge, so we agreed to split one dessert, but first came yogurt mousse with tapioca for all and then the main dessert of White Chocolate, Fruit Ceviche(it had a slight spice, but not intense like some ceviches),arugula ice cream and lime. Yup you read that right. Grapes, blueberries, apricot and wild strawberries were in the mix and overall it was a huge success.

Next the cuter guy who was helping our server came over with a huge cone of chocolate truffle which he shaved for us tableside(video on FB) and offered up a tone of different cookies with custard to dip in; we were glad we ordered one dessert!

We headed back to town full and surely a bit confused about food logistics, but felt that the experience was a bit too outre for us.

Tonight--2 Michelin stars(we are moving up!) at San Domenico in Imola about 30 minutes east of Bologna.

Bologna's Trattoria di Via Serra will send you to taste heaven(6-27-19)

We had only arrived in Bologna about 8 hours earlier after a long travel day and night, but were getting excited about our first dinner. Trattoria di Via Serra was recommended to me by Chef Gerard Craft of St. Louis and he was spot on when he said it is as good and authentic local food you can get here. Everything is local, natural and even better, delicious using the freshest ingredients possible. I had to beg the concierge of our hotel weeks ahead to get us in as he said they really cannot get through to this place on the phone....so he walked 15 minutes there and back and made the reservation in person!! Bravo Massimo! Massimo also told us what to eat before we left!

The place is small and opens at 8pm, so on arrival it was quiet and almost empty. By 9pm it was full of loud local families, young couples, us and more all having the best of times. The tables have chequered cloths with brown paper on top and everything here is really about the food. The manager, Flavio, was helpful and oh so kind offering menus in English and Italian and explaining every dish so very carefully. There were specials and it was so hard to choose so we decided to share some items as well.

A bottle of local Albana Secca DOCG from Fratta Minore in nearby Castel San Pietro Terme was a superb perfumed white that we all adored(yes, it is legal here for 16 year olds to drink!) and paired so well with our first Fritelle di Ricotta e Ceci con Salsa Rossa which was a chick pea fritter with ricotta and the yummiest of (red pepper?)sauces. Tosone avvolto nella Pancetta e cotto al forno is a very local specialty and is made of local Parmeggiano Reggiano wrapped in a slice of pancetta then roasted and served over a salad with the famous local Balsamico di Modena. Rich as hell, but so tasty as well, I can only describe it as like a grilled cheese sandwich with bacon, but no bread! 

We all chose pasta dishes but both Sam & Will went for the Massimo-recommended Tagliatelle disfoglia Gialla which is the house made tagliatelle in a Prosciutto di Parma sauce that is earthy and gutsy. I split my pasta with Will halfway and when it arrived, I went to cut it with a knife down the center and Flavio almost had a heart attack as it is truly a sin to cut long pasta here! My choice was the truly local Chitarra con porcini e galletti(a local mushroom related to the chanterelle) which is a local black pasta that gets its color from the local walnuts(more on them later). Also gutsy and earthy, both pastas were truly in our top ten pasta lists of all time. Sam liked his so much, he ordered a second plate as his main course.

We switched to a red from the same winemaker Fratta Minore, a 2015 Sangiovese Superiore Riserva which is so different from the same grape in nearby Tuscany with Tagliata di contro filetto di Manzo which was a sirloin roasted with aromatic salt, EVOO and served with roasted potatoes which oddly was hard to cut, yet so tender when chewed! My Noce di Manzo con Salsa Tonnata is another local dish I could eat every day. The rare roast beef is sliced and layed out like a flower with the tuna sauce at the center like a flower's center and while similar to Vitello Tonnato, the dish has more guts from the beef.

I was going to order cheese for dessert but then I saw the "cheesecake" at the next table and Flavio insisted we try it. La Torta di Ricotta tipo "cheesecake" con il Caramello al Sale Cervia e Limone was a magnificent piece of ricotta-based cake with no sweetness like what we have in the USA. Here the sweetness came from a salted caramel glaze that was simply heavenly. Sam tried the yummy Torta Cioccolatino fondente senza farina e lieveto or a flourless chocolate cake with molten inside and whipped cream; need I say more. Chef Tommaso Mario came out to greet us and we were all over him with raves about the amazing meal on our first night here. 

Having been to many regions in Italy, we are familiar with many local traditions, but did not recognize the bottle of brown liqueur set on each table with glasses for all at the end of each meal. Liquor di noce is walnut and rich and thick and has a high alcohol content to boot, but we indulged, because as we say "when in Emilia Romagna, do as the Bolognese do...."

We are off to an amazing start and can't wait for our first Michelin star tonight.

DC's CENTROLINA is always a champion(6-13-19)

Last night I had the pleasure of taking 5 of this summer's Wolf Trap Opera singers & staff to dinner at CENTROLINA after three of them gave a stellar recital at the Phillips Collection here in DC(info on that on FB). On arrival about 10 minutes early our table was not ready and the hostess suggested we could dine outside which was quite nice as the alley was cool, upscale and quieter than the dining room. We ordered some bubbly, got our bread and the rain began to plop down on us in big drops. So we headed inside and there were no tables for almost 25 minutes which was a bit of a mess, but the team there under Chef Amy Brandwien is so great they really made up for it.  

We had already enjoyed some house bubbly as the bottle I ordered needed some chilling and then when on to a yummy Murgo Brut for Sicily, a winery on the slopes of Mt. Etna which I adore.  We finished this off at the indoor table and a superb amuse of toasted focaccia with goat cheese, roasted cherry and pistachio arrived. Our servers Kathryn, aided  by Bridget, worked very hard to make sure the timing was superb. The big treat of the night was the family style Summer Harvest Menu which was $55 per person and four amazing courses, each with multiple dishes. The six of us looked at the menu and were convinced instantly not to go al la carte.

The first course(all photos on FB) was an amazing ROSSO beet carpaccio with beet leaves and pesto which I marveled at how went so well with the beets. the beets were huge and paper thin and even one of us who said they "don't eat" beets, had seconds!  BURRATA came with strawberries, basil and mint(I didn't taste that) and it was nice, but I am not a fan of burrata with fruit, but these berries were superb and tasty and the dish was a nice foil. The INVOLTINI was collard greens filles with lamb sausage and chickpeas which were simply divine.

The pasta course was next and I had a glass of the always excellent Grillo from Paolo Cali "Blues" 2016 also from Sicily which was ideal with all the pastas. the set menu had two pastas: TRANGOLI  or giant ravioli of ricotta with roasted sweet potato and charred swiss chard & PAPPARDELLE with kale, white bolognese (made from veal), sage and parmigiano. The pappardelle are always my favorite as this recipe goes back to when Chef Amy was at Galileo and her pasta heritage is truly amazing. One of our guests did not eat beef/veal so chef sent out two extra portions of non-beef pastas and they were amazing. the GNOCCHI of norma, eggplant, tomato, basil, buffalo mozzarella and one of my favorites the NERI of squid ink, tuna crudo, nonnata di pesce with hint of spicy chili around the edge of the bowl that you can take as much of as you please. I took a lot, and loved the raw tuno topping which I can't ever recall having this way before!

The main courses were a perfectly cooked MERLUZZO or Norwegian Cod with cuttlefish ragu, coco Bianca, basil and enoki mushrooms paired with the most wonderful CONGILIO of Path Valley rabbit with roasted turnips, braised greens and carrot creme. We had moved on to ana amazing Sangiovese, but not from Tuscany. The  Tre Monti "Thea" Superiore  Riserva 2013  was from Emilia Romagna where we head in 12 days and I have to say it was as smooth and superb as any fine wine from Tuscany--can't wait to try more.

The dessert on the menu was BIGNE but this was preceded by two extra desserts of Carrot Torte and Zucchoto, a flourless chocolate cake with chocolate and mint semifreddo that was awesome(from anon-mint person!).  The Bigne however were a revelation indeed and the finale to a truly brilliant meal. these fried-like profiteroles are nothing like their boring relatives and were filled with roasted cherries and hazelnut crema...all I could think was "profiteroles go home!

It was a memorable and amazing night for all!!