Aroma Cucina

We'll Always Have Paris

Revisiting an old love can be dangerous. You want the object of your love to be the same as when you last saw her, but you know that isn’t possible. More than ten years have passed since we’ve been to Paris, and the Paris we loved has changed.

We wanted to revisit our old haunts, to see if Café Gamin was still in the Marais serving the quintessential steak tartare. No. It’s gone. Replaced by a Maje clothing shop. I walked in hoping to see even one spec of the old candle wax drippings, or some ghost of the small plates of dried sausage with radishes and butter. But no, the shop gleams with international chain store blandness, nestled between other chain stores that could be found anywhere.

We came to Paris wanting to eat a buttery croissant that would leave crumbs everywhere. We wanted entrecote with endless frites, garlicky frogs legs, oysters and maybe a plateau of seafood. We wanted to sit at a sidewalk café, sip something and watch the world go by. We did manage to do most of this, although there were no frog legs to be had and we never did find the time for the entrecote and fries.

We came armed with a list of restaurants to try, some from our intrepid eater friend Mitch and recommendations from chefs I had met at #Mad4 in Copenhagen. Mitch had warned us that Paris was in danger of being Brooklyn on the Seine. 

But, I’ll take this one step further.  The bare wood tables, the simple place settings (with maybe a lovely bespoke serving piece), and the oh-so-casual service, have become the food world’s international style. We could have been in Portland, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Williamsburg or Paris. The linen tablecloth, snotty sommelier and white-jacketed waiters are all relegated to your grandmother’s closet; now we can perch on backless stools at a rough-hewn counter and only wish there was decent service.

As the unique shops of Paris are vanishing, being replaced by international chains, so the design ethics of the restaurants have become homogenized. That’s not to say you won’t eat well, even magnificently, in Paris, but good service and tablecloths have become relics of a bygone era.

We did manage to eat magnificently and have excellent service at Restaurant David Toutain and Septime.

Septime, with its one Michelin star, is a friendly, laid back, open-kitchen affair. We opted for the 6 course tasting menu, because …well, because we were in Paris!  

We tasted our savory way through a veal tartare dish that got its smoky flavor from a codfish cream emulsion, a single oyster floating in a pool of mushroom broth, a divine crispy rouget fish filet that sat next to a silky watercress puree, crackling-skinned baby chicken in a tiny puddle of fragrant black pepper broth.  But why stop there when a cheese course has been offered? The thinnest shavings of feta cheese with salt, pepper and bright green olive oil was a perfect finish to the savory courses. Now, onto the sweet: a fragrant vanilla cream with fruit and then a verbena/thyme gelato with crispy apple museli. (Septime Photos Here.)

  It was a lovely meal that left us full, and a bit sleepy. True confession: we took a restorative nap on the lawn of the Place de Vosges; one of our very favorite places on the planet.

The next day, we were off to lunch at David Toutain. Not quite three days in Paris means we must be strong and eat until we cannot eat no more!

Whereas Septime’s decor was channeling lower Manhattan meets Brooklyn, David Toutain’s is zen and sparse, more midtown than downtown, but with a pleasant, approachable atmosphere.We opted for the surprise and delight menu because…well, you know, we were in Paris!

Toutain’s dishes were a mystery of mastery. Beautiful to look at, with their clever serving plates that never veered into ridiculous or theatrical, each dish was an elegant composition of flavors and textures.  

The amuse was a roasted stalk of salsify root perched on an artistic pile of branches. It looked scary, tough and chewy but the root was soft, yielding and unctuous when dipped into the accompanying parsnip and white chocolate cream.

For the next course, we were presented with an egg-shaped bowl containing a lurid red tube resting on a bed of seedy grains. Hmmmm…  We were instructed, more than once, that this was to be consumed in one bite. It looked big for one bite, but what the hell. Jeff went first and the look on his face made me grab for mine. A thin tube of beet root glass shattered at the first bite, and released a pillowy soft cream that had an earthy essence along with a smoky hint of acid.  When the lovely woman came over to remove the plates, I begged for more…forget the rest of the meal, just let me eat beets! She laughed and then came back with two more of these exquisite morsels. I love that woman!

The various plates used flavor combinations that sound precious, but were actually harmonious, leading your tongue into new territory. Mackerel and coffee, caramel and egg, carrot nestled next to verbena cream, black sesame with apple all worked in ways that reminded me of Shola Olunloyo’s Studio Kitchen in Philadelphia. 

The sweets were a bit of a mystery to me. I thought perhaps another chef was responsible for the deserts as the combinations were not as fluid. Cauliflower cream didn’t quite meld with the coconut ice cream (But they witheld the chocolate on my portion because I can’t eat chocolate so that may be the reason it didn’t quite work…but then don’t serve the dish if it’s missing the bridge, right?).  Then there was a crème brule’ with whimsical tuiles, but lurking underneath the crème was an aggressively hand soap flavored ice cream that destroyed the crème delicacy.  Jeff didn’t object to the sweets as much as I did, but that could be because he was having a moment with his buried chocolate truffle. (David Toutain photos here.)

 On one point, we have to disagree with Mitch. There are not a lot of cocktail bars or a vibrant cocktail scene. Sure, there are places that say cocktail on the door, but they don’t really mean it. And what’s with mojitos being the default cocktail? Don’t they belong at the beach on a hot day, not overcast, chilly Paris?  Le Mary Celeste will satisfy your cocktail cravings, but you’d best keep the craving to a minimum.

All in all, it was great to be in Paris for a few days, but as always, it’s fun to come home! 

David Toutain Address: 29 Rue Surcouf, 75007 Paris Phone:+33 1 45 50 11 10

 

Septime Address: 80 Rue Charonne, Paris, 11 Phone: +33 01 43 67 38 29

Le Mary Celeste Address: 1 Rue Commines, 75003 Paris, France  Phone:+33 9 80 72 98 83

 

 

 

Never Forgotten: Locanda al Gambero Rosso

 It was a bittersweet dinner at Locanda al Gambero Rosso. A restaurant we’ve loved, that we’ve called our favorite in the whole world, will shut the lights and shutter their doors at the end of August. Our hearts are broken, but we are looking forward to the next chapters in the lives of Giuliana, Moreno, Michela and Paolo.

Being in the kitchen, for very long hours, day after day, will take its toll on anyone and Giuliana and Moreno have chosen to take a well-deserved break from the demands of running a restaurant.

We were honored that Moreno sat and talked with us throughout our dinner. We’ve always felt a strong connection to this delicious man who is so tied to the history and flavors of his area.

Moreno is a master forager, whose knowledge of the fields and woods in his area is unsurpassed. What Giuliana knows about how to finesse every bit of flavor out of these foraged bits makes her truly a Master Chef.

Long before terroir and foraging became trendy, people were combing the steep, rugged hills around San Piero in Bagno looking for something edible. It was survival foraging, not an enhancement to a plate, but something to keep going for another day.

Now, the term ‘cucina povera’ conjures up images of warm bean soups lovingly ladled into big soup bowls. The reality was much, much harsher. A daily diet of hoarded beans or chickpeas, the foraged greens and maybe a speck of precious meat grows monotonous day after day after day. Its not romantic, its sustenence.

And now, one of our most treasured links to this history is about to change.

Of course we asked, why are you closing? Can’t someone continue in the tradition of Gambero Rosso?  Moreno shook his head and said, “Italians don’t care anymore.”  This is something we’ve heard him say before, but this time it was said with such sadness and resignation that we asked him to explain.

 He said  ‘cucina povera’ is something that people want to forget, they are embarrassed by this history. In a parallel fashion, it’s something we, as first or second generation Amercians, can understand. Our grandparents emigrated to the US and wanted their children to assimilate, so out of embarrassment they chose not to teach them their native language, but let them speak only English. And so, subsequent generations lost a significant chunk of their culture.  

Moreno, we think things are more positive than you imagine. The pendulum is swinging back as more and more people are looking to cherish and honor their roots.

People are encouraging Giuliana and Moreno to publish a cookbook. We say YES! We want a way to hold onto what you’ve painstakingly learned; we want a record of all the flavors, the history and the love you put into every dish you served.  I’ll never make the famous zuppe dell’erbe the way you do, but every time I do make my version of it, I honor you.

Great opportunities await. Michela and Paolo will lend their fine sensibilities and sense of discovery to a new venture in Forli, with Giuliana and Moreno consulting...when they feel like it!

As the diners left and the night grew late, the feeling in this joyous restaurant was a determination to keep the spirit of Gambero Rosso alive. The battle cry as everyone was leaving was the same, “A Forli!", so we will travel to Forli to see the new adventure. In bocca al lupo!

 

 

 

 

The Mediterranean Are-You-Kidding-Me Diet

 
What exactly is this Mediterranean diet everyone speaks of?

Having lived on a Mediterranean island for a few weeks, where eating anything other than the local diet wasn’t really possible, I’m going to say it’s very delicious, but I'm not so sure it travels well.

 

Recently, UNESCO declared the “Mediterranean Diet” an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Quite a mouthful.

 The UNESCO designation includes seven countries: Greece, Cyprus, Croatia, Spain, Italy, Morocco and Portugal. While it emphasizes olive oil, wine and fish, it places an equal emphasis on community, heritage and being physically active. They have an institutional video that explains it all. Apparently the diet may also cause women to prematurely age, have frizzy grey hair that’s always in a bun and wear lumpy black cardigans. If you are a man, your hands are shaped like grape vines, your nose resembles a tuber and you like to wear straw hats.

Health studies came out declaring this the perfect, heart-healthy diet. Eat Med and live to be 100, drink red wine, eat fish, and make love all night long. (OK, I made up the part about living to be 100.  However, Ancel Keys, who researched and wrote about the Mediterranean diet from his little hamlet of Pioggi in Calabria, did live to be 100.)

  The Mayo Clinic in the US calls it a diet plan. The heart-healthy Mediterranean [sic] is a healthy eating plan based on typical foods and recipes of Mediterranean-style cooking.

 An entire regional culture, with its gazillion variations, has been reduced to a diet plan?  I know that’s a sound bite, but “diet plan” sounds so….medical.

 From the patient.co.uk website: The term 'Mediterranean Diet' describes a specific mix of dietary food ingredients, shown, to promote health and long life in people from many countries, including the UK and USA.

Whew! Good to know it covers the UK and USA. You guys in South America and Australia…I’m really sorry. Seems you are out of luck.

 And more good news: “For example, using a range of fruit and vegetables gives the body maximum access to sources of vitamins, minerals and other trace nutrients. This is quite logical, because it's only recently that supermarkets have been able to make foods available throughout the year. This counteracts natural seasonal variety in the human diet.”

Counteracts natural seasonal variety? Who knew it had to be counteracted?? I’m supposed to be grateful that I can now eat tomato-like orbs all year long?

 

The Mediterranean diet feels like the six blind men who go to see an elephant. Each one feels a different part of the elephant, and thinks they’ve seen the ‘whole’ elephant.

Myth v. Reality of the Mediterranean Diet

  Myth: Gloriously simple food, served al fresco on a summer night, a long table filled with family and friends.

Picture this dinner: grilled fish, glistening with local olive oil, seasoned with an organic lemon and a branch of rosemary.  There are side dishes of leafy green salads, loaves of fresh bread, stacks of vibrant green beans and a bowl of peaches for dessert.

Reality: Food that has minimal preparation needs to be very fresh and flavorful.

That glorious fish is whole, and it has bones. Try finding a whole fish with bones in a US fish market. Using the whole fish means it will stay moister, and bones add flavor. A grilled filet of tilapia is a close cousin of grilled cardboard.

 

Most urban dwellers, and that includes urban Europeans, would kill to have outdoor space for a family of four, let alone an extended family of twenty.  Throwing a piece of filet of sole in a pan and eating in front of a computer is nowhere near as much fun.

 Myth: This is an affordable way to eat.

Reality: They call the Whole Foods stores Whole Paychecks for a reason. The US government subsidies corn, not cauliflower. Extra virgin olive oil costs more than corn oil.  Fresh fish costs more than a fast food burger.  Kids raised on cake and ice cream for dessert aren’t so happy with a crunchy tasteless peach.  (Except for our son, who was born a fruitaholic. When he was little we sent him to sleep-away camp and he called home, crying, “They are making me eat cake!” He was not consoled when they offered him fruit cocktail.)

 

Myth: You can eat like this all year round.

Reality: No you can’t. Even when you take into account those fancy ass supermarkets that offer the same few vegetables all year round (Broccoli…I’m talking to you.) They are imported from various parts of the world, and things cost more or taste better at different times of the year. 

And you know if you have a garden that its a very small window of opportunity to harvest and preserve the best of the season.

 Why am I so down on the Mediterranean diet?

I’m not. I love eating this way when I can.

 I am down on the marketing of this diet. I’m down on people not realizing that it’s more than the sum total of the number of calories and nutrients in a ripe tomato. 

It takes thousands of years of heritage to know when to fish for swordfish without destroying the swordfish population. It's hand-me -down knowledge to know how to perfectly preserve the artichokes so they retain flavor and crunch. Or to know when to go out and forage for the oregano or capers so they’ll be tasty and they’ll grow back again next year.

 

And to know that it is physically demanding labor to fish and forage and grow vegetables. Much more physically demanding than going to the supermarket.

 

If there is a moral here, it’s to trust your common sense. You know you are eating healthier if it’s fresh food, not processed.  You know exercise matters. You know it’s more fun to have friends over for dinner than to eat alone.   And for god’s sake, don’t feel guilty if you have that occasional burger in front of the TV.

 As our chef friend Maurizo says, “Enjoy life. Nobody survives.”  And for me that sums up the very best of living the Mediterranean diet.

Barcelona: The Bold & The Quirky, 10 Places to Eat & Drink, Part 2

We're back...after a very quick trip to London. But, here's Part 2 of our Barcelona adventure.

6) Ohla Boutique Bar
More walking and then a little nap and then...it was time for another adventure! Off we went, in search of...tapas! You know, just some nibbles to keep us going. Somehow, along the way, the desire for a true cocktail got the best of us and we wound up at  Giuseppe Santamaria’s Ohla Boutique Bar.

Maybe it was the louche red swivel bird-cage seats, but this place oozed dark bar cool.  Maybe it was the cocktail menu that came with an index listing La Boutique, Twisted Libations, Library & Classics or Swing Collection that made us settle in to make a well considered choice. Maybe it was the cute waiter who clipped a little mag light to my swivel chair so I could actually read the menu, but it all seemed glamorous and fun to me.
My sister ordered a variation of the Negroni called El Conde. It was delicious, but the best part was “the roll”.  The roll is a cocktail mixing technique where you pour the ingredients from one frosty shaker to another in a thin stream that eventually turns from a stream to frozen beads of perfectly cold goodness, and it makes a damn good show.

I had the Oaxaca Bijou, a mysteriously smokey combination of Mezcal, sweet vermouth, Chartreuse and orange bitters. As a matter of fact, since I’ve just been gifted with some outstanding Mexcal..I’d love to have another one, right now!


7) Llamber
It was time for tapas. We asked our charming waiter, at Ohla,  “Where would you go for tapas?”
He suggested Llamber, just a short walk away, go down the main drag, turn right at the bus station.  We snagged a reservation for 11:30pm, which seemed just about right.

His bartending skills were better than his directions. It wasn’t quite that easy to find Llamber, but as the saying goes, getting there can be half the fun. Let’s just say, good thing we weren’t starving and had a good cocktail under our belt.

With it’s black awnings, rough hewn walls, mis-matched chairs, it loudly announces it’s chic-dom. What the hell, we finally found the place, I was going to let chic intimidate me.

In a word: marvelous. The menu takes itself a little too seriously, but if you get beyond the “Cod Marinated According to the Idea of Guacamole” and actually taste that cod, it’s damn good. The bits of cod came with melting mounds of avocado, meant to be scooped up with a warm yucca chip and accented with a teeny triangle of Tobasco gelatin. If that’s the chef’s idea of guacamole, well, that works for me.

Our stand out dish was the fried eggplant. My Northwest Pacific branch of the family likes their vegetables, so they ordered the eggplant. Whatever keeps the peace in the family, you know. Holey moley!  The eggplant cube was lightly dredged in flour, flash fried to a shatteringly thin crisp coating, enveloping a light as a cloud interior, then drizzled with a bit of honey, a few mint leaves and a sprinkle of salt.  I’ve made it 5 times since we are home and I haven’t even come close to that spectacular interior texture.

In the mood for potatoes? And who wouldn’t be in the mood for potatoes? Try this: small potatoes, meticulously scooped out and filled with a hazlenut praline and topped with blue cabrales cheese. Not in the mood for blue cheese, silly you...why not try the little potatoes filled with a ground meat and chipotle sauce. 

We weren’t quite satisfied yet, so we had to order a plate of salumi, but it was just one plate this time. We aren’t total gluttons.

Nanci & Peter left in the morning, setting off on a bike trip in the Dolomites, which left us one more day to keep up the culinary adventure. It wasn’t easy, but we bravely soldiered on, heading directly to the famous Boqueria market.

8) Boqueria
Yeah, it’s touristy. Yeah, it’s packed. Yeah, there are a lot of prepared foods and food bars. And yeah...this enormous market, right on La Ramba is big fun.
I’ve never seen so many variations of dried cod fish. We even attempted a little juice cleanse from one of the fruit vendors.  I came home with smoked paprika and some great smoked sea salt. Mission accomplished.
And who wouldn't want a little salumi on a stick to hold you over until lunch?

9) The Dry Martini
After our fruit juice purification, and a little light lunch,  it was time to get serious and head to one of the grand ol’ bars: Javier de Las Muela’s The Dry Martini.
This bar figures regularly in the Top Bars of the World websites, Javier de Las Muela is a world class mixologist, and our reliable friend Mitch of Tasty Travails told us we had to go.

I wasn’t sure what to expect, maybe trendy Barcelonites in stilettos (and I’m talking about the men). But no. While the stylish are welcome, so are the regulars with their battered briefcases wearing a thanks god the day is over look, and there was even a dude videoing every move our bartender made.  Our bartender didn’t seem to notice, he was the real deal. No show, just making drinks, never spilling a drop or raising an eyebrow. Except when I asked if I could have local vermouth in my Martinez, and he said, “Yes Madam, if that is something you would like.”  Clearly letting me know I was making a big mistake, but he would be happy to indulge me.

If you were studying psychology, this would be the place to hang out and observe life. We watched a mini-movie drama in a nearby booth. Youngish woman, clearly feeling no pain, is kissing and fondling an older man. Not much older, appropriately older. He’s kissing back, holding her hand, but a little uncomfortable that she’s carrying on like this. It looks like they are getting ready to leave the bar, gathering up their things, and she trips off to the ladies room. The ‘gentleman’  pays the bill and walks out the door, just splits and leaves her cold. The last image we have of her, she is standing on the street corner, looking for him, realizes he’s gone and smacks her hand to her forehead in disbelief. The End.

Wouldn’t you love to know some of the bartender stories? I bet they have a code of honor and their bar spoons are taken away if they ever spill the beans on their patrons. Take note of the very cool Dry Certified Counter, it counts the number of martini's they've served. Wonder if this is where Mickey D got the idea?

 
10) Speak Easy
OK, so we each had 2 cocktails, which is 1 cocktail beyond my limit, so the idea of traipsing around Barcelona to find food wasn’t all that appealing. Turns out The Dry Martini has a Speak Easy restaurant. You have to ask permission to go to the restaurant, you have to wait for a signal from the kitchen, and then you are escorted behind the bar, through the kitchen and into the wine and booze storeroom, where there are elegant, widely spaced tables.

Trying hard to be cool, trying to maintain that ‘clandestine’ edge, it’s a good, international style restaurant with distracted service. I had a red tuna tempura that had sat a moment too long under a heat lamp.  Jeff braved the suckling pig because he never passes up a chance to have baby pig, but it was just too rich for him. Then again, at this point, we probably should have gone back to the Boqueria and continued our juice cleanse.

Absolutely go to the Dry Martini, but you can skip the Speak Easy. They need to lighten up the atmosphere, get a little less serious and have some fun with the back room atmosphere.


And then our time was up, and it was time to hang up my dancing shoes and  go home. As always, it’s good to go away and good to come home.

Places to go:
*Xarcuteria La Pineda
Carrer del Pi, 16, Barcelona, Spain
34 933 024 393

*Bubo
Carrer de les Caputxes, 10, 08003 Barcelona, Spain
+34 932 68 72 24

Castel di Xavier
Carrer València, 360, 08009 Barcelona, Spain
34 934 58 34 18

*Cocktails & Friends

-C/Sardenya 371 esq. industria (gracia)
8025 Barcelona
*Ohla Boutique Bar
Via Laietana, 49, 08003 Barcelona, Spain

Llamber
Carrer de la Fusina 5, 08003 Barcelona, Spain
+34 933 19 62 50

The Dry Martini & SpeakEasy
Aribau, 162 - 166  08036 Barcelona, Spain
+34 932 17 50 80

Places to Stay:
Gran Hotel La Florida
Gran Hotel La Florida Ctra Vallvidrera al Tibidabo 83-93 08035 Barcelona

Violeta Boutique
Quirky little hotel hidden away in an old office/residential building

Caspe 38 St, 08010,
Barcelona, Spain

Airline: Vueling
(be sure to read their inflight magazine...beautifully done!)

Gaudi & Graffiti: Read up on the architect Antoni Gaudi before you go, otherwise you'll think you are just plain tripping when you see his builidings.  As for the graffiti pics at the top of the posts, we saw about four or five in this black and white style...very arresting.

My apologies for the wonky formatting on this post. I had some very unusual formatting issues. What's up Typepad? 

Barcelona: The Bold & The Quirky, 10 Places to Eat & Drink

Aside from food and wine, one of the great things about Europe is CHEAP FLIGHTS within Europe. These are not luxury flights, these are CHEAP FLIGHTS where any resemblance to comfort is purely accidental.   But, hey the flight isn’t long, and for about 50 bucks you can fly round trip from Pisa to Barcelona, so hell yeah, we went to Barcelona for a  long weekend.
This isn’t a “ Best of Barcelona” list, it’s a boy, did we have fun list...enjoy!

1) Gran Hotel La Florida
Our 30th anniversary celebration in August didn’t go as originally planned (teeming rain at the beach isn’t so much fun), so we decided to make amends and treat ourselves to a night at the Gran Hotel La Florida.  It’s way up in the hills, high above Barcelona, with sweeping views of the ocean, the mountains, and the bizarre amusement Parc del Tibidabo.  The Tibidabo has these crazy, old fashioned rides, and shares it’s space with a lovely old cathedral. Fancy seeing heavenly mosaics and then ride in a vintage WWII bomber over the city?

Our room faced the sea, and from our rain swept balcony (you’re picking up on the wet anniversary theme here, right? ) you could see forever, whenever the fog lifted.

We had originally planned to eat at the hotel’s  signature restaurant, L’Orangerie, but since I’d forgotten to make reservations and it was fully booked, we wound up having cocktails and tapas by the hotel pool bar, which turned out to be a perfect meal.  We started with excellent Manhattans...and caught on to the fact that Barcelona is a great cocktail town. This led to a plate of Iberico ham, which is ham crack. I was convinced they had elevated the unctuous oiliness of the ham with olive oil, but no, that divine oil slick was all from the ham itself. Salty, soft, yielding, moist...best of all worlds: ham AND sex on a plate.  The crunchy, slightly acidic pan con tomat was the perfect foil for the rich Iberico.  The flavor adventure that is Barcelona had begun!


Word of warning: Gran Hotel La Florida is a lovely get-away hotel. If you want to be in the city of Barcelona, this is not a great choice. There are no other restaurants, and other than the Parc and Cathedral, not much else to do.

The next day we descended from our glam hotel to the big city rumble of Barcelona.

We had some time to kill waiting for my sister and her husband to meet us, so what would you do? We went for some tapas at a little joint around the corner. By now we were tuning in to Barcelona hospitality and I was getting into the whole “Hola’!” thing..such a lovely word, so full of smiles and welcome.   Lots of little fishy things, stuffed olives, some cheeses and salumi, then when Peter and Nanci arrived the waitress treated us to a bottle of Cava because...well, just because!

The rest of the day we spent gawking at Gaudi’s, because that’s what you do when you are in Barcelona. Of course, all of that walking, leads to...hunger.  And there are no shortage of places to tempt you.


2) Xarcuteria La Pineda
We stumbled into “Xarcuteria La Pineda”. It is a veritable palace of salumi and cheese in the old medieval section, off La Rambla.

Our plan was a little wine, a little Iberico, but one thing led to another, which led to another plate of ham, which led to another bottle of wine. You know how those things go when you are falling in love...and we were falling in love with Spanish salumi.

La Pineda closes around dinner time in Barcelona, so we were ejected from the place around 9:00pm and took to wandering the streets again.

3) Bubo
Eventually coffee and a little something dolce seemed like a good idea and we stumbled upon this gem of a dessert temple where art and food happily co-exist. Tiny, perfect, jewel sized desserts nestled in their cases, just begging to be tasted. How could we resist?  After a sampling of their splendors, we wandered home, satiated by a day of culinary and cultural adventures.


Sunday morning, it was time to get serious about a breakfast place. Choosing a morning coffee bar is very serious business. Our first attempt, close to where we were staying was a disaster...bad coffee and really untouchable pastries. Our second try was a little better. The coffee was decent, and the ‘tortilla’ was hot and good. Tortilla is like a dense egg, potato, onion frittata that I could learn to love. Our third try was golden..we’d found our bar! Great coffee, superb breads, delicious pastries...why hadn’t we found you sooner? Yes, we had three breakfasts. I told you this was serious.


4) Castell de Xativa
Equally important, we were on a mission to find great, not good, paella. We googled around and came across the “Spotted by Locals” website that talked up a paella place called “Castell de Xativa”.  
After a fair bit of GPS googling, and a few multi lingual phone calls, we finally found this modest restaurant. It is definitively an old school paella destination. You knew it was good by the smells, by the people coming in with empty pans they were returning and walking out with filled paella pans. Must be a Sunday ritual to have take-out paella. I could get into that. 

We opted for three different paellas: seafood, rabbit and one that used vermicelli instead of rice. All different, all delicious, although the vermicelli variation is probably something you need to get used to.

5) Cocktails & Friends
After lots more walking and Gaudi-ing, it was very late afternoon and time for a little somethin-somethin’.  I wanted to experience the local ‘vermut’ culture, so we thought we’d give   “Cocktails & Friends” a try.  They offered a white and red vermouth martini: lots of vermouth, a splash of gin and a slice of fruit. We tried a red, and a white, and couldn’t pick a favorite, as both were light and refreshing. The key seems to be the locally made vermouth, which we found very pleasant. Although some upscale barkeeps we later encountered turned their noses up at the local product.

 

Part 2....coming up tomorrow!

And a pretty picture to keep you happy until then.

Drums, Flags & Sausage: Festa in Montone!

It’s August, so it must be Ferragosto, and if it’s Ferragosto, then it must be festa time in Montone!  We are in the midst of our annual, week long medieval festival, the Donazione della Santa Spina.

August 15 is the official Ferragosto holiday in Italy, but one can go ‘on ferie’ (fair-ee-a) or vacation, anytime during the summer.  We can all thank Emperor Augustus who, back in 18 B.C., thought it was a great idea to take a little break from work during the dog days of summer.

Yeah, great idea! Only somehow Montone lost that message in the space time continuum. More work gets done than is humanly possible, more tasks, more meetings, more planning sessions. It is an epic marathon where you participate by suspending all of your natural rhythms like breakfast, dinner and bedtime...and just roll along, doing what needs to get done.  Pretend you are organizing a wedding with all the planning that involves; now pretend you are organizing 6 weddings in one week. OK...that gives you an inkling of what’s going on here in town.  I wolfed down a piece of Jeff’s left over steak at 1:30 am because that’s what time I could eat. Worked just fine, me, the cats and a good book. (Anyone else read "The English Girl"? Timely topic, eh?)

Quick primer: Montone is divided into three riones (or teams), which are very loosely based on geography and we compete for the palio.  The word palio comes from the Latin word pallium for fabric, which in our case is a beautifully painted banner. Each year a new banner is created and they are endearingly unique.

In Siena, their Palio is a bareback horse race in the piazza. Now, please explain to me why Siena’s Palio is so much more famous...ours goes on for a week, has amazing food at the pop-up tavernas, incredible original theatrical  productions that range from bawdy singing transvestite nuns, tipsy saints on swings on clouds in heaven, to reenactments of significant moments in Montone’s history, and frequently include animals, children and casts of thousands! 

Sunday was the official kick off day with the presentation of the Castellane  from each rione and the opening of our tavernas. This year, Jeff was in the cantina serving the wine, vin Santo and plastic bottles of water. I was in the cucina dishing up pasta, while the sausages were being grilled by our grill maestro.  Did I mention tht the food is very, very good? Home made, home grown, and as local as can be.
 
Monday night was the “i Bandi” event, where each rione puts on a short skit that pokes fun at the other riones.  Love must have been in the air because two of the skits were about woman looking for husbands, and they were all about pride goeth before the fall. Of course, our rione, del Verziere was the most hysterical with those raucous saints on the swingset having a good laugh over our petty foibles! (I’m completely biased and partial..the other riones were pretty funny too!)

Yesterday was archery, and unfortunately, archery is not del Verziere’s forte, so we came in dead last. In classic medieval fashion, the score is nailed to the comune door...of course!


Tonight begins the presentation of the the ‘spettacaolos’, with the del Borgo performance. Town is a full blown construction site as the sets are being built, lights strung, trees trimmed and everything is getting prepared for the big showdown. Tension runs high! May the best rione win!

Just because everyone deserves a Ferragosto, here, for your viewing pleasure are some truly silly Italian rappers talking about their love of Ferragosto. This is what going to the beach is all about in Italia!

The Mad Men of Le Forna

Surely there are plenty of mad women in the village of Le Forna on Isola di Ponza,  but it’s the mad chefs of Le Forna that captured our hearts and stomachs. From crusty pizza to oily, inky black spaghetti, to delicately fried fish, to impressive apertivi, to a feast on a boat, these men know how to cook!
Il Maestrale
Via Chiesa
Le Forna, Ponza

This is Chef Maurizo’s restaurant and it’s the unofficial town hub for locals. Maurizio can keep an eye on the traffic outside his kitchen, so he’s ready when the fisherman comes to drop off the anchovies, the lady who salts them comes to pick up and drop off, the beer man shows up after being delayed on the mainland for 2 days by bad weather, a boat captain who needs a translation for his advertising (but really just wants to hang around and talk), the guy who builds awnings that Maurizio has declared an artist, and the occasional group of tourists who just enjoy Maurizio’s company. (That would be us!) Going for a swim meant walking by Maurizio’s, which meant we were offered something to eat or drink every time we went by. This is sincere from-the-heart hospitality at its finest. Not to mention that an ice cold Prosecco tastes exceptionally good after hiking up the steep steps from the sea.

Maurizio is also a mad scientist when it comes to liqueurs. He  brewed up a batch of a thick boozy licorice liqueur that would make our Finnish friend Kevin give up his beloved Panda candies and move to Ponza. Kev, forget the Ullr and come to Ponza!
Another time Maurizio was brewing up ‘myrtille’, a sort of herbaceous blackberry digestivo that is perfect after a meal.  Maurizio kindly gave us a bottle to take home, and we’re doling out our last precious sips of Ponza.
Come to Il Maestrale for the excellent pizza and fish, but you’ll keep coming back just to visit with Maurizio.

La Marina
Cala Feola
Le Forna, Ponza
This would be my fantasy restaurant. A shack, stuck into the cliff rock, right on the sea.  A kitchen filled with good music, loudly clanging pots, a barefoot cook, sometimes a dog, and always a few children. Eccentric, eclectic, and absolutely delicious. Because it’s so hard to find (you either have to find the right foot path and walk down about 150 steps, or come by boat) it feels like a private social club.  Not the stuffy club scene, but the grubby sea wolf and wench club.

I have no idea who owns the kitchen or is actually in charge; it seems like a loose confederation, but there is clearly serious attention being paid to cooking the food. The dude who takes the orders must sit down with you and explain what is available that day. Even his young apprentice Franceso needs to sit with you, and if you don’t know the type of fish that is being offered, they will happily draw a picture of the fish.
There is no reason to come here for a quick bite, it’s a place to linger, relax, enjoy the people watching and mangia bene. The menu changes every day, with super fresh fish and lobsters a speciality.

We had already met one of the chefs, called Mangia Fuoco, up at Maurizio’s, so the first time  we walked in we were greeted with a bellowing “Hey New York!” and that’s pretty much the way we were greeted each time we went back. If you care about strict restaurant rules, this is not the place for you. If you want to eat ginger flavored tuna tartare, an incredible plate of fried fish, spaghetti sauced with the strange but super delicious rana pescatrice, or a tomatoey moon fish appetizer, then this is the place for you.
Relax, enjoy, let time drift by and be happy it is summer time in Ponza.


TripAdvisor says they take reservations, but I sincerely doubt that. I think someone there might have a phone, but your best bet is just come and hang out.

Fauno
A Boat ride to Palmarola

One of the best day trips to do is to take a boat tour over to the spectacular small neighboring island of Palmarola. There are a number of boats that do this, but our loyalty belongs with Captain Francesco and his boat, Fauno.

Why is Captain Francesco mad? Because no one else will thread the needle between the razor sharp volcanic rocks like Francesco. He’s a confident daredevil, maybe a pirate and a show off, but always extremely careful.  His boat tour will wander around the Ponza coves and grottoes for awhile. He likes to get up close and personal with Grotte di Pilato (Pontius Pilate’s Caves...and yes Pontius hung out here, and Nero was born on the island. This island has some serious history.) Then he heads over to the marvelously awesome volcanic island of Palmarola. There are swimming stops, always different because of the weather and wind, and when you are good and hungry, he makes lunch. His wife makes the pickled zucchini and eggplant that come on top of the bruschetta, a very hard crust of bread that is dipped in sea water to soften it before being served. This is followed by an excellent pasta dish, sometimes made with swordfish eggs and finally some coffee. It is absolutely perfect.

He lives up in Le Forna, and you can buy a ticket from the little Everything Shop on the main drag in town, or you can just meet him in the port. The boat leaves promptly at 10:30 and gets back when Francesco feels like coming back (usually around 5:00 pm).  It’s the best bargain in town.
Marlin Bar
Main Street, Le Forna
(I’m sure the street has a real name, but it doesn’t really matter)

The Marlin Bar is right at the curve in the road, before the bus stop, and down a few steps. Mind your head if you take the direct route and step over the benches to find your seat on the little outdoor patio.
Devilishly handsome Clemente is the resident mad bar man and this guy knows how to do aperitivi!
The cocktails come out on pieces of beautiful olive wood that Clemente has created. The drinks are surrounded by all sorts of treats: spicy olives, pickled vegetables, soft balls of fried cod, every day it was a different feast.
He also makes one of the best mojitos this group has ever tasted, perfectly balanced between rum, lime and soda water.
Everyone shows up at the Marlin sooner or later, including my favorite dog, Johnny. It’s  an aperitivo oasis after a hot salty hike up from the sea.
La Tartaruga Bar
“Cornettaria”
Le Forna

Almost across the street from the Marlin is La Tartaruga and it’s more of a traditional Italian bar. Serving Neapolitan style pastries and cornetti (cornetti are croissants, but Italian style.) with excellent coffee in the morning, and switching over to light bar food and drinks in the afternoon. Flat screen TV’s play music videos, soccer matches and sometimes the news, and everyone stops there at least once a day.
 
The barmen aren’t really mad, they are just madly efficient and good at what they do. This bar is hopping, people come in waves, and Fabio and Andreas just roll along taking care of everyone.
We were there long enough to watch the transition from early tourist season into nearly high season, so some new barmen joined the ranks. I’m sorry I don’t know your names, but hats off to you as well, because La Tartaruga was always the best place to start our day. And the people watching isn't bad either! 

Quick Tips: Le Forna is the largest village outside of the port town. It's perched high on the hills and has terrific hotels, restaurants and access to the sea by foot. There is even a sandy beach over by La Marina. Access to the island is by ferry or yacht. If you are taking the ferry, you can depart from Anzio, Terracina or Formia, but Formia has the most options. Take the public bus instead of your car, driving is hair raising and parking is impossible.There are plenty of taxis at the port to take you to your hotel.

We’re back on the mainland now, back in Montone, and getting back into the swing of things, but I sure am missing the Mad Men of Le Forna!

Crossing the Border into Culinary Crazy Land?

How far would you travel for a superb lemon? Would you consider giving up eating shrimp after tasting fresh red shrimp and knowing this is the best you’ll ever have?  Is the market your first stop in a new place even when you only have a hotel room and no kitchen and you feel as though you’ve been denied entry to Paradise? Do people still tell stories about that time in Puglia when you bought out half the fish market and invited a boat load of strangers to dinner?  Do you hang around in coffee bars and restaurants eavesdropping to hear what people are cooking? Do you keep track of when peaches are at their peak in different regions of Italy?

When do you cross the line from culinary traveler to Culinary Crazy? 

In Italy, there are as many types of lemons as there are tomatoes. On Ponza, they are a commodity item. Like salt, sugar, coffee, you have to have some lemons on hand, and you may as well buy different sizes because you will need different amounts of lemon juice or skin. (Which makes total sense, and you have to ask why the convenience of packaging uniform sized lemons ever trumped the need for big and little lemons.)

The gamberi rossi (red shrimp) on Ponza are the sweetest shrimp I’ve ever eaten. (Then again, I was eavesdropping at lunch today, and a fisherman was bragging that the best shrimp come from the nearby island of Palmarola, so more research is needed!) We gilded the lily the other night when I served the shrimp in a brandy broth. I started by steaming the shrimp in a tiny bit of wine and oil; then removed the shrimp to my only serving bowl. Reduced the cooking liquid, added some Roman brandy, garlic and chili pepper, reduced again, and finished with a knob of butter and a squeeze of lemon. If I never ate shrimp again, I’d have this memory to keep me going. We had a serious discussion about whether we’d ever be able to eat frozen shrimp again. I think that means we’ve crossed the border into Culinary Crazy Land.
Which got me to thinking, what’s the point of “Culinary Travel”? It’s an Official Trend, a Buzzword, right? Jeff and I could probably be the poster children for Culinary Tourism, but I’m still wondering if this hasn’t all gotten a bit precious. 

Unless you are living next door to us, you don’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of replicating our shrimp dish. Can’t be done. Sorry. Mi dispiace.

Yes, the ingredients and the prep are important. And maybe you can find some good shrimp, maybe even fresh ones. But you didn’t spend all day at a rocky beach, and come home salty, thirsty, and hungry. Your husband didn’t make you a lemony tart Last Word cocktail that you sipped while watching the boats come into our cove for the evening. This is all part of the prep, it’s the mind prep.

I’m not trying to make you jealous. I’m just saying I brought a whole different set of experiences and expectations into the kitchen when I made dinner.  And trust me, this is no state of the art kitchen! Its a four burner Ikea stovetop that has two settings: OFF or SCORCH. The only way to bring the temperature down is to take the pot off the burner. And I’d kill for a pot lid that actually fit the pot.
So when we set dinner down to eat, we were already giving ourselves bonus points for wringing a decent dinner out of that damned stove top. That’s part and parcel of culinary travel as far as I’m concerned. It’s about conquering a quirky kitchen, and remembering to forage for bit of wild fennel on the way home; it’s not just a recipe you can replicate at home.

If blue tinted lights can bring down crime, why wouldn’t a view of the sea enhance flavor and your appetite? 

Sure you can take home some new ideas, like the marinated eggplant, that’s popular around here. The eggplant is cut into fine strips, soaked in vinegar for a few hours, pressed to remove the vinegar, then stored in sunflower oil along with a few specks of chili pepper. Serve on a boat, on a sunny afternoon, after a good snorkel swim when you are wrapped in a wet towel. We practically licked the jar clean.

Maybe the whole point of culinary travel isn’t travel at all. Maybe it’s about slowing down and recognizing that what you have in front of you, right now, at this moment is unique.   You can tell me about it, and I can imagine what the flavor is like, but I can’t have any of it unless I’m sitting right next to you, sharing that coffee or bowl of cherries...or whatever it is you are munching on. 

And that’s just fine. Go out. By all means never stop traveling. To have a good time, you don’t need to be Anthony Burdain, paddling a canoe down the Amazon, in search of a fish that might eat your cameraman. You just need to ‘be’ in the moment. Savor, enjoy, remember to tell stories. As far as we’re concerned, this is what makes getting up in the morning an adventure no matter where you are. 

Recipe for Wonderful: Summer Shrimp & Zucchini Spaghetti

What is a summer shrimp? It’s shrimp that are eaten when the sea is at your doorstep, the air is hot, and the wine is chilled.

Essential Ingredients:
1 small Mediterranean island
1 well kept medium sized villa with a view of the sea
2-3 weeks of vacation time

Pasta Ingredients:
500 g of fresh, red shrimp
1/2 onion, chopped
1/2 small zucchini
8-10 small ripe tomatoes
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 cup of white wine or Prosecco left over from last night’s dinner

Preparation:
In the morning, go out in search of the perfect coffee bar. This is a critical step. It’s important the barrista gets to know your coffee order so if there is a crowd at the bar, he already knows how you like your coffee and you just need to raise an eyebrow to place your order.

This gives you time to discuss the meaning of life, what to do during the day and to watch what people are buying at the fishmonger’s truck outside the door.  I already had my heart set on the ‘gamberi rossi’ (red shrimp) so it was divine confirmation when the fishmonger brought a plate of the raw shrimp into the bar as an apertivi to be shared and eaten ‘crudo’ (raw).

Yes. Raw shrimp. If the shrimp have never been frozen, still wrapped in  the scent of the sea, and are beguiling red, it does seem like a pretty good idea.

When it is time to eat, meander into the kitchen, fill a pasta pot with water and figure out how to turn on the stovetop.
Now chop a small white onion. Cube a small zucchini. Using a pan big enough to hold the spaghetti and everything else, sauté the vegetables in olive oil for 2-3 minutes until they soften and snuggle. Pour in the wine and let that simmer for another 2-3 minutes.

Quarter  or halve your tomatoes depending on the size. Be sure to pop at least one of the tomatoes in your mouth while you are quartering them so that you know what they taste like. Chop 1-2 cloves of garlic. You can taste that too if you are so inclined.


By now the salted pasta water has boiled and your spaghetti is 2-3 minutes away from being done. Add 2 cups of the pasta cooking water to the zucchini and onions. Drain the pasta and add to the zucchini pot, adding the tomatoes and garlic and mix well. Cook for 1 minute.  Add the shrimp and cook for another minute, mixing well. You really only want the shrimp to be heat kissed.  Now serve the spaghetti ‘in padella’, or in the cooking pan. While it looks romantic, the truth is the villa didn’t come with a serving platter. Oh well, the hardship we must endure.

Serve with a smile and a good box of chilled white wine!
A note about that Mediterranean island: we are having a group meeting to determine if we will disclose our location...or keep it a secret.