Evaluation: 16/20

This is a well hidden gem in Spain. It is a boutique hotel-restaurant complex, hidden in the hills above the wealthy Catalane town of Lloret del Mar.

Our friend Josep Vilella took us to this place, which is only known (for the moment) to a privileged few.  He drove ahead of us and for good reason, because you drive on a dirt road among the cyclists and joggers, and, had I been driving there at night, I would have thought that I was lost and would have gone back.

My wife, Linda, was taken aback by the view and character of the place and proposed to take our photo.

The host, Nico, speaks good English and gave us a tour of the kitchen. Naturally, he wants to spread the word about this place and rightly so. The kitchen is a far cry from Can Roca/El Bulli-like sterile kitchens, where everything is prepared in advance and kitchens that look like ads in furniture magazines serve the function of last minute assembly.

No, this is a real kitchen with nice aromas, aromas of mushrooms picked the same morning, calles “escarlets blancs,” garlic, bloody meat, charcoal, and briny shellfish.

They resort to my favorite forms of cooking: a la plancha grilling with wood charcoal (olive branches), smoking, grilling, roasting in the wood fired oven, etc.

And there is no god damn sous vide!

Following the tour of the kitchen and feeling the pangs of hunger at 3 PM (no we had not had breakfast, only coffee), we were seated in a cozy and comfortable room which looked like the dining room of a wealthy Catalan home, with good taste.  In front of us a family, composed of three generations, was having a feast, and their enthusiasm further titillated our taste buds.

Tony first brought us some house cured fat anchovies with tomato puree.  I should note the high quality of the anchovies. They were much less salty than usual and very tasty.

The next dish was the best mussel dish I have eaten so far. Mussels were from the same species as what I know as “moules du bouchet,” but the Spanish version. But what made them special was how they were cooked. They were smoked and grilled a la plancha. This is a true masterpiece from a pedestrian shellfish.

Next we were served a langoustine (cigalas) dish.  Langoustine, which is translated as “Dublin bay prawn” to English (but does not exist in America), is one of my favorite seafoods on earth. I love them a la plancha and whole. The day before I had come across live langoustines in one of my favorite seafood temples in Spain (HOGAR GALLEGO in Calella), and they were firm, succulent, and sweet.  I was not overwhelmed with the quality of langoustines at Can Bosc, which I found to be too soft and not as sweet and juicy as they can be when very very fresh. But the preparation was very good.  They were served with sweet pumpkin cream, crumbled nuts, and black trumpet mushrooms. I should say that the quality of pumpkin and mushrooms, which accentuate the sweet and earthy components of the seafood, were more impressive than the langoustine.

The next dish was a real winner.  It included a silky potato puree, barely smoked trout caviar, and fresh fennel sprouts. Sometimes the most difficult thing is to elevate the simplest ingredients to regal status. In this combination the interaction of smooth and crunchy textures, and salty, smoky and earthy flavors was optimum. A lesser chef would have tried to make this dish more complex and would ruin the balance as a consequence.

This dish deserves a special nod for the quality of the mountain potato.

Tony was most proud of the next dish, but I thought it was the weakest course. It featured fine calamari (but not as amazing as I find at SIMPSON), colored by its own ink, served in a smoky sheep milk sauce and with a royal of calamari legs and liver. The tart sauce somehow did not interact well with the calamari, and the royal did not have the cloudy-creamy texture of this classic from French haute cuisine. (See the becada royal at CA L’ENRIC.) I think the chef does better with simpler, rather than complicated dishes, which aim to showcase creativity.

The final course, however, was more than a winner. It was the best steak I have eaten outside of Japan. The hugh rib eye cut, which came from a 16 years old white Galician cow, was dry aged for 150 days.  It was taken out of the fridge for one day.  Its surface was rubbed with fat, seared on the grill, and then cooked in the wood fired oven, I believe.  The supplier of this masterpiece is Luismi, from the Basque country.

The steak was served with the firm, aromatic, and very special escarlets white mushrooms and black trumpets. It was rich, succulent, decadent, nicely crusted, and very, very flavorful.

I really wished my friend and ex-Gastroville partner, Michael Johnson, were there. In his Hedone restaurant in London, he is serving a specially dry aged Black Angus, which possibly is the best steak in gastro-poor London.  I believe this is the texture and taste for which he is still searching.

As a now retiring critic of the wine world used to say about his 100 pointers: “this steak has to be tasted to be believed”.

The dessert was also quite good, even very good, and appropriate after the orgasmic experience.  It featured a fresh meringue with orange skin, praline, and eucalyptus ice creams and strawberries. It is light and refreshing. It also went very well with an oxidized ‘58 Superior Tarragona white wine which reminded me of aged Madeira with nutty notes.

I should also add that the house gives importance to serving very high quality coffee with excellent madeleines and chocolate bonbons.

This level of cooking and ingredients requires matching wines.

1. 2010 Priorat white. Pedro de Guix

This wine is a blend of grenache blanc and pedro ximenez and will compete favorably with French wines from the same cepage. It has a smoky, citrus aroma, and is probably aged on the lees. It has good body, intensity, fine acidity, a steely backbone and a nutty finish. It is balanced, with 13% alcohol.  It was a great match with the potato and trout caviar dish. Our host Nico thinks that the distinguishing feature of this wine which elevates it to a status higher than your typical garnacha blanca is the blend with pedro ximenez which comes from old vines. GRADE: 91/100

2. 2009 Espectacle de Mont Sant

This wine carries its 15% alcohol well, thanks to bracing acidity.  This wine is made by the Barbier family from outside Priorat. I was impressed by its juiciness, overall balance, bright red fruits, and intoxicating spicy finish. Oak is perfectly integrated and tannins are not noticeable.  Clearly they found a perfect cool spot for Grenache. The vines are 120 years old.  I am not sure about how long it will age without losing its fruit, and this is why I may be conservative in my ranking.

This bottle is a perfect match with dry aged steak, since it is so juicy and counters the metallic/earthy steak.  The high alcohol absorbs the smoke and the fat well.

Grade: 94/100

Sant Pere del Bosc does merit two Michelin stars.

Vedat Milor

December 2012

EVALUATION: 19.5/20

With the closing of El Bulli, there are now quite a few contenders in Spain for the title of the world’s most celebrated trend setting restaurant.  Of the contenders, the only one I have not tried is DACOSTA’s restaurant in Denia.  ARZAK in Donostia used to be one of the world’s best in the ‘90s, but it has gone downhill since the transition from father to daughter. In my opinion the restaurant now merits one Michelin star.  BERASETEQUI is a solid restaurant which cooks contemporary dishes with modern twists and deserves two Michelin stars.  CAN ROCA used to be a very exciting restaurant where the chef created some masterpieces for complementary tastes containing a contrasting element.  Unfortunately my last three meals there after the restaurant received the 3^rd Michelin star have been consistently inferior to the meals of the early 2000s, and merited, at most, two stars. The chef, Juan Roca, seems overworked; too many dishes seem to be created by the underlings; and the cooking now showcases technical virtuosity at the expense of deliciousness. MUGARRITZ was one of my favorite restaurants in the mid-2000s, but since he broke his ties with tradition, the chef, Andoni Aduriz, seems to be rowing towards a no man’s land and is creating dishes which may satisfy the brain, but not the palette. My last meal at Mugarritz, at most, merited one star.

This said, I think Spain may be the most exciting place in Europe to dine out, since it excels in the so called “middle category,” often overlooked by the Guide Michelin.

When I talk about the middle category, I am referring to the restaurants in Spain which work with outstanding ingredients and cook them respecting the tradition.  When I say “respecting the tradition,” this does not entail following the tradition to the letter.  Traditionally, many dishes have been overcooked in Spain (as in other countries), and naturally the main task of the chef is to showcase the natural integrity of an ingredient he uses. However, a respect for the tradition implies that the cooking of the chef is rooted in a cultural/historical context, and the chef does not try to become overly original for the sake of “creativity.”

It is a sad fact of the current dining scene that  many  chefs now (thanks to the guides and exaggerated media attention which was spared from the previous generation of truly great chefs) consider themselves as “artists” and not “artisans.”  Most of them end up by becoming too self-centered, combative, and even stuck up. A meaningless hierarchy develops among chefs, where some of the best ones truly feel the pain in their heart because they did not receive the 3^rd Michelin star, and those who have the lucky feather on their hat become pompous and start turning out many dishes to satisfy their swollen ego rather than the client’s palate. (In general, these chefs are absent from the kitchen anyway.)

Against this background, which sadly characterizes the current haute dining scene, there are the true artisans which labor in their kitchens and are truly creative in the sense that they elaborate on the tradition and try to perfect a time tested dish, instead of “creating” a new dish every day for the sake of proving that they are “evolving.”

The brother and sister team, Juan, Jordi and Isabel Junka of Ca L’Enric in Val de Bianya-Catalunia/Spain are among the unglamorous heroes of modern cuisine.  The restaurant is near the French border in the Pyrenees and is about two hours away from Barcelona.  Once you step inside, you will be taken aback by the gray and black colors and the minimalist, even austere décor.  Once seated in the lounge to sip the best Cava you are likely to encounter (“Castell de Sant Antoni” Brut Nature, Sant Sadorni d’Anoia) and start tasting the amuses, you start realizing the understated luxury and the intimate comfort of the setting. After the rather long drive, you start feeling rejuvenated, relaxed, and prepare yourself for a prolonged feast.

If he is on the premises, you can meet Juan Junka, the older brother, who, besides being a true connoisseur of great wines, is the incarnation of genuine sincerity and hospitality.

The very first bites reveal that you are here for a treat. You will  first be offered a clear broth to clean your taste buds.  Next comes the little goodies: homemade goat butter on a tuile, little salt and cheese crackers, another cracker colored by seppia ink and topped with fresh calamari, a natural cherry tomato with a thin skin that you dip in a homemade chive mayonnaise, dry saucisson which tastes deep and complex, a tiny tart from which olive oil oozes out if you are not careful, a layered mousse composed of excellent natural goat yogurt, and, onions and rovellos mushrooms which are prized in Fall by Catalans.

Then you will be seated at a table. The menus change often and seasonally.  Having eaten there before, I can attest that the restaurant merits three Michelin stars.

Then there is a becada/becasse/woodcock menu.

If you are very lucky you can get it in late Fall/early Winter.  (You have to preorder it.)

The first course of the menu is “Becasse Royal.”

The consistency, the texture, the depth of flavors….  This is an amazing dish.  Very few French three star chefs now prepare a grandiose royal (Ducasse and Le Squer are also masters of this forgotten art), and even if they do, they don’t top it with a lavish amount of excellent Iranian Beluga caviar.  The caviar is not there for decoration. This dish is the most decadent example of “terre et mer”, allying the sweetness (rather than saltiness, given the quality) of the caviar with earthiness. The silky texture helps to prolong the satisfaction which seems endless and seamless.  Try this dish and use a lesser, salty caviar.  It will not work…

This masterpiece merits 20/20.

This dish is so rich that one feels the need to refocus the palette with an acidulated salad.

This is exactly what happens next.

You will get a partridge salad.  In escabeche, the cold partridge is juicy and tasty. The contrast with the slightly bitter garden herbs is convincing, and the old Jerex vinegar (Ximenez-spinola) is on par with 25 years aged Modena balsamico and imparts just the right touch of sweet and tart.  The partridge jelly at the bottom of the salad blends well with the rest and enriches the flavors.

I challenge any three star chef to come up with a salad with cold meat which is on par with this dish.

This salad merits 19/20

It is hard not to let anybody down after these two courses.

But the improbable happens with the becasse soup.

The soup is so creamy, rich, and complex (and not salty) that you swear the chef used a good dollop of heavy unpasteurized cream and foie.

This is what I thought.

I was wrong!

There is no cream, nor liver.  The soup was thickened with country bread (like salmorejo), and the chefs, Jordi and Isabel, followed an ancient recipe.

Another 20/20

Can you guess what comes next?

Risotto. Not Spanish rice, but Northern Italian carnaroli rice with the becasse thigh.  Each bites reveals the excellent quality of the carnaroli, which has been cooked al dente, but fully soaked the becasse jus.  The thigh is caramelized, and if you touch it with your finger tip, it falls to pieces.

Who will believe me if I say that I have had the best risotto to date in Catalunia?

20/20

In many top restaurants of the world, especially in Italy and Spain, the final course is often a let down, but not at Ca L’Enric.

The final course of the becada meal is the salmis.

Cooked a la brasa with salmis sauce (blood and internal organs), this final course reveals all about why the little bird is so much sought after. It is juicy and rich, metallic and complex, with a long finish.

It is like ripe tuber melanosporum or pico magnatum, the undisputed king of wild mushrooms.

Becasse is the undisputed king of the game category. (I have never tasted ortolans.)

The Junka siblings prefer to make a week long faisandage for becasse to concentrate the flavors without losing the juice. I think this is ideal.

They also use the liver to spread on toasted bread.  I recommend that you take a bite of the becasse and then a bite from the toast to maximize your pleasure.

This dish merits a 20+/20!

This is not the end of the meal. Jordi sends us another main dish from the Fall menu: lievre a la royale.  It is quite a challenge not to make this dish taste too dry, and, at its best, this  dish is among the true time tested masterpieces of cuisine bourgeoise.

The Ca L’Enric version is true to the original version of the dish and has to be tasted even by those who don’t like to eat hare. 19/20

Desserts are quite good too.  Pear, cooked in wine with cinnamon and coffee crumbles, is soothing.  Chocolate truffle cake, with crumbled nuts and persimmon, is rich and balanced. 17/20

Such a feast deserves to be prolonged by moving to another room and ending it with cigar and Bas Armagnac or Cognac.  This is exactly what we have done with our friend Josep Vilella, who possesses an extraordinary palette and is a food critic and businessman.  It is my shortcoming that I have never smoked (neither did Linda), but I was happy to imbibe old Armagnac and breathe the aromatic cigar. (I hate cigarette smoke though.)

Such an extraordinary cuisine requires compatible wines.  Juan proposed us the following.

1. Castell de Sant Antoni Cava. Brut Nature. Sant Sadorni d’Anoia.  It is an excellent cava, fresh and clean and with tiny persistent bubbles.

2. 2001 DOIX PRIORAT 

This is one of the best Priorat wines I have tested. It has an inky dark color with truffle, tar, black fruit, black olives, and licorice aromas that jump out of the glass. The creamy texture reveals old vines (dominated by 80+ year old Grenache and 2% Merlot).  It is smooth and structured, with a full mid-palette. The first impression is black fruit, but it develops red fruits when you air it.   The finish is long and spicy, with an earthy, mineral edge.  The oak is perfectly integrated. It carries its 15% alcohol very well. This is one of the very few wines which manages to be balanced despite high alcohol.  It is at its peak, but it will age effortlessly.

Grade: 96/100

3. 2001 BRUNO ROCCA BARBARESCO ‘RABAJA’

Juan proposed this great wine with the salmis of becada and lievre a la royale.  What a great pairing!

Obviously DOIX, which is an extraordinary Priorat, did not have the steely acidity to counter the last two courses. A great Nebbiolo does have the acidity and structure to match with earthy and minerally game.  This is an excellent Barbaresco from a great year and from a traditional, consistently good producer. The nose is now quite open, with rose, tar, tobacco, and mace.  It is elegant and has considerable finesse and length on the palette.  The wine is concentrated, but not heavy.  The palette reveals sweet raspberry juice, and the long finish is spicy and refreshing (due to acidity which is perfectly balanced by rich fruitiness).  The wine has excellent balance despite its 14.5% alcohol. This wine is still a few years away from its optimum drinking point, and it seems like it may still give pleasure 30 years from now.

GRADE: 97/100

4. 1989 Dr. Burklin-Wolf “R” Riesling Auslese

I am passionate about Riesling, but I don’t necessarily like the matching of any wine with dessert. (I prefer such a wine INSTEAD OF DESSERT.) So unfortunately I short-shifted this wine and did not analyze this wine as I was still savoring the Barbaresco.

The Ca L’Enric becasse meal surpassed the limits of a meal. It is a hedonistic experienced to be experienced to be believed.

Vedat Milor

Sometimes traditional dishes are not that good…

Especially fish soups.  Some version of fish soup exists in all Mediterranean countries.  Their common problem is that, while the broth is often tasty, the fish gets overcooked.

If you want a great, but non-traditional bouillabaisse, I recommend one restaurant in Marseille: Le Petit Nice.

Le Petit Nice is the only three star restaurant in the close vicinity of Marseille.  Some claim that Michelin accorded three stars to Petit Nice because of political reasons. I disagree, based on my own experience. The service, wine list, surroundings, product quality, conceptualization, execution, etc., are all first rate and what I expect from a Michelin three star restaurant.

Perhaps most important is the fact that Petit Nice, despite its misleading name, is a restaurant which is rooted in a particular place (Marseille) and terroir.  The cooking is not international in style, but the chef seeks out superior products that you cannot find in the best of your local markets and possibly in the best fish markets of Marseille.  The quality of the fish is outstanding, and so is the cooking.

If you arrive there with your car, the gate will open and you can park in front of the restaurant/boutique hotel.

The reception is warm and welcoming.  They seat you with a smile, and you are given the menu without a delay.

I found the service to be on par with the food.  The team is professional, and they are clearly proud to serve the exquisite food. When they serve each dish, they give just the right amount of information, and if you have further questions, they respond without any hint of impatience.  The waiting time between the courses is optimum, neither too much or nor do you feel pressed and in a hurry. You can relax and savor the nice aromas.

At any rate, it is impossible not to feel in heaven in front of such a quintessential Mediterranean rocky sea view and in such a comfortable, understated, but very classy setting. It is delightful.

Of particular interest was an athletic man who swam in free style for about 45 minutes in the sea, which, in December, must not have exceeded 13 degree celcius. When he jumped from the rocks, like a goat, and came closer to put on his shirt, I noticed that he did not have any fat and looked in great shape. But he was not that young. It turned out that he was in the second part of 80s and a good friend of Monsieur Passedat’s father.

Chapeau!

I later noticed that the name Passedat was given to a street near the restaurant. Clearly this is an old Marseillais family.

In a good, sunny day (such as we had in early December), you can begin by sipping excellent house-made cocktails. I selected a cocktail with champagne, syrup of ginger, and red martini. Linda naturally opted for something sweeter, champagne with lychee, mandarin liquors, and fresh pineapple.

The typical wine with bouillabaisse is a Cassis blanc, but think a racy Chablis with nice acidity and a crisp finish is a better bet.  After a brief conversation with a gentleman who may be the director of the dining room, or sommelier, or both, we both agreed that the 2006 Jean Marc Raveneau Valmur Grand Cru Chablis would make a nice complement.

The only non-local ingredient Passedat offers is olive oil, and for good reason. There are very good olive oils in Provence, but the very best olive oils come from Italy and Tuscan olive oils are in a class on their own.  Passedat has selected a remarkable olive oil, probably recently pressed (green hues), and serves it with excellent focaccia and bread.  The attention given to such details should be a hallmark of three star restaurants, but, unfortunately, not all of them operate at such high standards.

With our cocktails they offered extremely fresh chopped sepia, with a touch of ginger, mango, and coriander. It was very nice and refreshing.

The other amuse was the beignet of local small white fish. I was really taken aback by the quality of deep frying, as I have tried some tempura masters in Tokyo.  The tarragon puree dip was also light and had the right acidity.  Battered and deep fried fish with a dip is a much abused universal classic.  Try it here to see how such a simple dish can be elevated to a regal status.

The chef sends us more amuses before the beginning of the bouillabaisse feast.  We were first served a raw Meditteranean fish (Liche?) with rose radish, celery leaves, and apple slices. Everything was extremely fresh. This was followed by a consommé of lobster with ginger and basil and a Cancale oyster.

Before serving the first course of the bouillabaisse, they showed us the daurade royale stuffed with vegetables and herbs (bay leaves) that was cooked in the oven. The beautiful aroma of the sweet and smoky fish titillated our taste buds.

The first course consists of a carpaccio of shellfish served with an artichoke and chive dip.  The clam and mussel carpaccio is seasoned with olive oil, salt, and lemon just right, and it is not only visually stunning, but it is also delightful and light.

The chef sends a few of beignets to accompany the carpaccio, including a beignet of artichokes, a beignet from a small fish from the sar family, and another from a small fish that I could not identify. When I inquired about chef’s skills in deep frying, we were told that the fish jus is used in the light batter. I am quite curious about the oil used in deep frying, since the beignets are so flavorful and light.

The dips that accompany the tempura are always based on herbs (fish jus and artichoke pieces in one) and add the right amount of acidity to the salty/crunchy texture of the beignets.

Before the next two courses, you are served a carrot puree with verjus sorbet to cleanse the palette.

The next course consisted of St Pierre (John Dory) and Daurade Royal (sea bream) in a light fish/shellfish broth containing a good amount of saffron, coriander and julienned vegetables (celery and celery leaves).  The chef also included two pieces of sweet lobster tail.

The key to quality is the fact that the fish is cooked separately from the broth.  This way it becomes possible to serve the fish at the precise texture and temperature and to use the soup as saucing.  The turbot-like texture of the St. Pierre and the lighter, more flakey texture of the Daurade contrasted beautifully, the cooking was precise, and the natural flavors of the fish and shellfish were not lost in a mish mash.  When asked about how the lobster was cooked, because it was remarkably juicy, we were told that it was first seared in the oven and then steamed.

The last course consisted of a heavier, very rich broth of bouillabaisse served  with the same daurade royale and Mediterranean sea bass or loup de mer. Unfortunately, in the modern world, it is nearly an impossible task to find wild sea bass which has not also eaten the stuff fed to farmed sea bass. It has a very delicate, refined, and exquisite texture.

The broth of this course was richer and darker than the previous course, and it contained an equal amount of saffron. We were told that sea water and algues were also used. So this is the French-Marseillais version of dashi.

Monsieur Passedat does not serve classical rouille or aioli with his bouillabaisse because he does not want to mask the natural fresh taste of the fish. Instead he serves a side dish of slightly hot tomato (his rouille), grated reggiano, and cubed potatoes, instead of croutons.

They recommended an exotic millefeuille after the rich, deep and complex bouillabaisse, and this also turned out to be exquisite. It is basically an exotic millefeuille, with papaya, mango, and pineapple, in various forms and guises.

If you have room left, the confit fruits and the jewelry box that they offer with your dark coffee are also captivating.

2006 CHABLIS VALMUR. JEAN-MARC RAVENEAU

The nose started to yield minerality, earthy, and fresh agrumes components. It has a very good structure and refreshing acidity, buttressed by fruit, including classic Chardonnay fruits, like pear and apple. The finish is long.  You almost chew the steely minerality in the finish. It is still a baby, but giving pleasure. It is a great match with the food. Grade: 96.

I read in the Herald Tribune on June 15-16 that Yahoo is fighting requests by the US government to spy on users.  This is supposedly because the put their “users first.”  The article quotes a ruling in 2008, where Yahoo “argued that the [government] order violated its users’ Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable searches and seizures.” 

It is of course important for companies to protect the privacy of their users, but Yahoo seems to also protect the criminals, in the case of criminal activity.  They don’t provide a method for users to counter hacking by providing copies of communications to the account owner. They don’t keep a copy of forwarded email to enable an account owner to view any communications between a hacker and people on the contact list. 

My email account at Georgia Tech can be forwarded to another account, but Georgia Tech keeps a copy of all forwarded email in my account.  Yahoo allows a criminal hacker to delete any trace of forwarded email.

My yahoo email was hacked in May.  The hacker has an email oriakuokafo@gmail.com and forwarded all of my email to an account that he/she created:  lmilor@live.com.  The hacker also deleted my contact list, and yahoo keeps no copy of forwarded email in my account. 

The hacker wrote the following.

“Subject: HELP………………..Linda Milor

Hello,

     I really hope you get this on time.  I and my family came over to Manila Philippines for a short vacation trip, but unfortunately we were robbed at the park of the hotel where we stayed along with other folks. All cash,credit card and including cell phones were stolen off us but luckily for us we still have out passports safe with us and the hotel telephone lines were disconnected during the incident.  So I have access to emails only. Please I’m going to need some sort of loan from you for me to relocate to another hotel close to the embassy and also to get another flight ticket.  Those thieves made away with my credit card as well which is why this can’t be resolved instantly.

I have been to the Police and they directed me to the embassy but they’re not helping issues at all and my flight leaves tomorrow…Wondering if you can loan me $2,450 USD,i will make the refund when i get home.Please Let me know if you can help me out?

With Regards”

The poor English enabled my friends to understand that I did not write this.  I heard about this letter through some friends that called me. I changed my password, and tried to contact Yahoo.

It is very hard to contact Yahoo, even if criminal activity is involved.  I filled out a form and was given a phone number to call and incident number.  I called the number and was told that Yahoo only has phone service for small businesses. If you have a problem with email, which is a free service, then there is no support.  Hence, Yahoo was not willing to help me to cut off communication between the on-line criminal and any of my contacts.  Since it is a “free” service, then criminals can do whatever they want with it, according to the Yahoo representative.  Actually, it is not a free service, since I pay $10 per year.

After further searching on the web, I filled out another online form, this time mentioning the fact that I will be publishing this incident online.  I was given another incident number and phone number to call. After waiting on hold for a long time, I requested two things:  (a) restoration of my contact list and (b) copies of my emails that were forwarded to the criminal using lmilor@live.com.  Yahoo was able to restore the contact list.  But, the representative told me that Yahoo could only restore email through an online request.  The technical support agent helped me fill out the online form. There was no option to restore forwarded email, and therefore she suggested that I request to restore previously deleted emails from the last seven days.  I mentioned that this did not make sense, since by this time, the hacking incident had happened about two weeks before.  Moreover, I wanted to read the forwarded emails, not emails that I had deleted.

This request did not produce the emails that were sent to the criminal that I had requested.  It just deleted the emails that I had received within the seven days before the request was made! 

An email was received, saying that the request to restore a previous version of the mailbox was executed and “**Please do not reply to this email, as no one will receive your message.**” Then, shortly after that I received another email from yahoo saying “We have not heard from you concerning your request for support in the 72 hours since we sent you a response. Consequently, we have changed the status of your question to SOLVED.”  How can something be solved, if there is no way to report the fact that it is not solved?

Yahoo needs to find a better way to support their customers, and not just facilitate online crime, in the name of protecting privacy.

The restaurants reviewed in this report are the following.

Lorenzo in Forti di Marmi

Veanzio in Colonnata

Trattoria Martinatica in Pietrasanta

Locanda S. Andrea in Lucca

Cibreo in Firenze

La Pineta in Bibbona Beach in Maremma

Il Mecennate in Lucca

Uliassi in Senegalia

Villa Fiordaliso in Gardone Riviera, Lake Garda

Da Romano in Burano Island, Venice

Antiche Carampane in Venice

Alle Testiere in Venice

Osteria L’Orto de Mori in Venice

Venissa, Mezzorbo Island, Venice

Osteria Cera near Padua

FORTI DI MARMI

LORENZO

The refined elderly gentleman, Mr. Lorenzo, was not there, but neither the food nor the service suffered. The excellent fresh seafood  was cooked simply but with flair.  The perfectly firm and juicy filleted “triglie” slices were given extra depth by the bitter escarole that is placed in between the slices and the  tangy gazpacho of green tomatoes.  Green tomato broth, emboldened with a touch of vermouth, also blends well with sweet and delicately textured raw “gambero rosso”. Their “bavette with shellfish” is one of the best seafood pasta dishes in the universe.  The “orecchiette” with mustard greens (cime di rape), cherry tomatoes, and mantis shrimp (cicala), was sub-par because it was less cooked than al dente and the fish did not blend as well with the pasta.  But the “scampi al forno,” cooked in the oven and dressed with sea salt and an excellent delicate olive oil and white wine, was beyond reproach. The quality of langoustines was to die for.  Equally stunning in quality were the baby calamars, “calameretti”, cooked in the oven with olive oil and Vermentino wine.

Finish with homemade “sorbets,” such as green apple and mandarin.

Unfortunately the wine recommended by the young sommelier,   2007 Schlossberg Benner Alsace Grand Cru, did not match the food. This behemoth, with 16% alcohol, very ripe fruit and low acidity, may score high from industry “experts” but is the wrong style of Alsace wine to match the delicate cooking of great seafood.

Ranking: 16.5/20

COLONNATA

VENANZIO

This is a truly distinguished osteria in the mountains near Carrara.  Their “piatto misto di lardo e carno in salamuia” is an antipasti I dream of for the whole year.  (You can buy the great lardo, but I don’t believe you can reproduce the same raw marinated carno.)  Warm “polenta with lardo, taleggio cheese and radicchio” is good too, but I would rather order two piatto misto. The “green lasagnette” with fresh seasonal porcini and wild borage was excellent.  You can finish with young lamb in the oven (order in advance) or pork, but their “filet mignon wrapped with lardo and cooked in Chianti wine” is one of the very few tenderloin dishes that excite me.  They use Piedmonte beef.

The desserts are satisfactory.

They have extinguished their stock of aged Case Basse-Soldera, but they always have some aged Chianti and Brunello.  1997 Brunello from Castello Romitario had the restrained nose I associate with Brunello, but blossomed in the glass.  It did not have any trace of oak, and the tangy red fruits (which later turned sweeter) and an amalgam of soft spices kept revealing  themselves in the quite long, but not alcoholic, finish. 93/100

Ranking: 15/20

PIETRASANTA

TRATTORIA MARTINATICA

Unfortunately, this restaurant did not live up to past memories.  Nothing was under average, nor was it memorable either,  except for 2007 Castello di Ama Chianti, which is a very nice example of Chianti and attractively priced.

Ranking: 11/20

LUCCA

LOCANDA S. ANDREA

Pizza is pretty good here, but not memorable.

FIRENZE

CIBREO

Antipasti are simple but tasty, and raw materials are of high quality:  yogurt pudding with turmeric, ricotta cheese ball with shaved parmesan, fresh ricotta, prosciutto, pecorino cheese with fava, veal tripe in olive oil, very good bread…

We had excellent “dentice crudo” with olive oil, ground black pepper, and shaved celery.

The “porcini soup” with olive oil did not make an impression, but kudos to the “pepperoncini soup” with baby croutons, parmesan and olive oil.

“Fresh porcinis” came with zolfini beans and purslane salad.  We had had more impressive porcini, and the beans were underseasoned.

The piece de resistance is the “veal brain” baked in paper, simply dressed with butter, nutmeg, and lemon peel, with a garni of ceci beans.

By contrast, the “pigeon” should be avoided. It is cooked well beyond the point I would call medium!  We ate the good artichoke served alongside the pigeon, but could not savor the dry meat.

They make a very good cheese cake with grapefruit puree and a good panna cotta with caramel.

I would like to thank the sommelier for the recommendation of 2007 Brunello di Montalcino from Stella di Compalto.  It is quite aromatic for a relatively young Brunello, has a spicy-sweet aroma, reveals ripe strawberries and black rasberries on the palate, has a nice mid-palette, and is suave, elegant, and balanced. 98 Euro. 95/100

Ranking: 14/20

BIBBONA BEACH IN MAREMMA

LA PINETA

This is one of our favorite seafood temples, not only in Italy, but in the world.  This time it was still very very good, but perhaps half a notch below its average.

“Anchovies” with tomato and onions are always one of my favorite amuses, because the anchovies here are always fat and fresh.

The “raw seafood platter” is good.  This time it featured scampi, gamberi rosso with an orange slice, mackerel with ricotta, squid, palamita, a berberecho clam, and a belon oyster.

“Calameretti al forno” with cherry tomatoes and breadcrumbs was good, but not as stunning as the year before when calameretti tasted sweet.  They grated some ricotta salata on top.  (We were skeptical but it worked.)

“Stracetti di pasta fresca con le triglie” was thickly cut and good pasta. Our 11 year old had “ravioli filled with brandade de morue” and shaved bottarga on top.  This one is the “must have” pasta.

“Scampi al sale” was the piece de resistance here.  I liked it even more than the “astice” cooked in the pan with basil and cherry tomato.

Apple sorbet with calvados and semifreddo with caramelized pasta rounded up a very satisfactory seafood feast.

2010 Mas de Daumas Gassac white, composed of Viognier, Chardonnay, Gros Manseng and Chenin Blanc, accompanied the meal well. It has nice floral, citrus, ripe peach, and apricot aroma, with a touch of mineral in the finish.  It is full and round on the palette, with ripe pear and peach notes. It has a nice silky texture, medium long finish, and fine acidity.  79 Euro 93/100

We tasted some other very good wines:  2006 Serra di Contessa from Benanti (96/100), 2007 Pietrasanta from Benanti (97/100), Palari Faro (90/100), and Paleo from Macchiole (93/100).

Ranking: 16/20

LUCCA

IL MECENATE, also known as L. VERCIANI

This is an excellent simple Osteria, which is new in Lucca. Before coming to Lucca, they were located in Gattiola.

We started with nice foccacio caldo with lardo from the house.

I recommend “salumi from Norcia” from Ballentini.  It features guanciale, coppa and other salumi.

Pastas are really good and honest. We liked very much “tordelli lucchesi” with its meat ragu, spicy tomato sauce, and cheese.  “I veri testaroli artigianali di Pontremoli Al Pesto”, consisted of thin pasta sheets with pesto that was second best only to CA PEO’s handmade pesto sauce.  (This great restaurant of Liguria closed.) “Maltagliati alle tre farine al profumo di prima vera” was another great pasta.  The dough was a mix of grano saraceno, semola farina, and white flour, and it featured all that is fresh and in season: asparagus, peas, artichoke and baccelli.

“Spiedini di maiale di Cinta Senese con radiccio di campo” was also more than satisfactory. It featured pork sausage, cubed pork leg, and country bread, cooked on a skewer like shis kebap. Nice crunchy vegetables and cooking juices complemented this no miss main course.

Instead of dessert, we opted for the “pecorino al forno con le pere”. We did well!

The place is very informal, and there is no wine list. Upon inquiry and for 25 Euro we had a honest, non-manipulated Chianti:  2009 Isole e Olena.  I enjoyed its rustic side that was balanced by a garrigue nose, tangy red fruit, underlying bright acidity, and a refreshing finish. Probably they use wild yeasts. 91/100

Ranking: 14.5/20

SENEGALIA IN MARCHE

ULIASSI

This is a top notch seafood temple in Marche in a coastal town which lacks character.

We did not like our table, and they graciously moved us to a better one.

There is a creative and traditional menu.  We tried dishes mostly from the latter.

There are not many amuses offered, just tasty burnt wheat bread sticks with reggiano, and a very likeable foie gras and hazelnut butter on a waffle.

We opted for the mixed antipasti composed of four small plates.  They were outstanding in composition, execution, and taste. “Gamberi Rosso, acqua di limone, melone e basilica”, also contained sun dried tomato, cumin, and turmeric. “Cannocchie n’briaghe all’ancone” featured very flavorful cannocchie, a shellfish from the Adriatic (deboned), a bitter herbal white wine, and cannocchie head sauce with vinegar and salt.  “Triglie croccante, zuppa di prezzemola e camolo con misticanze di tampo” was also heavenly, and included deep fried, but juicy, deboned triglie, sitting atop creamy parsley soup, wild herbs, and rhubarb.  Finally “Seppia giovani arrostite sporche e granita di ricci di mare” turned out to be sliced, barely cooked, tiny seppioline and sea urchin tongues on top of several wild leaves, such as beet and sorrel leaves.  For Ceylan (our daughter), they offered calamaretti and seaweed, but she did not eat much.

One pasta not to miss is “spaghetti affumicati alle vongole e datterini  arrostiti”.  This was spaghetti cooked al dente, smoked, and was a touch spicy, with excellent quality deshelled vongole and datterini cherry tomatoes.  It sounds simple, but it really is a great seafood pasta.

An equally stunning pasta was with cod tripe, with pepper, fossa pecorino cheese, and a tad honey. It is called “mezzi rigatoni, trippa di baccala, cacio di fossa e pepe”.

The only pasta that did not make an impression was the one with my favorite seafood, ricci di mare. Ricci di mare should be freshly deshelled, (like in Il SAN LORENZO in Roma), and this was not.  What I liked in the “fusilli ricci di mare,” which was cooked a tad more than al dente, was the use of wild herbs, both raw  and pureed, like sorrel and chicory-ortichie.

“The brodetto di pesce” is probably the best in the world and should not be missed. I would drive four hours to savor the most intense seafood broth on earth. It is prepared from mostly shellfish and tomato.  The soup features excellent vongole veraci, sole, branzino, small scampi, crab, skate wing, and triglie, but it is the broth that makes it so distinguished.  (The fish is cooked separately.)

They buy frozen game from Scotland, because the chef knows how to handle game.

“Oca laccato alte di cilieghe, fegato grassa d’oca, mirtilli, lamponi e ananas” was very tasty, and we noticed the excellent quality foie gras and very expert handling of the goose which is very hard to cook.  The skin was glazed nicely and sweet-tart fruits counterbalanced the rich and fat meat.

“Beccaccia alla marchigiana” was also very good.  The internal organs of the woodcook were spread on a brioche, and an intense sauce was prepared with internal organs, bread, and olives.  The dish was served with onions and smoked potatoes.

Desserts were nice, but not outstanding.  We had a de-construced tiramisu and “passion fruit soup with yoghourt ice cream, pink pepper and candied banana”.

We had a great champagne for 85 Euro: Georges Laval, Cumieres 1er cru, brut”.  It has a leesy nose, with caramelized nuts and crème brulee. The full palette is basically crisp tart apple.  The boules are small and persistent.  The long finish leaves a nicely ripe exotic fruity aftertaste, with a touch of caramel. 95/100

Ranking: 17.5/20

GARDONE RIVIERA-LAKE GARDA

VILLA FIORDALISO

Our memories held here.

If you dine there, you must stay in the villa which once belonged to Mussolini’s lover who sacrificed herself for him.  The Claretta suite is kept intact and is very apt for families with one child as she sleeps separately.

The chef has changed since our last visit, but the cuisine has held its standards.

We sat along the lake and sipped a Negrone (for me) and Champagne (for Linda), munching pickled onions, peppercorns, and excellent small green olives.

We then moved to our table in the pergola next to the lake.  We had nice amuses, including red beetroot soup with ricotta canola, canola stuffed with ricciola fish and capers, another one with salmon tartare, all dusted with seaweed powder.  Finally, we had some quinoa chips to dip in homemade mayonnaise.

Both antipasti displayed extremely fresh seafood.

First, we were served “gamberi rossi alla plancha, burra di arachidi, mela verde e agrumi”, red shrimps with peanut butter, green apple, and grapefruit purees.

Even more impressive were the jumbo juicy scampi served rare: “Scamponi al natural, lime, maionese, all’olio extra vergine d’oliva.”

They also have a 36 month aged “culatello di zibello” of superb quality that Ceylan really ate and liked.

One pasta not to miss is the risotto: “risotto di riso vialone nano, stracchino e sarde di lago alla spiedo.” I believe they used fish stock and licorice to bind the risotto, and the sarde was very fat and juicy.

Another pasta I recommend is “tortellini al formaggio Bagoss.” Bagoss is a very rich cow milk cheese from the region.

It is also hard to miss “linguine di faro e orzo, ricci di mare e tuorlo d’uovo affumicato”. The smoked egg and candied lemongrass add depth to ricci di mare.

The secondi not to miss is “Anguilla cotta lentamente alla brace, aglio nero candito in grosso d’anatra”.  They changed the presentation of the candied garlic, but this is one of the best flavor combinations from Adriatic.

I was less fond of a new pike dish: “luccio in conserva, polenta di grano macinato a pietra.” This is pike marinated in oil, flavored with capers, onion, lemon, parsley.  The polenta, which is smoked in the fire, is tasty.

Before dessert we had Bagoss cheese with honey and cugna or grape must.

The dessert we shared was also a “wow:”  torta di rose baked to order with rich Sicilian lemon zabaione.

Ceylan enjoyed very much her wild berry soufflé with bourbon ice cream.

Unfortunately the white wine we chose was so so: Jermann Capo Martino.  This is a coopage from Friulano, Picolit, Malvasia and Ribolla. We noted inadequate acidity with dried fruit and nutty notes. It lacked freshness and character and is a fine example of the commercial style. It was not cheap for 70 Euro either.

Ranking: 16.5/20

BURANO ISLAND-VENICE

DA ROMANO

This is a fine trattoria.

The frittura di “moeche” with fried pepper and zucchini was not the best, juicy fresh soft shell crab we have had in Venice.

But they hit the mark with the spider crab “grancevola in letta di salata”.  This was sweet, juicy and well cleaned.

Risotto di pesca alla “Romano” was good.

We had a combination of “Anguilla griglia” and “scampi fritti”. The latter was average, but the former hit the mark.  When it is handled well, eel is one of the tastiest fish.

2011 Livio Felluga Terre Alte is a good example of a commercial style wine. It has Sauvignon, Friulano, and Pinot Bianco in barrique fermentation.  The problem is that where was too much maceration which imparts some intensity at the expense of character and freshness.  This is a fruity, easy to like wine. 89/100

RANKING: 12.5/20

VENICE

ANTICHE CARAMPANE

This restaurant has good food for insiders and passable food for others.

We had nice fried  baby shrimps to eat whole from the house.

The “scampi” in “saor” is fine.

The “razor clams” were not well cleaned and a touch overcooked.

The “rigatoni with sword fish, olives and parmesan” was well conceived and executed.

The “cuttlefish” in its own ink with polenta  was above the level of Venetian average.

The crème brulee was fine.

I recommend the Gjulia beer with the fried shrimp.

Ceylan liked the 24 months aged prosciutto with salad.

RANKING: 12/20

VENICE

ALLE TESTIERE

This restaurant is still very good, despite two services at night and overcrowded tables that tax the tiny kitchen’s capacity to turn out flawless simple dishes.

Unfortunately the  moeche in saor was not available.

We shared “capesante” with the coral attached and grilled in the shell with orange, tomato and onion slices; baby scallops or “canestrelli” with lemon rind and ground black pepper; “cappelunghe” also known as canellicchi or razor clams, nicely cleaned and grilled with parsley, olive oil and garlic; and “cannochie” or mantis shrimp with parsley and olive oil.

All were fresh and grilled perfectly.

The classic “spaghetti vongole veraci” was good.  Equally satisfying was the “gnocchetti” with calamaretti and cinnamon in a white wine, onion, and celery broth.

We finished with a small grilled monkfish.

Ceylan enjoyed her tomato pasta and tiramisu and we had a very fresh peach tart that was excellent.

Luca recommends good wines for fair prices that match with the food. 2010 Caliconte Malvasia Pomici had floral, sea breeze aromas, citrus fruit and peach on the palette, and some saline-minerality in the finish. It was not heavy or cloying at all and had some depth too.  92/100. We had a taste of 2011 Klabian Malvasia from Slovenia which did not impress me.

Ranking: 14.5/20

VENICE

OSTERIA L’ORTO DE MORI

This is an honest Osteria that stands out among the very touristic eateries nearby which solicit clients as they pass in the street.

“Carpaccio di manzo con noci, rucola e salsa di parmigiano” and “sarde alla beccafico con caponata di sedano Bianca” were fine, tasty appetizers. We were less impressed with “scampi e zucca in saor”,  with sweet onions, pumpkin, and fennel salad.

The pastas are fine, but they did not leave a lingering impression. We had “pasta del granaio con bisque et fiori di zucchini”.  Ceylan did not finish her “maltagliati con salamelle e pomodori verdi”, which was the more interesting of the two.

The Saint Pierre filet with asparagus and potato, wrapped in paper and cooked in the oven, was bland.

The dessert was a crepe filled with cream and fresh strawberry coulis.

We tried a Verdiccio: 2009 La Monacesca Mirum.  I believe it is fermented in barrique or so it tasted that way.  It had nice tropical fruit and intensity, with a touch of a honeyed finish. 89/100

RANKING: 12/20

MEZZORBO ISLAND, VENICE

VENISSA

We had eaten here a year before, and the cuisine was truly one star level, much better than at DA FIORE where the kitchen has lost inspiration.

Now the chef has changed.  Yet the cooking is still very good.  It has personality and a vision.

The problem is the service and language barrier.  They gave us the menu degustation in English which was not understandable due to the poor translation. I also asked for a menu in Italian. Two courses in the menu did not show up.  I protested, and they feigned misunderstanding. I insisted.  Somebody who spoke English came to the table. That was his first day, and he was going to leave for Turkey.  Anyway he understood. It turned out that they knew what was happening.  They could not find the ingredients for the two dishes, and they had not replaced them.  They gave something like a 5% discount on the bill, for which I had not asked.

We also stayed in the hotel.  They are very seriously understaffed, and one girl in the reception tries hard.  The other makes it evident that she does her “job” with ne plus extra!

All this is too bad because the meal was impressive.

We had a nice “baccala montecato and pea cream”.  Then we had excellent “garusoli” or seasnails, with beet greens grown in their garden, a touch of cream and their own juice.  Next, we had very fresh “triglie”, with a sauce prepared from their innards, figs, and capers. The 4^th course was a kind of cannelloni, homemade pasta sheets enveloping squeaky fresh bay scallops or “canestrelli”, and the sauce was flavored with licorice.  An equally outstanding pasta was the “ravioli with Baumgartner’s blue”, which had liquidified blue cheese in a thin ravioli, accompanied by the in season cannocchie (mantis shrimp or cigale de mer) and lavender flower.   The 6^th course was odd and bland: “millet and beans” with ricciole or amberjack stock.  For the fish course, instead of the promised capone, we were served “mackerel”.  It was cooked slowly and came with spinach leaves, matcha powder, and green apple foam.  The dish was good intentioned, but not a mature chef’s dish.

The meat course, however, stunned us!  “Tataki of Goose, Shitake and Bread Gnocchi” was what was written on the menu. No it was not goose. It was duck. (They only acknowledged this upon our remark.)   It was duck breast from Padua, shitaki mushrooms, gnocchi, and white turnip puree. The quality of this dish was on par with the praised duck dishes in some of the Michelin three star restaurat. Bravo to the young lady who is the chef!

The camomile ice cream with lemon zest, meringue, and crumbles was very nice.  The dark chocolate with celery and blueberries convinced me less.

Ceylan had two dishes and ate them.  First, she had thinly sliced white asparagus, wild asparagus, strawberries and fava beans. Then  she had rigatoni with tomato sauce, as usual.

I opted for the four glasses recommended for the tasting menu. They were good choices. First, we had a 2010 Kerner from Manni Nossing.  This is a bone dry wine with citrus fruit and intense acidity.  Then, we had a 2011 St. Michael Eppan Gewurztraminer, which is viscous and spicy and is a good match with figs and licorice (3^rd and 4^th courses).  Thirdly, we had a 2011 Pinot Bianco from Manincor, a nice, clean, balanced and elegant and not “oxidative” example from a biodynamic producer. For the duck, we were served 2007 Rosso Vignalta.  This is a successful Passito from Bisol, who is the owner of Venissa, but does not dictate the serving of his wines. (His prosecco is actually a very fine example of this bubbly.)

RANKING: 15.5/20

NEAR PADUA

OSTERIA CERA

Last year we had had an excellent meal here.  This year we had a good to very good meal.

The atmosphere is correct, professional, and neither cold nor warm.

With your prosecco you may enjoy a set of tasty tidbits: fried alici, fried squash blossom to dip in mayonnaise, focacio with cherry tomatos, mozzarella, and capers.

Kudos for their raw seafood platter: “Colori del Mare: scaletta di dodici crudi”. This dish contains a dozen raw fish and shellfish, each cured differently.  They give you a written explanation and suggest the proper eating order.  Follow it. You will be rewarded with one of the most fulfilling sashimi experience in the world.

It is exquisite.

The rest is good, but not on par.

Among fish soups “Broeto de Pesce” is better than “Tecia di Vongole e alici, con aglio, pepperoncino, pomodoro e pane bruschettato”. Neither is on par with fish soups at LA PINETA or especially at ULIASSI.

Pasta dishes are really al dente and all achieve the one star level.

We had “mezzi paccheri con frutti di mare, pomodoro, olive taggiasche, capperi e basilica,” and “ravioli di mazzancolle al fumo, guazzetto di calamaretti al limone”.  The former featured clams, shrimp, mussels and capers with a touch of tomato.  The latter ravioli was filled with mazzancolle prawns and rock fish, and the lemon cream sauce went well.

Another interesting pasta dish was the “cannelloni con asparagi e pesci di scoglio in acqua di piselli”.  The canneloni was stuffed with asparagus and triglie and gratineed.  It had a fresh peas and pea sauce.  This was the best of the three pasta dishes.

Ceylan’s spaghetti con le seppie was recommended.  It had fresh squid ink.

Other customers had risotto, and I remember their “risotto” being the specialty here.

I don’t like eating big fish in many Michelin star restaurants because they never cook the fish whole.

The same is true here.

So we wanted to repeat the giant “scampi di coccia al sale” from the Adriatic.

Unfortunately the big langoustines cooked whole were not as fresh and flavorful as the previous year.

Ceylan also ate her “uovo fondente con piselli, fave e pane alle erbe”.  She had “crème fredda al timo con fragile, rhubarb e vaniglia” for dessert, which was top notch.

Our dessert was also top notch: “Terra del sud dedicato a Corrado Assenzo: pistachio, mandorla, arancia, limone, marsala, ricotta, bergamotto”.  This is nice and breezy, with an inspiration from Sicily, with coffee granita and pistachio sorbet.

Their panna cotta with almond meringue and lemon and agrume peel is also good.

The wine list is good, but not cheap.  For price/quality ratio I chose a 2008 Sancerre from Sebastien Riffart.  It lived up to expectations with a freshly cut grass, pit fruit, celery nose and a complex palette which revealed quince, green apple, and lichee. It was nice and clean. 93/100

RANKING: 15.5/20

The restaurants reviewed in this report are the following.

Corte in Fiori in Trani

Salvatore Cucco in Gravina in Puglia

Al Buco Preferito in Trani

Antiche Sapori in Andria

Pasha in Conversano

La Puritate in Gallipoli

Le Lampari in Trani

Il San Lorenzo in Roma

TRANI

CORTE IN FIORI

This is a nice seafood restaurant where one can sit in an internal courtyard among trees and flowers.

They have a set of crudi and non-crudi antipasti which are quite good.  Tuna and sarago crudi were fresh, ombrina with peach and mint was interesting, the calamari with papaya and cucumber combination worked, but the salmon with mango and fennel combination was ordinary.

The best crudi was “il battuto di gamberi Gallipolini e il Limone Candito”.  This should not be missed and can only be tasted in Italy.

We were less impressed with the set of five warm antipasti. Smoked swordfish with purslane and strawberry was the only one that made a mark.

One very nice pasta has freshly de-shelled sea urchin: “gli spaghettoni di gragnani alla polpa di riccio”.

The fried calamari was under average.

In contrast was the impressive “scampi al sale”.  Excellent sweet scampi from the rocky coast near Peschici are cooked whole in the shell.  The cost is 60 Euro a kilogram.

The best white wine on the list is 2006 Benanti Pietramarini. It is 100% Carricante. The volcanic soil is evident in the smokey minerality.  It has nice acidity and is lean with remarkable nervosity.  40 Euro.  94/100

Ranking: 14/20 

GRAVINA IN PUGLIA

SALVATORE CUCCO

Maybe it is not as good as Antichi Sapori, but it is not too far behind.  This is a true Osteria.

The set of antipasti included salsiccia, pancetta, pecorino, ricotta, and pickled artichoke.

We had fried peporino, cherry tomato, and melanzane, and also fried bitter green tomato.  Additionally, we had bruschetta with local white bean puree and polpo with pancetta and potatoes.

Everything was tasty and made with natural products.

The “orechiette” with salsicce and rape greens was good.

The shapeless handcut “pasta with fava and fungi cardoncelli” sounded simple but was stunning.

Homemade desserts were delicious: local cream puffs and crostata di ricotta.

The house wine is from Primitivo and Montepulciano grapes and displays nice blackberry fruit.

RANKING: 14/20

TRANI

AL BUCO PREFERITO

This is a place to have an above-average wood fired oven pizza in Trani by the port. The crust is quite good, and they have nice stracciatella cheese in some pizzas.  The non-pizza courses  are not of any culinary interest.

ANDRIA

ANTICHE SAPORI

This restaurant was as good as always. It is one of the best  for price/quality in Italy.  It is also one of the best Osterias of Italy.

The antipasti score high in terms of both quality and quantity: sour dough bruschetta with olive oil, fried zucchini flowers stuffed with ricotta and basil sauce, capocollo with pickled zucchini, incredibly sweet big white onion baked in the oven with breadcrumbs and grated soft cheese, super fresh ricotta with candied celery, flavorful pecorino with pickled red onions, focaccia from grano arso flour with cherry tomatos, scamarzo and pomodoro salad with bread which is like their version of panzanella, and a great example of dried fava bean puree and wild chicory with olive oil.

Pastas are great, so we ordered three of them in the list: “troccoli di grano duro con melanzane, filetto di pomodoro, finocchietta selvatico e ricotta salata”; “orecchiette di grano arso con germogli di zucchini, pomodoro ristretto e profumato e ricotta dura”(this featured candied tomato sauce, zucchini leaves and also zucchini shoots, and intense ricotta dura); “orecchiette di Semola Italiana con Ragu di agnello e maialino cotto lento con la Nostra fassato di pomodoro e pecorino canestrato”.

Instead of a main course, we had grilled caciocavallo: “caciocavallo di Venosa alla Brace con le Nostra Confetture”.  This is a very good cheese with cherry marmalade. On the side, they served carrots and cucumbers, excellent potato cooked in salt crust with olive oil, and a garden fresh salad of rucola, purslane, onions, and carrots, seasoned with olive oil and red wine vinegar.

Desserts kept coming, and surprisingly, they too are distinctly good: cassata with chocolate sauce, outstanding tiramisu, and baba au rhum.

We finished with candied almonds with homemade reglisse liquour and limoncello.

We tried a 2011 Gianfranco Fino Primitivo.  This was certainly not a good match, but perhaps it is the most interesting Primitivo di Manduria. It carries its 16.5% alcohol well with sweet raspberry liquor, cinnamon, and mace aromas. It is concentrated and has more character due to high acidity than a typical Turley Zinfandel.  92/100.

CONVERSANO

PASHA

Two years earlier we ate here like a “Pasha”.  This time we dined like an underling of the Pasha, albeit, a high level underling.

Nothing was disappointing, but nor were the dishes as exquisite.

We had a fine “vintage Pasha” antipasti without the highlights of the past.  “Zuppa fredda di mandorle, tartare di sepia e gamberi” was still good, but too tame. “Gnocchetti alle olive nere, scampi, pepperoncino e basilica” was refined, but not too exciting.  This was followed by “maccheroni di pane, patate, vongole e polvere di cruschi (red pepper from Basilicata)” which would have been better had the vongole not been deshelled.

We had two secondi:  an above average “battuto di manzo with salsa du burrata” and “boiled sheep with raw spinach”.  They have actually done a good job with the sheep, but especially the baby spinach and the spaghetti cooked in the sheep broth were the highlights.

We had a fine fig sorbet with cherry and crumbles as the pre-dessert.  Then we had peaches in gelee de muscat de Trani and veloute d’amandes grille, granite au café and crumbles. They sound interesting, but they were just OK.

We had an excellent Negroamaro:  2004 Monaci “Le Brace”.  It has a spicy, earthy, blackberry aroma. The meaty palette is dominated by black cherry, blackberry, and blueberry.  Unlike many hot climate wines, the fruit character is not jammy.  It has nice acidity, is still tannic, and is slightly rustic.  The finish is long and spices unfold.  55 Euro. 93/100

Make sure to ask for the single table on the terrace for a most romantic dinner.  Conversano is a wonderful, non-touristic town in Puglia.

RANKING: 13/20

GALLIPOLI

LA PURITATE

This is the “must” seafood place in Gallipoli, Puglia.

Don’t miss the wild and deep sea red oysters.  They have a very strong flavor.

Ask for the “linguini with zucchini, parsley, swordfish eggs, cherry tomatos and a salsa of crustaceans”. It is normally not on the menu.

“Gamberoni al sale” is a must here. Ask for one portion per person

“Grilled swordfish”, which unfortunately has been cut thin, was the only non-remarkable dish.

They have a nice “sorbetto al limone with prosecco” and fine almond cookies with café.

The 2012 Calafuria Negroamaro Rose from Tormaresca was a good rose with 12% alcohol.  It is quite crisp and has a good acid-sugar-fruit balance.

RANKING: 15/20

TRANI

LE LAMPARI

This is the best seafood restaurant in Trani and is at the harbor. It is slightly more expensive than the Puglia average, but it still has below average prices when compared to the rest of Italy.

The only problem is that the music they play is a little too loud. The view of the well-lit harbor and Cathedral from the terrace is quite special.

Delicious fat fried alici with grilled red peppers and violet potatoes are brought as the amuse.

Make sure to order the raw “seafood” platter. It featured local ricci di mare, clams, gamberi rossi, scampi, French oysters, excellent mussels, squid, sarago with carrots and celery, tonno with capers and purslane, umbrina with carrots, sea salt, and olive oil.

We liked the ricci di mare so much that we requested a dozen more.  Six of them were quite big. 

The pasta that we chose was the “amatriciana di Gambero Rosso”.  The red shrimps were caught in Gallipoli.   The dish featured both raw and grilled red shrimps in a tomato-shellfish broth.  This was a good pasta, but this is by no means a substitute for savoring the Gallipoli shrimps at Puritate.

The whole baked fresh “scarfano” fish with tomato, potato, and olives was very well handled.

The dessert was good: “Variante alle nocciole, praline roche e gelatino di fregole”.

2009 Capichera, Vermentino di Gallura is an intense and full bodied, high alcohol (14.5 %) Vermentino, dominated by tropical and citrus fruits, with a saline finish.  The oak is evident, but does not dominate.  38 Euro. 92/100

RANKING:  15/20

ROMA

IL SAN LORENZO

This is one of our favorite restaurants in Roma because of the fresh seafood.  The amuse was simple but tasty:  fried anchovies, croquetas of cod fish, with mayonnaise and tomato dips served on the side.

We also started with an artisanal beer for an aperitif: Per Ale, Bionda Collesi.  It was excellent.

We started with the tartar dish:  tuna, merluzza, and riccioli, served with just salt and pepper.

The carpaccio of red shrimp was excellent.  It was marinated with orange juice and served with orange peel, a little paprika, and basil.

Next we were served red shrimp with raw porcini and wild selvacio, which is a bitter green.

Then we had the “no miss” pasta:  spaghetti with a good amount of sea urchins.

The other pasta was also excellent:  spaghetti with tomato and lobster.

We finished with Pezzonia, cooked in a salt crust. 

Finally, we also loved the zabaglione on top of pistachio puree and infused with marsala. 

We drank a 2008 Benanti Pietramarino.  This wine has very intense flavors with only 13% alcohol, including very intense minerality, salinity, great concentration, and a very long finish.  It has citrus, especially lemon and orange, and mineral flavors, and is lean and straight.  46 Euro. 94.5/100

RANKING:  17/20

The restaurants reviewed in this report are the following.

Severo in Paris

Café Esperance in Bouillac

Hostellerie de Plaisance in Saint Emilion

Lion d’Or near Margaux

Le Saint James in Bouillac

PARIS

SEVERO

This is a nice bistro, which is quite touristic, but they have not compromised the cooking.  It is a good place to have excellent “boudin noir” from Christian Parru and “pied de porc” from Auvergne. “Steak tartare” was also good and “cote de veau” with fresh asparagus was above average.  The wine list is very interesting.   The 2009 Morgon Cuvee 3.14 from Jean Foillard boasts a silky texture, bright red fruit, excellent balance, and soft spices in the soothing finish.  I ranked it 94/100.  This is one of the best Morgons I have tried.

Ranking: 14/20

BOUILLAC

CAFÉ ESPERANCE

This is the bistro associated with the Saint James hotel.

It is odd that this is in Michelin.  We had standard fair, including slightly above average charcuterie, l’andouillette, and cote du boeuf.

But, the french fries were very good.

2008 Pavillon de Leoville Poyferre is balanced, with a backbone and earthy-dusty black fruits.

RANKING: 10/20

SAINT EMILION

HOSTELLERIE DE PLAISANCE

This restaurant receives two stars in Michelin.

It delivers between the high end of one star and the low end of two stars.

The optional amuses are the weakest part of the meal.  The three tiny courses come hanging in glass bowls which makes them very inconvenient and annoying to eat.

They sound good, but the taste is not there: “sea urchin cream with caviar”, “crab with lobster butter and bottarga”, “oyster with exotic fruits”.  This is haphazard cooking.

The first course, “spider crab with avocado and tomato” gets the balance right.

The sommelier recommended a Petite Arvine from Switzerland, and this turned out to be a good match for these dishes.

Kudos for the soft and slow cooked farm egg with parmesan milk foam, green asparagus crumbles, jamon bellota, and flying fish roe.  The Petite Arvine is a great match with this.

The rouget was also very good except for one small gaffe. It was presented deboned and served with veal jus, seaweed, oyster leaf, baby carrot, salicorne and razor clams-couteaux. The gaffe was that, one of us, was served a perfectly raw and smashed, so not “vivant”,  fly with the dish, which was sitting on the edge of the plate like a big licorice dot. I guess flies congregate in the kitchen when high voltage lamps are used to keep plates warm.

I ordered Jacky Blot’s 2011 Remus Plus.  This is a very nice Chenin Blanc from Loire Valley, with nice sweet tropical aromas, a velvety texture, density,  and a very pleasant bitterness and minerality in the finish. 93/100.

The kitchen kindly substituted rack of veal for the leg. This was nicely roasted pink and served with fresh asparagus and chanterelles.

The quality of ingredients/raw materials is fine, but not what one expects at this price level.

We had both the cheese course, and classical, well rendered desserts, like a chocolate tart, baba with mascarpone and mint, and a strawberry sphere with crumbles, coconut and lemon jelly.

We paired the veal with 2004 Denis Mortet, Gevrey Chambertin “Les  Champeaux”.  This is a very well made Bourgogne with a strong backbone and structure, more black than red fruits, and it is still tannic and a little tight. It does not have the elegance of a top end Bourgogne, but it has good intensity and concentration. It should evolve well. 94/100

RANKING: 15/20

NEAR MARGAUX

LION D’OR

This is a very satisfactory bistro producing cuisine du terroir.

We had vrai rillettes for amuse.

Then, we were served excellent “boudin noir” landais poele sur lit de salade.

“Parfait de foie gras de canard” was prepared in house.  It was fresh and remarkably silky and fat.

It is too bad that we did not order “tete de veau servie chaude, legume et ravigote”. It looked great, with the brain intact. Half a portion of  tete de veau is served as an appetizer.

Mains were “agneau de region roti a l’ail doux” with jus and “pigeon roti avec escalope de foie gras chaud”. 

I guess it was about six months old lamb chops, and it was cooked rose.  This dish is just short of the highest level and very good indeed.

The same comment can be made of the very good pigeon.

They are served with good thick potato chips.

Then we had brebis cheese with salad and jam, fine fraises au sucre en Chantilly, fine nougat glace et coulis de fruit, and very good canneles.

The wine list is short and not very interesting. We opted for 2008 Chateau d’Issan Margaux, which turned out to be your run of the mill, average boring, bored eau.

Bring your own wine and enjoy!

RANKING: 14.5/20

BOULIAC

LE SAINT JAMES

Michelin two star chef Monsieur Portos has departed. Now there is a new chef who previously had one star, and Michelin relegated this restaurant to one star.

The new chef, Monsieur Nicolas Magie, cooks confidently and his balance between technical prowess and deliciousness is commendable.

The problem is the service.  The four of us ate there one Wednesday night in summer, and the service had serious flaws as follows.

1. We waited for about an hour to place our order.

2. It was IMPOSSIBLE to get a bottle of water after you consume one. You can give the order, but your water never shows up. Others have experienced the same problem and have mentioned it in TripAdvisor.

3. The lady who was in charge of the cheese service bordered on being nasty. She did not want to respond to any question and her look was such as “vous m’emmerdez monsieur”, but she did not spell it out.

4. The new maître d’ was very nice but ineffective. It looks like nobody is in charge of the dining room.

This said, the cooking is indeed very good and deserves two Michelin stars.

The amuses already herald the delicious dishes to come: a French take on gazpacho, excellent baby quiche Lorraine, and some fun bites, including an eggplant marshmellow, a pina colada with candied pineapple pieces, prawns, and coriander.

Everything looks and tastes fresh.

The entrees are excellent.

Kudos for the “saumon sauvage de l’Adour Roti, cru et marine. Avocat and radis rouge et combawa”. This dish has super raw materials (including ripe avocado), the balance is just right, and the cooking is very precise. This is three star level entrée.

Magie’s excellent technique is also displayed in the more complicared langoustine dish: “Langoustines extralarge de la Cotiniere, just snackees, caviar d’aquitaine et pomme verte et epine vinette”.  The langoustines are barely cooked, so they retain their unique sweet flavor.  The claws are gratineed with herbs, green apple jelly adds the right acidity, and the caviar (the quality of Aquitaine caviar is improving) adds a touch of richness and salinity.  This is also a three star level entrée.

The lobster entrée is also very good, albeit a notch below: “Homard de la Cotiniere, cuit au court bouillon cerise et amande fraiche et shiso vert”.  We enjoyed the tempura from rice crackers and the roll made from almonds and stuffed with chopped lobster. The cherries did not add much, but nor did they detract from the flavor. Technical virtuosity is apparent in this dish, but maybe it is less tied to flavor and deliciousness than the previous dishes.

The four of us tasted four main courses.

The least successful was “cochon iberique double cote, rotie au sautoir et pluma caramelisee, oignon doux et girolles, jus concentre”.  Maybe one has to cook the pork in a wood fire oven, as they do in Spain.

The “Ris de veau de lait du Limousin cuit au sautoir, ecrevisse et fenouil et citron vert” was good, but did not exalt as much as the divine veal sweetbread dishes one can have at the temples of haute gastronomie in Paris, such as Apicius, L’Ambroisie and Ledoyen. This said, we enjoyed the idea of lettuce gratine, and the use of a touch of ginger with sweetbreads worked.

The pigeon dish, on the other hand, was a two star level, excellent dish: “Pigeon de chez Mr. Leguen roti sur le coffer et fume aux herbes. Aubergine fumes and pois chiche et coriandre”.  The chef prepared a pastilla from the pigeon’s thigh and the seasoning of the tender pigeon was simply perfect.

The plat de resistance, however, was the turbot (really) cooked on the bone: “turbot sauvage de la Cotiniere de chez ‘Gilles Perrier’ cuit sur l’arrete au beurre d’alque, arroche marine et epinard de mer et salicorne”.  French chefs often overcook the fish, but this was just right. This reminded me of the great wild turbot dishes at SPORTSMAN (also with algues and salicorne), l’AMBROISIE (with vin jaune sauce), and APICIUS (for two with spices and veal jus).

I like my turbot gelatinous and not brittle, like many modern chefs who cook it too slowly (sous vide). Mr. Magie brought out the umami side of turbot. Merci chef!

They have a very well chosen cheese course from affineur Monsieur Pierre Rollet in Libourne.

The pre-dessert was appetizing: citron vert and ananas.

We did not have any dessert.

With the fish courses I chose 2007 Clos Rougeard “Le Breze”. I like the white Saumur-Champigny from Mr. Foucault, which is a very particular expression of Chenin with character from a bio producer.  The aroma is very complex, obviously reflecting the use of wild yeast. It started out like freshly cut grass and pipen apple and developed pain grille, spices, and ground sesame seeds. Intense agrumes, quince, orange, and grapefruit peel are on the palette. This is a nervy, fresh, and lean wine, with intense saline minerality in the finish. I appreciate the fruit-acid-mineral balance in this natural wine. 95/100

The 2006 Meo Camuzet, Clos Vougeot tasted incredibly fresh. The secondary aromas had not yet developed. The wine is now fully open and not tight. It is beautifully fruity, and the intense red and black fruit aromas, especially raspberry and Napoleon cherries, also unfold on the palette. The aftertaste reveals sweet spices and lasts medium long.  This well crafted Clos Vougeot from Meo gives more pleasure than the now closed 2005. 95/100

Clearly we hit it off with the wines, even though we could not drink enough water to avoid dehydration.

Despite the bad servie, we would like to go back.

RANKING: 17/20

The restaurants and bars reviewed in this report are the following.

Narru in Donostia

Zuberoa in Oiartzun

Urola in Donostia

Bordo Berri in Donostia

San Telma in Donostia

Bernardo Etxea in Donostia

Elkano in Getaria

Etxebarri in Axpe

Ibai in Donostia

NARRU IN DONOSTIA AT THE HOTEL NIZA

Niza Hotel now boasts a very fine restaurant.

The jamon iberico from Carrasco is outstanding.  Try it with the pain cristal or tomato bread.

Don’t miss the grilled Gambas of Palamos.  They are the same level as San Remo gamberi.

The rice dish, “riz cremeux croustillant aux crustaces et chipirons, crevette de palamos assisonnee a l’huile d’olive arbequina,” is good, but not too exciting.

The no miss main course is the “tripes et museax a la mode traditionelle”.  A few chorizo add depth to the melt in the mouth veal tripe.  This is one of the lightest versions of the classic.

Rack of young lamb is cooked sous vide and is not too convincing because of the wrong method of cooking.

Finish with crema de queso con Migas crujientes de Mantequilla.

The wine list is unfortunately not on par with the food. It has mainly international style wines which appeal to the ordinary Spanish taste.

RANKING: 14/20

ZUBEROA IN OIARTZUN

Since they returned to their origins, this restaurant has been going very strong.

This time the amuses were foie gras with Pedro Ximenez jelly and brandade de morue.

The world’s best peas with white asparagus, artichoke, and jamon was a masterpiece.

Top quality ceps were offered with poached eggs and its own foam.

These last two dishes displayed outstanding quality ingredients, which were presented without complications, but with masterly touches.

The tuna belly or ventresca from Cantabria, cooked in the wood fired oven, turned out to be a thick fillet, seasoned with tomato and tarragon.  It was as good as the Cantabrian tuna belly we had at Etxebarri the previous year.  This hard to find dish alone is worth the price of the meal.

Nice langoustines also cooked in the wood fire oven.

Agneau de lait is a thick piece from the shoulder.  It is very good, but not as good as the very best you can get at Mannix.  It is accompanied with salad, its own jus, and a great potato puree.

You may get the same special silky potato puree with the very good pigeon. It is roasted with rosemary, ceps, and its liver is used to make toasts.  Chopped cabbage with truffle crumbs are a garni.

You should finish with the world’s best cheese cake with raspberry coulis and yoghurt ice cream.

2001 Vina Tondonia is balanced and traditional in style. I liked its musty aroma, earthy, wild mushroom palette, red fruits with underlying acidity, and smooth but persistent finish. 93/100 37.5 Euro.

RANKING: 18/20

TAPAS CRUISE IN DONOSTIA

1. UROLA

It is still good, but maybe not as good as the previous year.

The best pintxo is the “brocheta de pulpa, pancetta y uopa de patata”.  The second best pintxo is the “taco de foie sobra crema de pochas”.  Cazuelita Callos y Morros was disappointing.

You can find the excellent jamon from Carrasco and very good white prawns from Andalucia among the tapas plates.

2. BORDO BERRI

They have the best pintxos in Donostia.

We starred almost everything we tried, such as the following.

-salmorejo tradicional con jamon de pato (no miss)

-ravioli de molleja, puerro y lemongrass

-orejo de cerdo con romesco (no miss)

-pikillo relleno de carri-kabra

-kallos de Bakalao al pil pil (no miss)

-terrina de foie con cirvela (no miss)

-canelon cremoso de morcilla

-queso de kabra tostado con ciruela (no miss)

-ganatxe de Txokolate y Cointreau

3. SAN TELMO

This bar is not as good as it used to be.  The best pintxos are the following.

-canelon cremoso de cocidos y asados

-carrillera ternere al vino tinto

-queso cabra relleno de verduritas

4. BERNARDO ETXEA

The pintxos are so so, but if you sit in the restaurant, there is very good and fresh shellfish.

Start with Hilda (salted anchovy and pickled pepper) with Txakolin and also salted and fried piquillos.

Then try the excellent Galician flat oysters and some gigantic (alive) langoustines from Galicia.

ELKANO IN GETARIA

This is one of my favorite seafood temples anywhere.

This time they even surpassed themselves.

It was the best seafood meal in recent memory.

We started with a Basque ceviche with red onions, zucchini, and cherries, with extremely fresh salmonetes (rouget).

The percebes were cooked to order and perfect.

Then we had kokotxas al pil pil. Now a multimillion dollar question.  Which one is better:  this one or Ibai’s version?

Let’s call it a tie and let’s say that this is the pinnacle for this dish.

Then we had excellent baby squids grilled with their own ink.

The baby cigale de mer, santiaginos, has to be tasted to be believed to see how sweet they are.

Necoras, small crab, are equally sweet when they are so fresh.

Then we had grilled salmonetes (rouget) with beans. I had not had this level since the version at Balzi Rossi, when this restaurant was at its apex 20 years ago.  I believe they were rock rouget.

Now behold, we had salmonetes and rascasse (scorpion fish) and lotte (monkish).  No, we did not eat all of these fish, but the liver of the three. I believe the three fish in question were caught the same morning and the liver was lightly fried. The rouget liver was intense. The rascasse liver was very creamy.  The lotte (monkfish) was the most like foie gras.   Consuming and comparing all at the same time, all lightly fried, is the equivalent of gastronomic orgasm.

To finish, we had the best grilled turbot on earth. Don’t order it in Fall. Order it in late spring, when it is most fatty.

The desserts were equally natural and outstanding.

We had slightly grilled and caramelized cherries.

Then we had their incredible fresh goat cheese ice cream with strawberry coulis:  Helado de queso.

To finish we had a vacherin cake, which had hard merinque, chocolate mousse, and hazelnuts. Normally this is not my style dessert, but when everything is so high quality and also fresh, this is a good way to end the sumptuous meal.

Now let’s discuss the wines.

We had probably the two best white wines of Spain.

The first is 2010 Do Fereiro Cepas Vellas.   Clearly it saw some batonnage on the lees, but it works here.  The wine stays clean but intense and mineral driven.  It has mostly tropical and citrus fruits and good structure. 94/100

The second wine, 2011 Emilio Rojo, is laser sharp. It has a clean, crisp, citrus fruit nose. It is straight and sharp like a great Chablis.  I love the strong saline-minerality in the finish, buffered by great acidity. The wine developed during the long meal. It is also an elegant wine. 96/100

Both wines are ideal with shellfish and grilled turbot.

RANKING: 20/20

ETXEBARRI IN AXPE

I can’t remember how many times we have come to this rustic temple of grilled food. Over the last 15 years, portions have become smaller, the clientele is half international, but the quality is intact.

We took the menu degustation for 125 plus VAT.

The amuses are homemade chorizo from acorn fed pork (outstanding),  goat’s milk butter (outstanding), smoked buffalo mozzarella, and salted anchovy with tomato bread (outstanding).

We had a nice glass of Albarino to accompany these dishes.

Then we were served a smoked Arcachon oyster with seawater foam and seaweed.  This was good.

Next we had gambas from Palamos, which were outstanding.

Next came espardenyes with white beans, which was also excellent.

The next course was baby octopus (polpets) with caramelized onions and their own ink.  This was outstanding.

Then we had the very rare St. George wild mushrooms with ceps (Calocybe gambosa). This was outstanding.

The next course was baby, very sweet green peas with their own shoots.  This was also outstanding.

Then we had mero (grouper) with artichokes, green beans, carrots, and broccoli. This dish was excellent.

The final course was cabrits (baby kid) with green salad.  We chose this instead of the beef chop because it is in season.  It was outstanding.

Desserts were also fresh and excellent: a smoothie of strawberries, elderflower and cherry yogurt, reduced milk ice cream with a red fruit infusion, and mignardise with coffee.

We had a very interesting bio wine by the glass with the cabrito:  2012 Merla from the Alta Alella winery.  It is very fruity, with a nice smooth texture. The red and black fruits (crushed raspberry, blackberry, pomegranate) are ripe, but not jammy. It developed a touch of licorice on the nose.  The wine has nice acidity and is intense and nervy. 13% alcohol.  92/100

We had an excellent 2010 Domaine Leflaive PM Combettes to accompany the meal. The wine has a classic ripe apple, pear, vanilla, butterscotch, pain grille nose.  The palette unfolds with layers upon layers of intense pear, pineapple, a touch tropical fruits, and soft spices in the long finish.  It has a noteworthy mid-palette.  I like the steely finish.  It has great structure. 170 Euro. 97/100

RANKING: 19/20

IBAI IN DONOSTIA

We had another very good meal in this bizarre restaurant where reservations are very hard to come by.

Excellent warm Chorizo from Rioja is offered to start, together with the market roll, which is the only average thing here.

We had slightly warm and very big percebes.

Then we had the world’s best lobster salpicon, which has a little tomato and apple vinegar. There is great consistency in this dish over the years.

Then we had nice pochas with peppers.  They are fresh pochas with a thin skin.  You can only have them in late spring/early summer.

Then we were served different kinds of setas with excellent quality poached eggs.

The kokotxas al pil pil may not come fresher.  They are extremely gelatinous.

The lenguado (wild sole fish) may not be made tastier. It always tastes like a revelation.

We finished with fine lemon sorbet with cavas.

We had the 2006 Pazo Senorans Seleccion, which is a nice Albarino. You taste some oak, but it is well integrated into the creamy citrus fruit. It has less mineral than Do Fereiro. It has medium intensity and is elegant. 91/100

RANKING: 18/20

The restaurants reviewed in this report are the following.

Chez Michel

La Table d’Aki

Chez l’Ami Jean

Le Dome

Ledoyen

CHEZ MICHEL

The service is crappy, but this is one of the great classic bistros.

Amuse: We started with bigourneaux with mayonnaise and very good dark bread. They were good, but they had forgotten to bring them.  Our first courses arrived without wine and the amuse.

The “Croustillant de Pieds de Veau et Salade de Pois Chiche” gets a kick from the lemon peel and cumin.  The firm abalone in the shell with a vinegary sauce made from its own liver, “ormeau de Tregar Roti Ail et Persil,” also features tiny fried onion rings. Homemade “pate en croute de gibier a plume” is truly superb too. The pate is made from grouse, partridge, hare, and some foie gras to render it more decadent. 

For main courses, “St. Jacques Poelees et Puree de Topinambours” features fine pan fried scallops, but the real plat de resistance is the “Lievre a la Royale et Parmentier d’Epaule.” No shortcuts are taken in this dish, which contains a thick piece of foie gras, parsnip puree, and some sliced white truffles.

Don’t miss the very Breton Kouign Amann for dessert. It is crisp, buttery, and fulfilling.

Beer:  Duchesse Anne Triple beer. It is excellent.

Wine: 2009 Fleurie Maison Foillard.  The wine is quite dark, but perfectly balanced and very fruity. It is smooth, with good concentration, but light in its feet.  The strawberry, blackberry, and blueberry fruit is ripe, but not jammy.  It has 13% alcohol. 93/100

Ranking: 4.5/5

LA TABLE D’AKI

The wine list is not good; BYO for a 35 Euro corkage fee.

Lunch is good, but not as good as dinner.

But he cooked langoustines for us upon request. It was the best dish: “langoustines fricassee with epinard.”  The foamy sauce is from its own stock. The very very fresh langoustines are served with crisp spinach.

The two fish dishes were good, but not the best I have eaten there. Firstly, we had “panache de poissons en petite nage de legumes anises.”  This featured Saint Pierre, Bar and Cabillaud with julienned vegetables.  (He is probably using there the fish he has not finished the previous night.) The second was “fricassee de sole aux endives a l’orange,” and this was better.

The dessert we shared was actually very good: Apple strudel with raisins.

We drank a half bottle of 2010 Girardin Puilly Fuisse, which was nice, clean, round, and well made with a steely finish. 90/100

Ranking: 4/5

CHEZ L’AMI JEAN

“Potage de cochonailles” featured fried innards, chorizo, boudin noir, Andouille, and saucisson.  This was very good, but this time we did not have the great five years aged beef-bresoala. 

The chef sent tiny scallops in the shell, “petoncles,” braised in white wine and parsley, which was excellent. 

Next we had very fresh “ris de veau roti braise ail et thyme,” with capers and bacon, and equally tasty wild pigeon, “palombe,” with bacon, foie gras, and chestnut/potato puree on the side in a casserole which was brought to the table when we had eaten half of the palombe. We saw some grouse brought to the adjacent table which was not on the menu. 

“Riz au lait grand maman” with caramel beurre sale and nougatine is always a delight. 

Avoid ordering wine by glass. The Chablis they serve for 15 Euro is a shame, because the Chablis is mediocre.  Order a bottle, such as the 2007 Fitou, Les Milles Vignes, Cuvee Atsuko. It was indeed the right match with game. It is full, but not overextracted, warm and spicy, with 13.5% alcohol.  91/100

Grade: 4.5/5

LE DOME

This is a dependable seafood brasserie. They serve smoked salmon on toast as an amuse.  We had excellent, briny and deep tasting Belon no. 1 oysters and oursins Irlandais.   (It is hard to find sea urchins from Brittany nowadays.)

As an appetizer, the monkfish liver, “foie de lotte poele, un ragout de celeri et epinards” is very good. The fresh monkfish liver is creamy and not iodized or fishy.  

The “medaillons de lotte braisee aux truffes, cuisine bourgeoise” was a tad overcooked. They were accompanied by celery root, carrots, leeks and potatoes.  Ask for a big sole fish for two when you reserve.   

We had two good desserts: “moelleux chocolat, caramel et beurre sale a Coeur, glace chocolat” and “tarte au citron meringue.”  You can also consider their specialties, the millefeuille or the apple tart for two.

Wine: 2011 Francois Cotat Sancerre “Les Monts Damnes.” It has a floral aroma.  It is an expansive, lush, and not too grassy Sauvignon, with pear and apple flavors. The finish is long, with saline minerality. It has 14.5% alcohol.  The 2010 is better than 2011, but the 2011 is very good too from this reliably good producer.  92/100

Ranking: 4/5

LEDOYEN

This is now one of the best restaurants in the world, definitely in top ten.  Monsieur Simiand is a great host and Monsieur Frederique, a true gentleman, is most trustworthy in helping one design the menu.

Amuses:  liquid ginger balls, jelly of apple and verveine, a truffled dried mushroom with cheese, and foie gras meringue with citron.

They also serve crisps of shrimp with squid ink and with horseradish.

Breads are great at Ledoyen and the brioche is too dangerous because it is irresistible.

They brought a third amuse which is actually an entrée on the menu: “Gratinee d’oignons a la Parisienne contemporaine.”  It was onions in different textures (confit, liquid center), all sweet, and gratineed with bread crumbs and parmesan.

Then the feast began.  First we had “Rape de truffes d’Alba, carpaccio de langoustines juste raidies.”  This dish had barely cooked langoustines, a jelly from the head, and shaved truffles, which were firm and aromatic in 2013. This is a classic dish, reminiscent of Ducasse’s San Remo shrimp with gelee and caviar.

Another no miss is “Jambon/Champignon aux spaghetti, truffe blance rapee par le maître d’hotel, jambon de Paris.”  It is square shaped, holding jambon and ceps inside, with a classic intense sauce that contains mushroom jus.  The dish is gratineed, with shaved truffles on top. I think this dish should be consumed with black rather than white truffles, because it overwhelms the white truffles.  It is a very fulfilling dish.

Veal sweetbreads are a masterpiece here: “Ris de veau en brochette de bois de citronelle rissole jus d’herbes, salsify.”  This is 20/20.

Another masterpiece is the smoked eel: “Toasts brulee d’anguilles reduction de jus de raisin.”  This is a red wine dish because the reduced squid ink jelly and jus de raisin (verjus?) sauce, with a smokey flavor, asks for red wine.  This dish is served with squared potatoes with horseradish.

If you are there in November, don’t miss the “Grousse d’Ecosse facon Royale, pates a la chataigne.”  The internal organs of the grouse are used in the classic superb sauce “Grand Veneur.”  There is a touch of dark chocolate in the sauce.  The dish is accompanied by chestnut pasta, with chestnut and apricot purees.  This is another 20/20 dish.

Overall, we should not have gotten eel because the last two dishes are too strong. It would have been better to choose either the eel or the spaghetti.

There are good desserts, but it is hard to resist one of the world’s best non-chocolate desserts: “croquant de pamplemousse cuit et cru.”

We finished with nice petit fours with the coffee, including red fruit balls, pistachio macaroons, passion fruit balls, and coconut balls.  There were also chocolates: “white chocolate, candied chestnuts, etc…”

They offer Quing Aman to finish, if you can eat anything else!

We had a glass each of Phillipponat Cuvee 1522 and a glass of 2006 Pierre Monsuit, besides the following bottles.

2001 Josmeyer Pinot Gris.  This wine has a ripe tropical fruit nose, with pineapple, pear, and grapefruit. It is lush, opulent, and elegant, with some residual sugar. It is quite complex, balanced, with a touch of minerality in  finish. 93/100

1998 Clos Rougeard “Les Poyeux.”   This wine has a mineral, iron, wet cloth, and herbal aroma.  The tannins have melted. It is on par with a Grand Cru Saint Emilion.  It has soft spices and earth in the finish, great structure, and is light and intense at the same time. It can age effortlessly for another 10+ years.  95/100

Ranking: 19/20

RANKING: 18.5/20

Two consecutive meals at Aimo e Nadia convinced me that this is the best “refined dining” restaurant in Northern Italy, better than the very good Le Calandre, the now declining Da Vittorio, and, inconsistent Osteria Francescana and Cracco. Only the classic Lombardian cuisine of  Dal Pescatore and the original seafood interpretations of Uliassi can approach the pleasure one can derive from a meal at this Milano temple of cuisine dedicated to showcasing the best ingredients and cooking traditions of all Italy.*

I would like to thank David Kinch for bringing this place to my attention.

There are very few Michelin two to three macaroons restaurants which put such a premium on high quality ingredients.  There are even fewer which combine them so intelligently, highlighting the quality of each ingredient without losing overall focus.  Clean and focused cooking which respects the clarity of ingredients is indeed rare, but rarer still is the ability to make a dish look simple when it is in fact complex and well-conceived.  Aimo e Nadia served my wife and I  quite a few dishes which fell into this category.

DINNER AT AIMO E NADIA

One exceptional course, and a good start, was the charcuterie plate: “Le nostra selezione di salumi.”  It is composed of exceptional quality culatello (di spigaroli), prosciutto and smoked guancia (di d’Osvaldo), and lardo of colonnata (di Guadagni).  All are unforgettable, but perhaps the most unique taste you cannot find elsewhere is the  hand cut, made in the premises,  fresh salsicce: Battuta. It is served only with olive oil and integrale salt. It is a must try.

One amuse was a very fine pumpkin soup with cucumber and mostarda.

Things got more serious with the second amuse; the chickpea cream with wild orticchie, onions and black olive cream was a nod to Puglia.  My wife and I have visited Puglia several times, but we have not seen this dish elevated to a grandiose status.

Another memorable starter was the very fresh Gamberi/prawns from San Remo (best in the world) with a pomegranate sorbet, a light touch of rosemary honey vinegar, a careful misting of spicy olive oil from Sienna, and a zesting of Sicilian aromatic bergamot (similar to orange).

Then there was an exceptional soup which also merits 20/20, as did the previous dish: “Zuppa etrusca con verdure dell’orto, legumi e faro della Garfagnano alle erbe aromatiche e fiori di finocchietto selvatico.”

I love Etruscan vases with long necks, and I admire ladies whose necks remind me of these vases.

The Etruscan soup was equally aesthetically pleasing and lovely.  Quite a few vegetables are cooked separately, along with wild fennel, other herbs, and faro in a chick pea broth. I would have sworn that there is either butter or cream, but there is not. The soup has only vegetable broth and good olive oil.

Nearly as superlative as these dishes was the triglie (rouget). The boned rock triglie fish is baked in an herbal potato crust with capers and served with the jus of smoked scamorza cheese.

I think the restaurant uses a different olive oil for each dish that requires oil.

The pastas are fantastic.

For dinner we were served tortelli filled with castrated Piemontese beef and bone marrow.  The sauce contained cooking juices, saffron, and parmesan cream.

Hedonistic!

We ordered a variety of different meat dishes to finish.  The “capriolo,” venison chop, covered with bread crumbs -- a la Milannaise -- and served with potatoes and onions in a red wine-based sauce was quite good.   So was the long cooked oxtail from Piemonte, served on top of potato puree and surrounded  by a rich sauce, given a lift by herbal/bitter Chinato, a fortified wine from Barolo.

They also have a few exceptional artisanal cheeses.  We tried two of them: granata (goat cheese from Piemonte) and an indescribably tasty gorgonzola-like cheese from raw cow milk produced in small quantities in Val Taleggio in Lombardia called “Strachitunt.”

Desserts are light and very good too.  The pre-dessert was a yoghourt from non-fermented milk with pineapple juice and cucumber cubes.

The main dessert featured various textures of Granny Smith apples:  fresh, dried, crisp, meringue, puree, and foam.

WINES:  We started with 2000 Ca del Bosco, which was actually leesy and deep.

2011 TIMORASSO, COLLI TORTONESI, MARINA COPPI, FAUSTA

This was my first initiation to this cepage from Piemonte: Timorasso. Later I tried other producers, but could not find a wine at this level. Clean and fresh and minerally, this wine was a great match with the first few courses. It displayed wild fennel, sage, and a slightly grassy nose. The palette was lean and crystal clear, with a stony minerality in the finish. It displayed perfect balance.  When tasted with the cheeses, it had developed a smoky, petroleum aroma, reminiscent of a German Riesling. 94/100

2009 N’ANTICCHIA ETNA ROSSO, NERO MASCALESE, PIETRO CACIORGNA.

I have a soft spot for the Nero Mascalese grape, grown in the volcanic soil of Mount Etna in Sicily. This wine came from 600 meters altitude old vineyards facing the north. Light in color, good examples of Nerello Mascalese and Nerello Capuccio possess the elegance of Bourgogne and the earthiness of Barolo, but they are lighter in body. This wine was a good example.  It was lean and had a floral and wild strawberry aroma.  It was not meaty or rustic like a Barolo, but had good nervosity and structure. It was balanced, clean, with a medium and slightly herbal finish.  The dancing of a cornucopia of red fruits on the palette was most pleasing.  It has 13.5% alcohol. 94/100

LUNCH AT AIMO E NADIA
Since lunch was less crowded than dinner and because we were given a corner table, I began to look around and think about the meanings of the modern paintings by the artist Paolo Ferrari.

The way modern art makes an impression is intriguing. These paintings with strong and bright colors had bothered me the night before.  At lunch, however, my eyes got used to them and I felt enchanted and….hungrier!

The opposite is usually the case for high end restaurants. You can enjoy the home cooking of your osteria all the time, but very few high end restaurants satisfy you equally in the second visit.

Aimo e Nadia is one of the rare exceptions.   It is maybe because the cooking is not gimmicky, fussy, “brainy” or complicated. It is complex, and clearly much thought and experimentation lies behind the dishes. Nonetheless the creations are rooted in tradition and appeal to the palate.

A different set of amuses were served for lunch:  whole wheat crackers with grapefruit skin, foccacio with sun dried tomatoes and stracciatella cheese, and fried polenta and pepperoncini.

We also requested the memorable “salsiccie de mailino” of the preceding night as it was a sensory pinnacle.

Then they brought another amuse which is an antipasti on the menu:  barely fried flavorful porcini mushrooms with mozzarella and blueberry cream. Some zucchini sticks, yoghourt, a dusting of coco, and fried basil complemented the dish.

Of all the dishes I tried at Aimo e Nadia this was the only combination which did not convince me.  I did not see how the taste of porcini was enhanced by the rest.

But then three masterpieces followed.

Firstly, we had the best egg/Alba truffle concoction of which one can conceive:  poached eggs with orange yolks, about eight grams of aromatic pico magnatum from a truffle the size of a fist, and a drizzle of brown butter.  This was wimply hedonistic.

Secondly, we had a fantastic pasta, a house classic.  It was a lesson on how a simple pasta cooked with three to four ingredients can make many pasta dishes look awkward and misconceived.

It was spaghettoni di grano duro, a hard durum pasta with a carefully calibrated fresh onion, pepperoncino pepper, Ligurian basil, and olive oil sauce. It had four ingredients only. It is a must try, to understand why and how great pasta is not only as great a dish as any, but also because it is inimitable and very Italian.

Thirdly, we had suckling lamb from Sardinia.  The chef had cut pieces from the rack of baby lamb and wrapped them in spinach.  The were seared and roasted medium rare and served alongside with some of the tenderest vegetables, like zucchini, spring onion, and radicchio braised in berry juice.  The quality of the lamb was the best we have had in Italy (rarely found in France, but more easily found in Spain), and the subtle saucing showed the sophistication of the chef.

Later we have met with chef Fabio, one of the two chefs in the kitchen.  In his 30s, fit, modest, and intelligent, we talked about his cooking philosophy.

He had used Hermitage wine in the sauce. He said that when he wants to make a new dish, he starts thinking about which kind of sauce he wants to make and then works out the other details.

Good saucing is a lost art and has almost disappeared because of the demise of classical French cuisine. It was a breadth of fresh air to listen to Fabio.

Knowing the quality of cheeses, we wanted to finish this great meal with cheese.

Maitre d’Hotel  Nicola, who is also the sommelier, chose four outstanding cheeses for us, all different from the day before. There was a Reblochon-like cheese, a very complex, creamy and nutty Castelmagno, not from cow but from goat, a tome from Val d’Aosta, and a creamy goat cheese.  They were all unpasteurized and all Italian.

WINES:  We had two glasses of 12 years old Ca del Bosco that was made for the restaurant.

2009 KLAUSNER MERLOT RISERVA KOBLER SUDTIROLER

This is a bio wine from Aldo Adige. It has a floral, sweet fruit aroma. This is followed by vibrant red fruit, which is round and balanced, with bitter chocolate and earth notes in the finish. The wine has nice acidity, which is buried in fruit.  It has character and is not overextracted like so many new world Merlots. It was a good match with the lamb, the porcini, and the pasta, and it did not overwhelm the truffle dish. It has 14% alcohol. 92/100

*A meal there can convince one about how an ivory tower academic like David Gilmour in his book “The Pursuit of Italy” got it wrong when he argues that the Risorgimento was a huge mistake and that Italy would govern itself better if it split up once more into a dozen city-states.  If you can combine ingredients and cooking traditions in such an ingenious blend that, to resort to a cliché, the sum is bigger than the parts, and if the cuisine and the national cooking traditions is a reflection of ecology and culture, then Italy is better off if it stays unified even though its constituent parts love to quarrel all the time. It is all part of the collective unconscious and national psyche.

The restaurants reviewed in this report are the following.

Amomando in Milano

Da Vittorio near Bergamo

Dal Pescatore near Cremona

La Crepa near Cremona

Tornavento in Treiso

All’Enoteca in Canale

Da Renzo in Cervere

Trattoria della Posta in Monforte d’Alba

AROMANDO IN MILANO

This is a very enjoyable trattoria with great atmosphere. It is 60s retro style, buzzing and happy. The menus are pasted on the first few pages of old Italian food magazines.

A good vegetable soup and arancini were offered as amuses.

Don’t miss the homemade charcuterie plate, which doesn’t contain any additives: I nostri salumi di piccoli artigiani: prosciutto, salsicce, guanciale, coppo and lomo.  It is served with pickled onions, carrots, and zucchini.

Also good, but a bit bland, is Sicilian flatbread, pane carasau with stracciatella di bufala and white tuna.

The pastas are good and homemade.

We enjoyed the orecchiette with broccoli and bottarga, but they had an overgenerous hand in spiking it with chile pepper.

Even better was the lasagna:  Lasagnetta with a ragout of Chianina beef, smoked prosciutto and scamorza cheese.  The addition of an egg in the middle of the béchamel cream worked well with the rich pasta.

Our favorite pasta was the handcut, rather thick and shapeless flat “testaroli”. This is an eggless pasta, and it was served with thick slices of fresh porcini. It was delicious.

The meat dish we shared was the least spectacular: “Maiale grossone di 24 mesi di La Bettella Guancialino e costine con cumino e curcuma accompagnate da mais mute”.  This was a Bolivian inspired casserole dish from the Bolivian cook. The spectacular part of this dish was the quality of the maize.

We finished with capra cheese with fig jam and very good zabaglione with coffee.

Everybody was most friendly. They offered us good oil and jarred peeled tomatoes with no additives upon our departure.

WINES: They have a very serious and fairly priced list.

2011 Egon Muller, Scharzhof Riesling.

This is an introduction to the great wines of this Saar producer. It tastes of freshly cut pipen apples, has nice acid/sugar/fruit balance, is elegant, and has a tinge of biting edge in the finish. 92/100

2009 Frederic Mugnier, Chambolle Musigny Vielles Vignes.

This wine is quite dark for a village Pinot. It has wild herbs, licorice, anise, and strawberry punch in the aroma, which is followed by a creamy and unctuous texture. It is quite concentrated. There are the flavors of raspberry fruit on the palette, and it has and earthy, meaty, and medium-long finish.  It is the level of a premier cru Chambolle from a good millesime.  94/100

Ranking: 4/5

DA VITTORIO NEAR BERGAMO

This once great restaurant under the father Cerea’s supervision, is now merely a nice place for celebrations for Italian families. It has a ballroom atmosphere, with spaced tables and formal service, but much less generosity compared to the past and it has an adequate kitchen which has lost inspiration.

Anchovies with butter on toasted bread are served for the amuse. We did not understand the logic of the pairing.

We requested the great goat milk butter of the past. This time it was frozen and ordinary.  The foccacio with tomato was good.

We requested a couple of antipasti with truffles. The pizza with mashed potato and cubed ordinary farmed mushrooms tasted bland and reheated.

The polenta with tallegio cheese and braised winter vegetables was OK, but was neither a good vehicle for Alba truffles nor an interesting amuse. This would have been appropriate as a garnie to a main course.

The risotto with grape and meat stock was a sturdy winter dish, but the sauce overwhelmed the truffle aroma. We had the impression that the risotto was partially cooked and then finished before serving.

Much better was the gnocchi with fonduta and white truffles. Unfortunately they only served a single piece.

The most intriguing dish was the so called “elephant ear,” a giant veal scallopine.  Half of it was served with melting cheese on top, the other half with tomato and lemon peel. I made the mistake of nodding my head when they asked if we wanted truffles on it. Nonetheless, this hefty portion is a great example of comfort food, and I would not mind trying it again. Be warned that two people can only finish it if one doesn’t eat anything else.

I don’t like their modern desserts. Order the fine sorbets or don’t order anything because there are sufficient sweets served prior to your espresso.

They charge 10 Euro per gram for the while truffles. We paid 3.5 to 4.5 Euro per gram in Alba in the restaurants reviewed below.

2009 FRANCHETTI CONTRADA

This wine has a floral, licorice, and wild yeast aroma. It has nice red fruits and raspberry, with very good acidity buried in the fruit. Tannins don’t bother at all in the long finish.  It has body for Nerello Mascalese, but remains elegant.  Old vines are grown at 850 meter altitude on Etna’s volcanic soil. 94/100

Ranking: 13/20

DAL PESCATORE NEAR CREMONA

This restaurant always delivers.

Top quality charcuterie was served as an amuse:  Prosciutto Langirano from Rulliano, culatello di Zibello, and salame Montevano.  We also were served parmesan chips.

The second amuse was pumpkin soup with olive oil.

The first course was Lumache Petit Gris della Pianura con salsa di erbe aromatiche, aglio dolce e funghi porcini.  If you like snails, this local dish with an aromatic herb sauce and very fresh porcini is outstanding.

Equally outstanding is the “Coscette di Rana, gratinate alla erbe fini”.  The herbs, like escarole and orticchie, are from the restaurant’s garden. The frog legs have not been frozen. They were lightly fried.

Don’t miss the superlative pasta: Tortelli di Zucca (with amoretti, mostarda and parmigiano reggiano). Many restaurants in Lombardia and elsewhere cook this pasta dish, but the version here remains qualitatively above all others that we have tried.

Game is very reliable here, but since we were having lunch (luckily it was warm with blue skies in the second half of November and we sat  by the window, looking at the garden and watching the languid house dog, beautiful Urma), we wanted to finish with fish.

Try the local eel, normally served with bitter greens from the garden: “Anguilla alla griglia servita con radicchio dell’orto.”  I said “normally” because since we had the bitter green salad earlier, they served this dish with vegetables. They were good, but bitter greens work better with the gelatinous, fat fish which is expertly grilled (meuniere), with its skin crusted with herbs.

The simplicity of expression and the intensity of taste comes together here, as in many other dishes.

We finished with excellent cheeses: a goat cheese from Bergamo, three years aged reggiano, remarkable provolone from the village of Gazzo near Cremona, gorgonzola, and burrata. They serve the cheese platter with homemade watermelon mustarda.

2004 Coche-Dury Puligny Montrachet “Les Enseigneres”.

This wine has a crème brulee, leesy nose with a hint of tobacco leaf, hay, and citrus, apple, and pear. The oak is beautifully integrated, and the wine is very round and intense. It has a good mid-palette, with a perfect acid-fruit balance. It is a touch earthy, with a long finish. 96/100

RANKING: 18/20

LA CREPA NEAR CREMONA

This is a good trattoria near Cremona, 5 minutes from Dal Pescatore, in the town square of Isola Doverese. They give importance to wine and carry unusual Barolos, like Viglione and Camomica, for attractive prices. You can also buy wine on retail.

We started with “salumi artigianale” that also featured culatello. The salumi from Mantova made an impression.

The classic “tortelli di zucca” is good, provided that you don’t compare it with Dal Pescatore’s version.

I like their dry, cone shaped risotto with meat ragu and veal tongue: “Savaren di riso cdan ragu classic e lingua salmistrada…”

Another very good pasta is the local tortellini, called “marubino” in a heady, clean hen broth: “Il Marubino ai tre brodi….” Marubino is hand cut and shaped and filled with veal and salumi.

We shared two main dishes. Not to miss is the homemade “cotechino,” served with lentils, cabbage, mostarda, and fried polenta. The cotechino in Lombardia is different than the Piemontese version and equally good. This dish is a great example of a cuisine rooted in rural traditions, and it is such dishes that great osterias of Italy excel, or should excel.

Somehow we did not feel equally enthusiastic about the Cremona style “Bollito Misto.” It was served with three different sauces and mostarda, but none of them made an impression.
They did not include the gelatinous parts of the veal which are the tastiest in a Bollito Misto. This dish should be tried in Piemonte in the town of Carru.

This osteria has excellent Grano Padano and very good Provolone cheeses.

2004 BAROLO VIGNA ROCCHE ERBALUNA

This is a bio wine, in the classic Barolo style.  Tannins have softened a little bit, but they still make their presence felt. 

The nose has a pleasant sweet fruit component along with tarry nuances. The palette contrasts with the sweet aromas, as tart plum, pomegranate, and raspberry flavors unfold.  The wine is quite persistent.  The finish is long, and it leaves an earthy and sweet impression, even though one expects some astringency from the palette. It has 14.5% alcohol.  93/100

TORNAVENTO IN TREISO

This is a reliable restaurant in Piemonte, 10 minutes from Alba. It has a big dining room, and when it is very crowded, the service and the kitchen suffers. Otherwise, it is one of the best in the region.

The amuses were focaccia with onions and cheese, veal wrapped in a cabbage leaf with fonduta, salmon on a cracker, gougeres, and a crisp salsicce.

The lightly fried “Gamberi di San Remo,” dusted with hazelnut crumbs, is very popular and normally quite good. This time they were not fresh enough.

On the other hand, we thought very highly of the frog legs: “Amoretti di  Coscette di Rana con Bagnet Verde Piemontese.” The green sauce, with citrus, egg yolk, parsley, other herbs, and vinegar, had the right touch of acidity, and the amoretti dusted, pan fried meuniere-style frog legs tasted fresh.

Last time the Seirass cheese filled “Plin” ravioli, which also soaks up the aromas of buttered dry hay and wild thyme, was overcooked. This time it was steamed just right and every bit of this house special was spectacular.

They make a very good “piccolo fritto”. We ordered two.  The description says: “Il piccolo fritto: scottadito d’agnello, farcita di taleggio, cervella di vitello, semolina dolce e mele in pastella.” It features lamb chops, brain, green beans, cauliflower, semolina ball, veal, and chicken. They crust each piece with semolina.

We finished with good (but not as great as other visits) Zabaglione with Marsala, served with hazelnut cookies.

2009 TIMORASSO, MARCO OBERTENGA, STERPI, VIGNETA MASSA.

This wine has a leesy, Chardonnay-like nose. It seems like it experienced a long maceration and batonnage.  It is voluminous, with ripe fruit, especially grapefruit and agrumes. It is round, and the acidity keeps it from becoming cloying. 14%. 90/100

This is a good wine, but it is not as impressive and characteristic as the Marina Coppi, Fausto from the same Timorasso cepage.

The Sommelier also recommended Barbera from Cascane del Frate to us. 

Ranking: 14.5/20

ALL’ENOTECA IN CANALE

This restaurant remains a favorite for us. It was still very good, but the Japanese pasta chef had left. The favorite anchovy and burrata pasta was not available.

They remain one of the most honest restaurants with Alba truffle. They choose their truffles well. You can choose your own and have it weighed.  You will be charged for what you eat.

We had two dinners.

Amuses are very good:  pumpkin puree with ricotta and amaretti, almonds, cubed salmon (trout for the second meal) with cream in a cone, a biscuit with gorgonzola and pistachios, a biscuit with a pate of rabbit, and caramelized eel on a stick.  They served the same amuses for both diners.

DINNER 1.

1. Coscia di Vitello Battuta al Coltello. This is hand cut Piemontese veal tartare, which is a very good vehicle for truffles.

2. Farm egg with fonduta and parmesan in casserole. This is an excellent dish which is also the best pairing with truffles.

3. Due Ravioli in due Servizi:

a. Al pesto liquid potato and fagiolini.  The dish has three pieces. They sitting on a potato cream. The ravioli has a liquid inside, and is served with pinenuts and crunchy green beans.

b. Al Blu del Moncesino pere e mandorle. The dish also has three pieces.  The contain blue cheese, pear, and almonds.  Thi is also very good.

4. Piccione in crosta di tartufo nero. The baby pigeon was crusted with breadcrumbs and herbs and first pan fried in butter and then roasted in the oven.

For dessert we shared a “biscotto al vapore, mascarpone, caffe, orzo e gelato al caramello.”

2007 BARBERA COLLI TORTONESI, MARINA COPPI, I GROP

The wine has herbal notes and licorice on the nose. It is not oaked. Nice griotte follows on the palette. The wine is silky and persistent and finishes with herbal notes. It is not overly complex, but harmonious. It has 14% alcohol. 90/100

We also tried two glasses of 2007 Ermano Costa Roero, Nebbiolo from Canale. This wine is a very good match with the pigeon and a great value.

The truffles are priced at 3.5 Euro per gram. We chose a 33 gram truffle.

DINNER 2.

We sat in the second, smaller room, which is most lovely.  We ordered the truffle menu, supplementing it with the frogs leg course.

Frog legs are served with a garlicky green sauce with bacon puree. Next to them there was an onion stuffed with a beet and pumpkin mousse. It was good, but not as good as the versions in Tornavento and Dal Pescatore.

Truffle menu:

1. Uovo al vapore. This is a simple dish. We prefer the casserole version for eggs and truffles.

2. Topinambur arrosto e cioccolate bianco.   This is a nice combination and it works with truffles.

3. Cardi e castagne.  This dish is served with fonduta and is good.

4. Costata marinato nel miele, focaccia croccante.  The Carpaccio was marinated in honey for three weeks. The Focaccia is spread with mayonnaise and anchovies.  This was very good.

5. Tajarin. We added this dish to the menu. It was very good, but it impressed me less than two years ago. Maybe the dish used less eggs.

6. Ravioli alla fonduta.  This dish is green ravioli filled with fonduta, and it was excellent.

7.  Filetto nocciole e midollo emulsione al fegato grasso.  This was basically a nut crustred filet of Piemontese veal with mushrooms and jus. The foie gras was forgotten. This dish did not make an impression. 

We then had raisin sorbet with pistachio crumbles.

The dessert was Biscotto al vapore, mascarpone, caffe, orzo e gelato al caramello.   This was like a play on tiramisu, with caramel sorbet on the side. It was successful.

The homemade bread here is very good, especially the focaccia.

2011 RAMONET PULIGNY MONTRACHET “CHAMP CANET”

The wine has an intense, leesy, crème brulee nose. It is concentrated, with citrus, grapefruit, and pineapple. Minerality is detectable in the long finish. It has a good structure. The aftertaste is pleasantly bitter, like chewing grapefruit skin.  95/100

2005 LANGHE ROSSO-DAVIDE PALLUDA

We tried two glasses of this wine, vinified by Matea Corregia for the chef. It is nicely balanced, and is a very well made Nebbiolo. The tannins are mellow; the acidity is there, but buffered by red fruits, especially raspberry. It is like a village Barbaresco. 91/100

They offered us two glasses of 2011 Ermano Costa Arneis as an aperitive.

The truffle we chose was about 60 grams.

RANKING: 15/20

DA RENZO IN CERVERE

Right now this is the best restaurant in the vicinity of Alba. There is no sous vide here, like the Michelin three star restaurant, but uneven Duomo in Alba. The cooking is very solid.  The quality of ingredients is high, and the attention to detail is praiseworthy.

The amuse was an excellent vitello tomato. We also requested and they served us their superb cotechino with fonduta, a parsnip chip, and shaved truffle.

We chose a medium-sized, very firm, and aromatic truffle of 100 grams.  They charged 4 Euro per gram.

1. Anguilla della Valli di Comacchio in delicate carpionatura il suo spiedino alla brace d’olivo, cipolle rosse, datteri e menta dell’Orto.  This is an excellent cold eel salad, rolled, and served with pickled red onions.

2. Terrina di fegato grasso d’anatra ai fichi, la sua scaloppa ai limoni della Riviera ligure, agrumi canditi e pan brioche.  They make their own terrine, and this quality is rare anywhere. The terrine is served with fig puree.  The thick, smooth fresh foie is served with a caramelized sauce of figs, orange puree and peel, and apple slices.

3. Uovo in cocotte al tartufo bianco d’Alba.  This is the best egg-truffle combination, along with the one at Aimo e Nadia.

4. Tajarin ai Trento cinque tuorli tagliati al coltello al tartufo Bianco d’Alba.  The tajarin cannot get better. This dish is a  great vehicle for truffles.

5. Ravioli with gorgonzola, pear, candied hazelnut and hazelnut sauce.  This was another super pasta.

6. Lumache di Cerrasco ai Porri di Cervere, mele Renette e composto di rosa cantina.  This dish featured big local snails, with Cervere leeks, and apple slices.  It  is another must to get at this restaurant.

7. Capretto di Roccaverano arrosto agli agrumi della Riviera ligure e radicchio rosso di Treviso su crema di sedano rapa. This dish has very good roasted goat, but one misses Da Cesare’s version when this great chef roasted the whole kid in the fireplace and served three different pieces to each guest, along with rosemary scented cubed potatoes.

Dessert: Sicilia Coast to Coast.  This excellent dessert included canola, pistachio ice cream, and almond milk in a glass.

The petit fours served with espresso were also top quality.

2009 EMILIO PEPE TREBBIANO D’ABRUZZO.

This bio wine has character, and it was not oxidative. I had it decanted. It matched the truffle dishes very well.  The nose was complex, leesy and nutty, and the wild yeast was evident. It was not fruity at all, as I wanted (truffle does not match with fruity wines), and it was smooth, steely, earthy, nutty, and bone dry.  It has a good inner core. 93/100

2006 COPPA IN CANELLI, FREISA MONDACCIANE VV.

I like Freisa, which reminds me of Poulsard.  We had two glasses with the roasted kid.  The nose was attractively herbal, with lemon thyme, oregano, licorice, and red fruit.  The palette was dominated by bright red fruits.  This is a clean and lean red wine with a touch of a vegetal finish. 89/100

RANKING: 17/20

TRATTORIA DELLA POSTA IN MONFORTE D’ALBA

The amuse was cotechino with potato, which was very good.

1. La Cipolla ripiena di toma di Murazzano e salsiccia di Bra cotta al forno.  This dish is stuffed onion with sheep milk cheese and salsiccia. It is a classic of the region which was rendered very well.

2. Gli gnocchi di patate con fonduta di Castelmagno.  This is an excellent pasta dish, which a strong cheese that is almost like gorgonzola.  This is not a vehicle for truffles.

3. Gli agnolotti del plin al burro fuso. This is another excellent rendering of a classic.

4. I ravioli verdi di caprino con Salsiccia di Bra e porri. This is also good, but probably we should have had only two pastas and have shared one of the great looking meat dishes.

2011 LANGHE FREISA BARTOLO MASCARELLO

This is another good example of this lean, light bodied wine, which had a core of herb tinged bright and tart cherry fruit and a clean finish with a touch of spices and herbs.  The wine has almost no tannins, but quite high acidity. 89/100

This is a very good refined trattoria.

RANKING: 4/5

The restaurants reviewed in this report are the following.

Borda Berri Tapas Bar

Viento Sur Tapas Bar

Garbola Tapas Bar

Niza Hotel Bar Operated by Narru

Ganbara Tapas Bar

Dickens Bar

Narru in Niza Hotel

Elkano in Getaria

Epeleta in Lekunberri, Navarra

Zuberoa in Oiartzun

Ibai

Etxebarri in Axpe

BORDA BERRI Tapas Bar

This bar has the best pintxos in Donostia.  The team is from Cucina San Telmo.

Don’t miss the following:

1. Risotto de “Puntaleto” Idiazabal.

2. Kallos de Bakalao al Pil-Pil.

3. Kanelon Casero de Morcilla.

4. Oreja de Cerdo con Romescu* (This is better than any amuse in the three star restaurants.)

5. Pulpo a la plantxa con membrillo.

Also very good are the following:

1. Ravioli de Mollejas, Puerro, Lemongrass

2. “Kebab” de Kostillo de Cerdo

3.  Sopa de Ajo con Idiazabal

4. Pikillo Relleno de Kapri-Kabra (This is veal cheeks and goat cheese with a green garlic sauce.)

VIENTO SUR Tapas Bar

This bar has very good pintxos, including the following:

1. Ceviche de Atun. (The tuna is served with lime juice, ginger, garlic, coriander, and has sweet potato and red onion slices.)

2. Cazon al limon forte (This is marinated and deep fried shark.)

3. Yema de huevo Euskalabel cocida a baja temperature con morcilla asado y virutas de lomo (This is egg yolk cooked at a low temperature with morcilla, roasted apple, and cured pork loin.)

4. Foie a la plantxa con pimientos rojos confitados, almendra frita y reduccion do Oporto (This is duck foie gras with a red pepper marmalade and red wine sauce.)

5. Lomo de ciervo con puree de manzana asado y chalota al vino tinto (This is deer loin served with roasted apple puree and pearl onions cooked in red wine.)

6. Tortilla de Camaron. (This is from the restaurant menu.  It is a thin and crunchy tortilla, which is like a crepe, with camarones. It is very good.)

7. Salmorejo with jamon and eggs. (This is a very good version.)

This place has better wine by glass (like Dr. Loosen Riesling) than any tapas bar I know.

GARBOLA Tapas Bar

This bar is very close to Viento Sur. It has very good cocktails at decent prices.

We tried “Caipirina Brasilena” and liked it.

The pintxos are good.  We had the following:

1. Trufa de marisco

2. Erizo de mar (sea urchin) al txakoli.

3. Hilda (anchovy and pickled pepper).

4. Tiburon (This is shark with onions. It is interesting that this dish is their claim to fame, together with kangaroo.)

5. Crujiente de bacalao.

NIZA HOTEL BAR OPERATED BY NARRU

A limited number of tapas are prepared daily and they are very good.  We had the following.

1. Hilda

2. Salt cured Anchovies from Cantabria-Artajo (They are very good.)

3. Little toasts with marinated sardines and onions.

GANBARA Tapas Bar

This bar has the best kokotxas rebesado, which are lightly pan fried hake cheeks with eggs and a little flour, cooked in olive oil. They use a low acid olive oil: Agdez 0’4.

For chuleton they get the meat from Txogitxu (Imanoz). Don Serapio in Donostia carries it.  The race is Vaca Machorra. Bar Nestor and Arzak use the same source.

DICKENS BAR

This is an expensive  bar (18 Euro), but it has a nice ambiance. You can sit upstairs.  We tried the following.

1. Gin Tonic with Bombay Gin (They grate lemon peel.)

2. Capricho: licor de canela, zumo de limon, vodka y Licor de naranja.

NARRU IN NIZA HOTEL

There are three great dishes there.  They are the following.

1. Jamon de cerdo de Bellota Carrasco+pan cristal con tomato. We find Carrasco’s acorn fed jamon at least on par with the Joselito Grand Cru.

2. Gamba Rojas from Palamos. They reduced the portion to four shrimp, instead of six. Have them in the latter part of the week.

3. Callos y Morros-guisados a la manera tradicional (This is a traditional hearthy tripe and gelatinous cheek/morros stew from pork with paprika.)

2012 TXOMIN ETXANIZ (Txakoli).

This is the best, most refreshingly fruity txakoli from the hills of Getaria.  It has 11.5% alcohol. It is hard to give it a grade, but it is a must try and it matched well with the jamon.

They had excellent quality freshly squeezed (a week ago) olive oil, manzanilla (green) from Artajo in Tudelo, with 0.2% acidity.  They also had the classic Arbequina, which was more round and less spicy.

ELKANO IN GETARIA

This is arguably the best seafood restaurant in the world. They only serve the local catch.  Aitor chose our meal for us.

1. Gambas:  They were grilled as well as in ceviche with chopped celery and a vinaigrette.

2. Almejas de Carrill: They were steamed.

3. Percebes.  These were the firmest.

4. Kokotxas of merlu: pil pil and a la brasa. There were the freshest possible.

5. Camarones: These are panfried in the shell.

6. Rodaballo grilled whole: This is the best turbot imaginable.

7. Besugo fish liver and eggs: This is also a gastronomic pinnacle.

Dessert: Helado de queso with fresh berry sauce. This is great.

2012 TXOMIN ETXANIZ TXAKOLI from GETARIA.

This is textbook fresh Txakoli. It sets the standards.

2012 ADUR GETARIAKO TXAKOLINA

This is a new style Txakoli from Maitena Barreraeta and Hector Gomezek who worked in France, which is aged sur lie and experienced batonnage. It is smokey and round, with ripe apple flavors. It has less mineral and freshness than the Etxaniz, but finish is longer.

Txakoli is excellent match with anchovies.

2011 EMILIO ROJO RIBEIRO

This wine has a citrus, orange blossom nose. It has a nice cut. It is clean, crisp, and complex, with pineapple and citrus flavors. It has a lingering saline minerality in the long finish. It is possibly the best white wine of Spain and is like a cross between a Grand Cru Chablis and a Chavignol Sauvignon.  It has 13% alcohol.  95/100

2009 DO FEREIRO CEPAS VELLAS.

This is another great white of Spain.  The aroma is quite grassy and the palette has the type of cut you experience in top Sancerre from the likes of Dagueneau, Vatan, Cotat…  It has a smooth, velvety texture. Batonnage worked well here. There is nice acidity.  It has a potentially longer life ahead than the Rojo. It is concentrated, with a long finish dominated by agrume flavors.  It does not have the minerality of the Rojo, but it is better match with the gelatinous turbot. 94/100

Ranking: 19/20

EPELETA IN LEKUNBERRI, NAVARRA

You can have great chuleton at this restaurant.

The anchovies from Calabria are excellent. (Anchoillas on aceito de olive)

We had excellent morcilla, which was homemade and did not contain rice.  It was served with vegetables.

Then we had the 1.6 kg. rib eye. It was from a 14 year old Galician breed cow. It was marbled. It had received about four weeks of dry age.  It was incredible, with a rich mineral and earthy taste, while not being dry.  Incredible depth of flavor, and so hedonistic!  As there are individual cows, like great bottles of old wine, it is not clear whether this experience can repeat itself.

We had Aralar cheese with membrillo.  This is from sheep milk.  We had both young and aged pieces.  This was very good.

1997 LA RIOJA ALTA GRAN RESERVA 904

The aroma from an aged Rioja reminds me of blood, tar, and smoked meat. It is like Cote Rotie, but without the fruitiness. On the palette, it gradually unfolds with red fruits, and the medium long finish leaves the impression of wild mushrooms, earth, and dried herbs. This was the optimum drinking point and the wine was a very good match with the deep earth flavors of the rib eye. It is a steal for the price, which is under 50 Euros. It has 13% alcohol. 93/100

RANKING: 5/5

ZUBEROA IN OIARTZUN

The chef is an excellent saucier and this restaurant remains one of the best places for classical French cuisine prepared with Spanish ingredients. Since chef Hilario Arbelaitz gave up from pleasing those in search of avant-garde cooking, this restaurant once again became a destination for my wife and I.  It lost one of the two stars in Michelin, but improved in terms of giving pleasure.  I remember enjoying this restaurant as much in the late ‘90s.

The amuse was spider crab, crab jelly, potato cream, and salmon eggs.

1. Huitres “Gillardeau” grilles sur crème de bourraches et emulsion de leurs jus. They were served warm and were very good.

2. Langoustine rotie, sauce au gingembre, huile de corail et ravioli de basilic. This dish was also very good.

3. Cepes sautéed with poached eggs. This is excellent. It is a dish of fresh and flavorful wild cepes and farm eggs.

4. Becada. This is the plat de resistance. We had one per person. They were roasted rare to medium rare and served with their own jus and blood and a red wine sauce. Their liver was presented on a toast. Tart tiny beets were stuffed with foie gras and served as a garnie. The potato puree is reminiscent of the old Robuchon potato puree at Jamin.

For dessert we had the Tarte de gueso. This is world’s best cheese cake. They prepare it with idiazabal, some Spanish blue cheese, and the mascarpone-like San Millan cheese. It is served with a fresh berries coulis and unfermented milk yoghourt.

2012 GAITAN VALDEORRAS.

We had one glass each of this wine. It is a fine example of Godello, with herbal, grassy notes on the nose. It is quite dry, crisp, and clean, with a hint of citrus. It has a light, clean feel. I remember more oaky and heavy Godellos from Gaitan, so I think there is a welcome change in style. 89/100.

2004 ARTADI VINO EL PISON

We had this wine decanted three hours before drinking it.

It has an aroma of violet, floral notes, licorice, sweet tobacco, nutmeg, and blackberries, together with a silky, elegant texture. A cornucopia of fruits unfolds on the palette, especially blackberry and black raspberry. It has more black than red fruit, which characterizes a classic Rioja. It has deceptively soft and smooth tannins. The oak is well integrated, and the strong acidity is buried in fruit. The finish is long and dominated by iron minerality and fungus. The final impression is sweet. The wine is complex but not heavy. Parker got it right this time.   It has 14% alcohol. Grade: 98.

IBAI

This restaurant remains a favorite. It is must visit when in Donostia.

The amuse was chorizo from Rioja. (The bread is average, and not on par with Elkano and Etxebarri.)

1. Baby eels (Angulas) in a salad.  This was outstanding.

2. Baby eels in a casserole with garlic and parsley. This is the classic preparation of angulas. It was equally outstanding.

3. Kokotxas pil pil.  This was outstanding, as always.

4. Wild Lenguado. The dish is the best in the world.

5. Becada. It was grilled medium, and this did not work. It was a bit dried out.  The foie was presented on the toast. Another table got it on rice, which may have been better. You should suck the brain.

2011 DO FEREIRO CEPAS VELLAS

The wine has a citrus, grassy aroma. It developed grapefruit and agrumes after aeration. The long maceration and barrique elevage did not upset the balance. It has a dense texture, but needs a couple of years to round off. It is a great value. It has 12.5% alcohol. 93/100

2006 PRIORAT IDUS VAL LLACH

This wine has some volatile acidity in the ripe black fruit aroma. Fortunately it is not jammy or too big. It carries its alcohol well due to the acid-sugar-fruit balance. The round and velvety tannins are buried in fruit. It is not my style, but it works with becada. It has 15.5% alcohol. 89/100

RANKING: 4.5/5

ETXEBARRI IN AXPE

We had another stunning meal. This is one of the most consistent and best restaurants of the world.

1.  Goat cheese butter and Mantequilla black salt. It is hard to find this in the modern world.  The bread (from a local baker) is also excellent.

2. Burrata cheese from buffalo milk.

3. Home cured anchovy with excellent cracker. This is another favorite. We were served a very fat and huge anchovy. This was great with Txakolin.

4. Artichoke (alcacofas) with garlic, olive oil and borage. This dish was like artichaut epineux. The artichokes are firm, excellent.

5. Gambas di Palamos. They are the ultimate!

6. Boletus odulus (like wild ceps) with eggplant (berenjena). They were firm and meaty.

7. Scrambled eggs (rovvelta) with Alba truffles. This was delightful.

8. Handcut, homemade chorizo (txistorra). This is the best chorizo I have tasted.

9. Besugo (red sea bream) with greens. This was very fresh, juicy, and grilled perfectly.

10. Becada (woodcock). It was served rare to medium rare on bomba rice. This is one of the best preparations of becada. It was outstanding, and was served with a fresh garden green salad.

Desserts:

1. Reduced milk ice cream with red fruit infusion (Helada de leche reducida infusion de frutas rojos). This was super.

2. Souffle de castanas (chestnuts).  This was stunning.

Even the mignardises with coffee are noteworthy.

2010 PASSOPISCIARO GUARDIOLA ETNA CHARDONNAY

This is an interesting wine from Franchetti.  It has a floral nose with hints of crème brulee and fresh yeast, but the palette is not dominated by oak. The first impression is classic apple and pear fruits, but some citrus and grapefruit components developed after aeration. It also developed a smoky, mineral aroma. Minerals are detectable in the finish. The texture is lush and creamy. I liked it more than the Tasca d’Almerita chardonnay, and it is more intriguing than Gaia’s expensive Chardonnay. It has 13% alcohol. 93/100

2012 MERLA ALTO ALELLA

This is a very good bio wine, with forward fruit, especially pomegranate and blackberry, in a silky, smooth body, with perfect acidity and an earthy finish. It flirts with complexity. This reminds me of the Morgon Beaujolais from the gang of four members. This wine gives tremendous pleasure and works with game.  It has 13% alcohol. 92/100

Ranking: 20/20

Ranking: 17/20

It is located on N637 at Exit 25.

This restaurant in the Spanish Basque country has been awarded three Michelin stars in 2013. Chef and co-owner Eneko Atxa is in his early 30s and has worked both at Mugarritz and Etxebarri. His uncle is the largest proprietor of Txakolin in the Basque region, Gorka Izagirre. The “eagle’s nest” in which Azurmendi is located, is above the winery, perched atop a hill and surrounded by vineyards, cypress trees, and rolling hills in the horizon.  Had it not been for the motorway below, which hurts your eyes and detracts from the aesthetic pleasure, one would have been tempted to call the location heavenly.

The setting has the trappings of new style rustic elegance which must have influenced the run of the mill, eco friendly, hotel school graduate, Michelin inspector.  The reception area is wide and long, and one is invited to take a tour of the kitchen, while savoring the first set of amuses.  We requested to leave the kitchen tour to the end of the meal, but enjoyed our tiny bits in the reception area, which reminded me of a contemporary nursery with the sophisticated addition of a postmodern wooden sculpture.

I am not particularly interested in kitchen tours, and I was dismayed to observe that they did not have a wood fire grill, but did have a sous vide machine.  The overall look of the kitchen was very hygienic, bordering on sterile. On the other hand, we enjoyed visiting the orchard which was situated on the top floor of the building.  The orchard was planted with an impressive array of fresh herbs and vegetables, even though very few of them featured on our plates. (It was December 1^st.)

This said, like 90% of the Michelin loved and Restaurant Magazine’s judges’ favorite eateries, herbs and flowers play a prominent role in Azurmendi’s cuisine. In other words, compositions on the plate are such that, to quote my friend Robert Brown, “visual aspects are derived not from the main products themselves, but from flower petals, herbs, eye droppers, and paint brushes…”

Robert Brown also notes that “fine dining is being turned into a pursuit in which the cuisines of countries, let alone regions, have virtually become unrecognizable because of sous vide cooking; [and] many course tasting menus…”.  I can’t generalize as easily about tasting menus, but I could not agree more about the sous vide cooking.  For instance, both of the main courses which we have tried, the suckling pig and the pigeon, despite the sophisticated plating and molecular techniques, left a lot to be desired. That is, these dishes were not inedible, but they did not have the depth and richness one expects from a three macaroon restaurant using top quality ingredients.  The day before we had had an amazing multi-course meal at Etxebarri, and the finishing touch was an awesome woodcock dish.  When I mentioned this to chef Eneko, who came across as a very modest and genuinely nice fellow, he confessed to me that he did not know how to handle woodcock/becada.  After further conversing with him I understood that he considers the a la brasa method, however subtle and nuanced it is, as is the case at Etxebarri, not suitable for a top end destination.  He thinks that dishes cooked a la brasa lack refinement. This is strange because I think the very opposite. For example, Etxebarri’s cooking brings out the taste of the great ingredients, whereas sous vide eliminates textural differences between and within categories ( I am talking about meat) in favor of a cloth-like soft and UNIFORM texture.

At the same time I enjoyed the restaurant. Eneko’s cuisine, for the most part, does not fall into the no men’s land about which Mr. Brown is rightly complaining.  Eneko uses very good ingredients.  The cooking is, for the most part, clear and focused and not unnecessarily complex. Had somebody taken me, eyes closed, to Azurmendi, I would probably have guessed that I was in Spain, but I may not have guessed that it was a restaurant in the Basque region of Spain.

The amuses that my wife and I tried standing up in the reception area set the tone for the whole meal. They were a mixed bag, ranging from fussy and forced to the sublime.  The hibiscus infusion with rose petals and beets could not have been more international in style such that you can find anywhere. The so-called Txakoli balls with orange and spicy pepper, was a take on local specialties, given a boost by Adria’s signature morphing technique that is a sine qua non of being called “creative” by today’s standards.  Peanuts with wild mushrooms and foie gras came across as bizarre, displaying an urge to be original, but somehow misguided. But the house smoked anchovies were superb, reminiscent of Nardin’s anchovies that can be found in Getaria, a truly local and amazing taste sensation. (They should be paired with a Txakolin from Getaria, like Etxaniz).

We were ushered to the dining room with a smile and given a table by the window, overlooking the scenery.  As you might expect, the building is all glass and steel (or is it titanium?), with large windows, designed to conserve energy and to maximize light. It is not necessarily rustic or warm, but rather it is sleek and elegant and a bit cold.

Our English speaking and competent captain was a little tense in the beginning of the meal.  When he gave me the wine list, I searched for soothing names which I thought would match the food, like Emilio Rojo and Do Fereiro (cepas vellas), but they did not have my favorite Spanish whites. Our waiter, who may or may not be the sommelier, offered to serve wine by the glass for every single course. I have had some bad experiences with this type of arrangement, but I acquiesced.

Anyway, this arrangement turned out to be quite OK, as we had some nice surprises and made new discoveries. Our captain, who apparently has a British parent, listened and tailored his offerings to suit my expectations.  The conversation about wine established a bond between us. Over the course of the meal our captain became more easy going and friendly.

This said, I still think that Azurmendi needs a better wine list, more suited to his type of cuisine.  One should think beyond the borders and the chardonnay grape and investigate mineral-driven and lean white wines.  German Rieslings, Austrian Rieslings and GV, Italian whites from Etna, Chenin blanc and Muscadet from France, treasures from the Savoy and Jura, and Assyrtiko from Greece, are some of the obvious choices that should be exploited.

The first two courses expounded on the theme set by amuses. Firstly, we had morcilla, boudin noir or blood sausage, with red bean puree, which was sublime. Secondly, we had slow cooked farm egg yolk infused with a black truffle essence placed on a spoon and served with a potato cone with shaved truffle.  I know others will rave about this, but this is merely clever and tasty, but not on par with great egg/Alba truffle concoctions one may find in Piemonte.

A special nod is deserved for the farm house steamed milk bread they served at the beginning of the meal.

We paired these small bits with Gorka Izagirre Bizkaiko Txakolina.  It did not work. The wine did not have the material to stand up to richly flavored dishes.

The next course was perhaps the most complex of all, but not satisfactory. It was one of these dishes with oysters, this time Gillardeau, where the chef did not know how and when to stop adding new elements, and kept on playing with textures, while trying to “wow” you with the presentation. Some seaweed is “de rigueur,” and the chef should prove his “creativity” by morphing. Chef Eneko built rocks out of mussel juice plus chemicals. Why not? Then he needed some “terre” component to wow Michelin inspectors, which was iodinated tea mushrooms (tremella) cooked in sea water. This was fine, but it did not match with the oysters. Then he added oyster leaves and seaweed and fried sea anemones.  He also added nettles and salicorne (which worked with the oyster).  Last but not least, he presented the dish “creatively”. Welcome liquid nitrogen!  One waiter who looked uncomfortable approached the table with a big platter, poured a liquid and burned it, sending seawaves and shockwaves to our brains and eyes and nostrils. We inhaled the aroma and registered what the menu meant by saying that this course had “natural aromas from the sea.”

Our captain served some Oriol Rossell, D.O. Penedes with this fussy dish. I don’t have a positive or negative memory of this.

But I liked very much the second serving of homemade spelt bread.

The next course, however, was very good and very satisfactory. It was marinated mackerel fish with an infusion of spring flowers and tomato plant water, chive mayonnaise, and a garlic chip. This dish struck us as minimalist and inspired by Japan, very much in the ball park of the chef, and the type of dish I like very much when chef Kinch of Manresa interprets Japanese cuisine.

The wine pairing also went up by two to three notches with this dish. We tried an Albarino called Envidia Cochina (meaning Poisonous worms of envy, we were told). This wine possessed that grassy and iodine character I associate with the best of Rias Baixas and enhanced the purity of the dish.

From the clean flavors of the excellent mackerel we were transported to the rich flavors of very good foie gras. Foie gras in Ashes was like a wafer covered by ashes (also made of duck liver and perhaps root vegetables), and filled with rich and smooth duck foie gras. Perhaps the transition from a subtle flavor to an aggressive and rich flavor was too sudden, but I still enjoyed this dish. I know it is politically incorrect to say I love foie gras, but I do and never miss the opportunity to have it when it is this good. It is too bad that you cannot find good foie gras in morally uptight America. It is even banned in California.

This is the first time in my dining experiences that foie gras was matched with a Txakolina. It was a late harvest Txakolina aged in oak barrels:  Bizkaiko Txakolina “Arima,” from the property. I was skeptical, but it all worked out fine. The unique Txakolina imparted a fresh, playful component to the intense foie gras and helped to refreshen our palates.

Unfortunately the next course was disappointing:  the “earth tea service.”  It had some kind of mushroom bouillon, a tea-like infusion with herbs and dried mushrooms, and was served like Chinese tea. Was the chef trying to capture “umami”? Was this his interpretation of some Japanese dish? Was he trying to serve a course saluting the Japanese tradition of having a dish capture the essence of the season (fall mushrooms), as Japanese chefs do in the middle of kaiseki meals? Does he have a particular bias for earthy flavors, ashes and dried, pulverized mushrooms, and tannic tea?

 Even the intriguing Txakolina from the house, G22, which is a complex and very satisfactory expression of this underappreciated variety (made from local grapes which change from one terroir to another), could not make this dish palatable.  I savored my wine and tried not to overburden my palate with the excessively tannic/earthy flavors of the course.

This was a good decision because the next three courses turned out to be outstanding.

 I would call the marinated deer loin a triumph. I give it 20/20. There were four components to this dish: marinated and raw wild deer loin, chestnuts, cacao leaves, and roasted sweet potato ice cream. A pure infusion of cooking juices was served in a cup, and thankfully, not poured over the dish.

It was this dish that was the essence of the late fall season for me. All components blended beautifully. Another homemade fresh loaf was served with it, this time a corn bread. Being familiar with great corn breads from the Black Sea region of Turkey and Georgia, I was impressed.

Unfortunately I was less than impressed by the wine matching with this dish. It was an average Viognier from Spain, Vallegarcia Viognier, D.O. Fernando de Castilla. This was not too fruity, which is a good thing, but it lacked the depth to match the deep flavors of the dish.

The next course, however, turned out to be another 20/20 dish. Moreover the (fortified) wine selection was perfect this time. How can one help but feel ecstatic?

However, reading the English description of the dish, one would feel rather miserable, instead of any feeling that one associates with ecstasy:  “Salted stew: vegetables, anchovies and iberics with Idiazabal cream cheese balls.”

Maybe they did not want to scare the macaroon chasers. The gelatinous broth turned out to be decadent pig trotter. Fresh green asparagus cut some richness, the salted anchovies added extra richness, and the smokiness of the Idiazabal cream encapsulated some of the nuances Victor of Etxebarri imparts to his unimitatable  vegetables.

This course reminded me of the cuisine of early Mugarritz, where Eneko was sous chef, and before the gifted and intelligent Aduriz went through some soul searching and metamorphosed his cuisine into a purely conceptual and consciously provocative enterprise.

Palo Cortado, Fernando de Castilla was the right match for this course as it enhanced and prolonged the pleasure.

Then another excellent dish and another great match followed. This was not only the right match, but a great wine: 1998 Vina Tondonia from the Viura  grape.  I guess there is also %10 Malvasia in the wine. Lopez de Heredia makes truly unique wines, and albeit the Viura was supposed to be the French Macabeo, I never remember having a noteworthy Macabeo. I also don’t know of any other complex white Rioja from Viura. Somehow this wine reminds me of Savagnin and Vin Jaune from Jura. I believe it would have been more appropriate with the marinated deer loin if one stuck only to Spanish wines.

But the salmonetes/rouget/triglia served with this wine also worked. I don’t like the translation of salmonetes which is called red mullet in English.  Rock rouget is one of the great flavors of the sea, especially when it is  fresh. I have no idea what kind of fish “red mullet” is. At any rate the salmonetes were grilled and slightly smoked, and this was an amazing variation on the classic “al ajillo.” Eneko served the dish with tortellini of garlic and the fish’s liver. The slightly garlicky broth made from the fish bones added extra depth.

I don’t want to dwell on our main courses as I have already mentioned that the sous vide cooking did not do justice to both the cochinillo and the pigeon.  I noted some hazelnut mousse and crumbles, tripes inside something, duxelle mushrooms with foie gras, cheese balls shaped like a rock but oozing cream, with the baby pigeon. Somehow these components did not quite come together. Likewise the baby pig was less interesting in itself than its accompaniments:  Iberian noodles with porc skin and ham jus and the natural sweet pumpkin puree.

One wine that was served with these dishes was merely OK:  2011 Almirez from the Toro cepage. This is more of an international style, over extracted wine, which seems destined to please internationally known wine critics. The other wine, 2001 Rioja Alta’s 904, made from old tempranillo vines in Rioja, turned out to be still fresh, juicy and vibrant, with spicey red fruit notes, delicate tannins, fine acidity, and an earthy, decomposing fungus-like, medium-long finish.   This wine would be a good match with classic suckling pig and lamb, cooked whole and slowly in a traditional wood fire oven.

We turned down our waiter’s offer for a dessert wine and sampled the four desserts which were brought successively:  chestnuts with vine shoot scent (smoked); red fruit and cheese croissant with egg yolk; tarte tatin with almonds and fresh almond paste; rose, i.e rose shaped chocolate with citrus cream and cherry ice cream.

All of the desserts were good, but not on par with the more simple but extraordinary desserts served at Etxebarri or the cheese cake of Zuberoa.  None achieved greatness, but I will never turn down a version of Tarte Tatin with fresh almonds, a slightly smoky taste and appetizing natural apples.

Overall, despite the uneven cooking and some misconceived dishes, we would like to go back because the best dishes, about a third of the “Adarrak Menu”, are intriguing, and they do reach culinary heights. My wife and I rarely frequent three macaroon restaurants in the Basque region of Spain, but I found Azurmendi  to be worth another visit. It is a better restaurant than the other three three macaroon restaurants nearby: Arzak (a shadow of what it was in the ‘90s),  Akelarre (Subiana is a nice man but he is treading waters for which he is not cut out ), Berasatagui (Martin is a great chef but he cooked his best when he had two macaroons).

I have no idea in which direction Atxa will evolve. Chances are that he would like to be more widely known and successful and make to the top whatever of the 50 best list. This is the likely scenario as forces pulling in that direction are too strong.

But I hope not. He really has the fortunate combination of talent, passion, and the means to achieve greatness.

Evaluation:  19/20

Date:  March 9, 2014

This is one of the best restaurants in Spain.  They handle becasse (woodcock) probably better than everybody else.

Amuses.  We had excellent brown carrots with cream, bonbon of kumquat with foie gras, bonbon with xerello, jamon of lamb, and olives.

First course: Sotabosc de les Becades (Under the forest).  This is a dish of ceps, black truffles and snails. Basically the dish has what the bird eats, with umami flavors.  17/20

Second becasse course:  Mar I muntanya garota I becada amb tofona:  (Becasse royale with hazelnut pieces).  This royale is worthy of Ducasse.

Sea urchin royale.  A very light non-eggy custard is served together with a successful example of terre et mer. 19/20

Third becasse course:  Rosa de Becada amb fulla de ginebro.  This is a slightly charred piece of becasse breast served with dried herbs. 18/20

Fourth becasse course:  Ravioli de peus de porc (Ravioli of porc feet).  The wrap in this dish is not dough but crepinette.  It is filled by porc feet, ricotta and walnut. There is sliced turnip on top, and a subtle anchovy butter adds more flavor.  It was delicious. 19/20

Fifth becasse course: Champagne shower:  Becasse consommé. This dish is served in a small Bollinger champagne bottle.  The presentation is a bit farfetched, but the consommé is outstanding. It is thickened by the foie of woodcock and contains the juice of ceps and drops of Bollinger champagne. They called this dish “champagne shower”. 19.5/20

Sixth becasse course: Patata al caliu (Potato and truffle).  The potato is cooked in the fireplace and topped by a farm egg, jamon slices and shaved melanosporum, with truffle foam. The dish reminded me of the Arzak potato-truffle dish of the late ‘90s when Arzak was a great restaurant. 19/20

Seventh becasse course:  Arros de Becada 7 dies (Risotto). This is another masterpiece. Each grain of bomba rice is flavorful. It contains finely chopped pieces from the thigh of becada, scallions, and shaved truffles. 20/20

Eighth becasse course: Pits de becada en salmis (Roasted breast with salmis).  The liver of becasse is spread on toast. It is cooked rare, and is intense and minerally,  but it is also juicy and  melts in the mouth.  Super. 20/20

Ninth becasse course: Cuixes faisendades 9 dies.   The thigh is in a thicker sauce that also contains garlic. It is like a kebab, with concentrated flavors. They use a longer, nine day faisandage for this. 18/20

Liebre a la roial  (Lievre a la royale).   This is also great. It has a classic sauce. It is a salmis with bitter chocolate, paired with brioche and sliced beet with gremolata.  19/20

1^st Dessert: La neu.  This is an excellent granita of smoked milk ice cream with citrus.

2^nd Dessert:  Sotabosc d tofones.   This is a very good dark chocolate mousse with red fruit sorbet and shiso leaves.

We had Volcan en erupcio: roques de xocolata, avellanos ensucrades, merengues de salvia, with excellent coffee.

DRINKS:

1. 2002 TURO D’EN MOTA RECAREDO CAVA from Penedes.

This is the best cava I have tasted. It has depth and a leesy nose, and also has fine boules.  92/100

2. 2009 OCTONIA from Monstant.

This is 100% Grenache.  It is a successful example of a concentrated and very fruity (red) wine.  It is not overextracted, and the oak is well integrated. It is a good match with the first few courses. 90/100

3.  2010 ESPECTACLE from Monsant.

We were quite impressed with this one, which is 100% Grenache from old vines.  It is quite earthy, minerally and balanced, with a quite spicy nose with mace, cardamon, black peppercorns, and pomegranate.  The fruit is not upfront.  It has more black currant than red fruits. It has a good structure and has a long but not oaky finish. It is not overextracted and has elegance and power. It is a nice match with the last courses.  95/100

1. VILA VINITECA WINE BAR.

This is an excellent place to sample jamon iberico from Maldonado.

First plate:  tuna with olive oil, cured anchovies, bacalao,  and guindillas peppers.

Second plate:  sweet ham, boar salumi, longaniza (like chorizo), and excellent Jamon Jabugo from Maldonado.

Third plate: excellent Sobrasada  (same quality as served in Els Casals).

Cheese:  a fresh goat  from Berga,  Payoyo (tangy sheep) from Cadiz, and a blue cheese from raw cow milk cheese from Catalunya.

We also had a very good loaf of bread from the bakery across the street.

Dessert:  Millefeuille with coffee.

2011 Raventos Cava.

2011 Las Umbrias. 100% Grenache from Madrid.

2.  LA VENTA

Evaluation:  4/5

This is a traditional restaurant located in Pedralbes, which is a posh neighborhood of Barcelona.  It has solid and simple food, which is well executed with excellent ingredients. It is highly recommended.

Amuses.  We had an excellent tiny quiche and very good artisanal salumi, which include chorizo, blood sausage, and boiled Galician ham with olive oil and black pepper.

Then we had deep fried calcots with Romesco sauce.  I prefer the grilled version cooked on ashes served at Can Jubany with a true romesco. Calcots, which is like a wild leeks, should not be missed if you visit Catalunya in Spring.

Then we had a hearty garlic soup thickened by stale bread and thyme.

We had outstanding small snails cooked in the pan with olive oil, salt and fresh black pepper.

Next we had veal tripe with morcilla.  This is a very good rendition of a classical dish.

We finished with butifarra sausage with fresh white ganxet beans.  Both the traditional sausage and the beans are on par with the version in the great restaurant Hispania.  Bravo.

Desserts. The frozen orange soufflé is very good. Even better is the bread pudding or torrijas made from an excellent artisanal loaf of bread.

Wines:  2001 RIOJA ALTA 904

This wine is very elegant and balanced, with red fruits, good acidity, and perfect integration of oak and fruit in the wine.  The finish is long and earthy, reminiscent of funghi. 93/100

2010 CLOS MARTINET

This one is 100% old vine Carignane.   It has licorice and ripe blackberries on the nose. The fruit is ripe but not over the top jammy due to the good acidity. It is quite chunky and a very good match with the black botifarra. !4.5% alcohol. 91/100

We drank the following wines.

1997 Luigi Pira, Barolo “Marenca”  92/100

1997 San Guisto a Rentennano, Percarlo  94+/100

2008 Azienda Agricola Palari di Salvatore Graci.  Palari Faro  88/100

2010 Az. Agricola Greco Quota 1000  96+/100

2010 Tenuta di Castellano Bianco Pomice  90/100

2010 Tenuta Terra Nera “Le Vigne Niche”  90/100

2011 I Custodi dell’etna Ante  92/100

2013 Grillo Cristo di Campobello  89/100

2013 Tasca d’Almerita Malvasia  88/100

RED:

1997 San Guisto a Rentennano, Percarlo

Slightly dusty, cloves, ripe berry, coffee, tar aroma. Palette is tight, intense and persistent. Ripe black fruit, good acidity, long finish. Many years ahead. The oak is well integrated. %100 Sangiovese. 14.5% alcohol.  94+/100

1997 Luigi Pira, Barolo “Marenca”.

Quite classical with good acidity and structure. Not jammy despite the hot year. Restrained style. Dried plum nuances developed in the finish. Opened up in the glass. Should be decanted a couple of hours ahead.  Tannins are more square/hard than round but they are not green. Old style Barolo which requires a bit more complexity to be great but it will be interesting to see how it develops. 14.5%  alcohol. 92/100

2010 Az. Agricola Greco Quota 1000.

Nerello Mascalese.  They are in Contrada about 1000m. altitude.  Intoxicating nose with soft spices like candied clove, mace, cinnamon.   Silky texture. Smooth and long. Kiss of oak. Explosion of red fruits.  Good structure. Elegant. Long finish with notes of fennel, thyme.  Like a Bourgogne. Outstanding wine, best I have tried from Sicily.  96+/100

2008 Azienda Agricola Palari di Salvatore Graci. Palari Faro.

Nerello Mascalese, nerello cappuccino and nocera coopage.   A  bit oaky and too  much kirsch dominated.  Smooty, silky.  Fruit is ripe, not jammy.  An international style wine, late harvest, microoxidation, so on… It is pleasurable but does not possess the complexity of Etna reds.  88/100

WHITE:

2011 I Custodi dell’etna Ante

A blend of Caricante, Minella and Grecanico from Etna.  Smokey, floral nose.  Lean.  Reminded me of Gruner Veltiner.  Medium intensity, good tenacity, saline-citrus finish.  92/100

2010 Tenuta di Castellano Bianco Pomice

Malvasia from Lipari and Carricante.   Bitter almonds, grilled pineapple, grapefruit and saline nose.  Good viscosity, fruit is ripe but nice acidity.  It developed apple and roasted pecans on the palette.  Medium long finish  displays mineral notes (proximity to sea?).  A bit too heavy in body to accompany crudo.  Should be great with espardanyes.  90/100

2013 Grillo Cristo di Campobello

Nice with light summer fare.  Light citrus, grassy aroma.  Balanced.  Pleasant. I like the finish which is reminiscent of chewing the seed of summer fruits. 12.5% alcohol. 89/100

2013 Tasca d’Almerita Malvasia

Lean and not fruity. Whiff of citrus, lime, pipen apple. You taste summer fruit skin  in the slightly saline finish. A non commercial, perfectly fine summer wine from a commercial winery.  Goes well with anchovy pasta. 12% alcohol. 88/100

2010 Tenuta Terra Nera “Le Vigne Niche”.

Carricante. Aroma is not expressive but one detects mineral smokiness.   Round and rich on the palette, clearly long maceration.  Ripe grapefruit and kumquats.  Bitter orange developed.  The finish is quite long.  The oak has not been fully integrated and it masks the minerality.  One needs to decant a couple hours in advance.  Did not impress me as much as 2006, 2010 Pietramarina but still a serious white from Etna. 90/100

We drank the following wines.

1994 Dehlinger, Pinot Noir “Goldridge Vineyard” 90/100

1998 Leonetti, Cabernet Sauvignon “Reserve”  90/100

1994 Dehlinger, Pinot Noir “Goldridge Vineyard”.

Sweet haystick aroma.  Fruity.  Strawberry, raspberry, blueberry. Kiss of oak.  Smooth, sweet, lush but not complex. Held well.  90/100

1998 Leonetti, Cabernet Sauvignon “Reserve”.

Plum and cloves aroma. Plummy becomes touch pruny with aeration. Ripe fruit, nice texture, medium finish has some iron like minerality which saves this fine example of international style wine which is loved by American critics. 90/100

We drank the following wines.

2003 Clemns Busch. Riesling. Trocken. Spatlese  95/100

2010 Bareiss, Old Vines Riesling, Mosel  97/100

2011 BattenfeldSpanier, Am Schwarzen, Herrgott, Riesling, GG  97/100

2003 Clemens Busch. Riesling. Trocken. Spatlese

Orange rind color. Orange honey, floral,ripe apricot, honeydew,  slatey aroma.  But the palette is very fresh with  concentrated, intense, complex ripe fruit balanced by acidity and minerality. It developed pineapple and grapefruit in the finish. 95/100

2011 BattenfeldSpanier, Am Schwarzen, Herrgott, Riesling, GG

Very distinct mineral nose.  Intense, silky, suave, elegant,  complex.  Different fruits dance on the palette like pineapple, agrumes, grapefruit.  Not heavy at all. One of the best GGs I have tasted.  Apparently the top soil is volcanic and the bottom is calcareous. The wine improved with aeration and developed exotic spices like clove, ginger. The broken chalk keeps humidity intact and does not develop too much petrol aroma like schiste (typical Alsace). 13% alcohol.   From Hohen-Sulzen in Rhineland. 97/100

2010 Bareiss, Old Vines Riesling, Mosel.

Ungrafted vines, first planted in 1893. Light golden color. Honeywax, apricot, peach jam nose.  Lush, full, honeyed agrume peel.   Creamy texture. Lush.  Extremely balanced despite the richness.  Went well with game too. 12.5%. 97/100

Evaluation: 18.5/20

Two trips to this Parisian restaurant proved that this is one of the most exciting restaurants where I will be looking forward to dine in the future.  Madame Grattard cooks well balanced and perfectly seasoned dishes with considerable depth for 20 to 25 guests. It would be inaccurate to call this “an Asian restaurant,” because although the chef has spent time in Hong Kong and is a master of some Asian spices and sauces, her sensibility is very much modern French, reminiscent of Passard and Barbot (she worked at L’Astrance), with the rigor, attention to detail, precision, and the search for excellent ingredients we expect from these Michelin three macaroon chefs. 

This said, the cooking is original, mature, personal, and imaginative, the hallmarks of a great chef.  Another attractive feature is wine matching for each course.  The wines are selected by a young sommelier, Mlle Marine, and over the two visits I found her selections to be commendable.  The wines offered by glass are not only good matches for the dishes, but also they are good wines on their own right.  She chose wines with good acidity,  minerality, and a lean structure, rather than  heavier, jammy, international style, Parker wines.

If you order the larger menu at Yam’Tcha, your meal will start with two sets of amuses, while you sip the complementary tea.  The first will be crisp smoked tofu with homemade sweet-sour sauce.

In May the second amuse was one of the highlights of the meal.  It was an emulsion of white garlic with St. Georges mushrooms and diced razor clams (couteaux).  This dish was a perfect illustration of the “terre-mer” theme, and it was praiseworthy in its simplicity and calibration of contradictory tastes that ensued in harmony.

In June the second amuse was a fresh pea veloute with fresh ricotta, like a Corsican brocciu cheese, with blueberries.  This was very good.

The main courses started on the highest note in May with a perfect dish showcasing the very rare wild salmon from the Adour river. This salmon is juicy and moist, but not fat. It has a unique texture.

The steamed salmon was served with a Szechuan cream sauce, Chinese cherry tomatoes, and turnips. It was served with a glass of a lean, mineral driven Chablis with background citrus notes: 2010 Chablis, Chateau de Beru, “Clos de Beru”.

In June the first main course was one of the best foie gras preparations I have had.  It was feather light, but thick and rich.  The foie gras was first steamed and then fried in a wok, and served with algae, cucumber, and fruit jam.  It was accompanied by a rich Chenin:  2011 MontLouis Les Choisilles from Francois Chidaine.   I was impressed by the fact that the wine had no residual sugar, but the complex honeyed apple and quince notes and viscous texture, balanced by strong acidity and a pleasant bitterness in the long minerally finish, made it a very good match for foie gras.

The May visit featured a thick piece of Atlantic turbot cut from the bone and served with a classical reduction  sauce highlighted with some Asian herbs and spices, and given extra depth with a foam of salted preserved Chinese cabbage. Few chefs can concoct such a difficult calibration of flavors without masking the flavor of the fish and achieving the right balance.  The 2011 Vermentino (Folle Blanche) from Domaine de Cantoussel, in Provence worked quite well with this dish, as the wine was not fruity, indeed quite austere on the palate, and possessed a touch of roasted wild herbs on the nose and also a saline-minerality in the finish.

In June we had an Asian influenced preparation of Breton lobster. Served with a classical reduction of crustaceans enriched by her own brand of XO sauce (dried shrimp, garlic, ginger) and a zucchini flower filled with sticky rice, this dish was excellent.  The chef is a master of the wok technique, and her lobster is sweet and juicy.  The rich dish was accompanied by wine that blended of Chenin and Chardonnay: 2011 Limoux, Domaine de Gaure, Mauzac.  This wine had some residual sugar, kept in check by fine acidity and a pleasant bitterness reminiscent of confit agrumes’ peel. It worked with the dish.

The third course of the May visit was also lobster, and again it was served with crustaceans jus and XO sauce.  This time the lobster was paired with fresh sweet peas and pommes nouvelles, which had an iodine finish (from proximity to the sea?) and matched the lobster perfectly well. 2009 Montluis “Tuffeaux” Francois Chidaine was selected for the lobster.   This rich Chenin worked with the XO sauce as it had a creamy texture (old vines?), complex fruity notes alternating between fresh and tart to ripe and palate coating,  all underlaid by remarkable acidity and a long mineral finish. I guess I discovered this Domaine at Yam’Tcha, and on the basis of the two wines I tried,  I may say that make balanced wines respectful of the terroir.

In June we had an excellent consommé of beef with creamy bouchot mussels from the Atlantic, shredded beef shoulder, tomatoes, chives, and summer truffles.  The quality of the broth was outstanding. This is a dish which is hard to match with wine, and I wonder how an aged, earthy rose millesime Champagne would have fared.  The sommelier chose a Corsican Sangiovese (the local name is Niellucia) from Abbatucchi: 2011 Cuvee Faustine.  This was clean, precise and had an earthy finish with well mastered tannins.  It did not add much to the complex flavors of the dish, but did not detract from them either.

Madame Grattard is a master of handling duckling.  Her preparations are not sinewy or chewy or undercooked, but not the melt in the mouth without flavor type either. (This latter type is often the result of sous-vide cooking, which cooks the meat in a uniform way, but it becomes brown and has a boring texture.)

In May she prepared an outstanding sausage- boudin along with the roasted breast and served the duck with a young carrots, fresh spinach, and cumin.  Just the right amount of black rice vinegar was used  to de-glaze the dish.  The wine was the 2010 Fitou “Cadette”, Domaine Les Milles Vignes.  It is opulent and generous, but its concentrated fruitness is balanced by nice minerality in the finish. One cannot help but notice that the wine developed a cumin-like spice in the aroma which matched the sauce of the duckling.

In June she prepared the roasted duckling from Landes with a teriyaki sauce (also de-glazed by black rice vinegar).  It was served with sweet-sour aubergine with garlic.   While I missed her boudin, her preparation of the eggplant was a new revelation for me as I have ordered sweet-sour eggplant with garlic in many Chinese restaurants but have not seen eggplant at this level.  I also don’t have an objection against the 2011 Crozes-Hermitage served with it, with its thick texture and roasted rare cooked beefy aroma, from Domaine Gaylord Machon, cuvee “Ghany”.

They serve some steamed rolls which are addictive.

Our little daughter, Ceylan Handan Milor, loved them so much that she agreed to drop her tablet for over a minute to pose for a picture with her father.

I would like to give my special thanks to Madame Grattard for preparing some specials for a very selective 12 year old who is hard to please and who eats very few things.

The cheese course is a delight at Yam’Tcha. It has only one cheese, selected for quality and ripeness.

In May it featured farmhouse Stilton, melted inside a yummy brioche and served with liquour marinated cherries.  Quinta Noval Tawny Reserve Porto obviously worked well with it.

June is a good time for goat milk, and the cheese impressed me: chevre du Tarn, served with good honey, olive oil, and a steamed bun.   The 2013 Sancerre Croq’Caillotte from Emile Balland also made an impression with its  balance and  stoney-minerality, and I am already counting Emile Balland, a producer I did not know, among my favorite Sancerre producers.

The dessert course is not an afterthought at Yam’Cha. She prepares modern, but not trendy, and very seasonal desserts. In this sense there is no dichotomy or rupture between her savory and sweet courses. I also appreciate the fact that she does not do overkill with the desserts (as most multi-macarooned Michelin restaurants do) and shows restraint. It is much better to have a cheese and a dessert than having two desserts.

In May she offered a rose Pavlova with ripe strawberries and rasberries. She served it with a rhubarb and sorrel sorbet.

In June she served an excellent cherry clafoutis (which had the texture of a pain perdu) with shaved fresh almonds on top.  A refreshing sorrel soup with orgeat ice cream nicely paired with the clafoutis.

I had never tasted the northern Piemontese Brachetto before.  2012 Briguetto d’Acqui from Sant Evasio is fresh, lightly sparkling and even a child can identify its rose scented summer berry aromas and flavors. Most importantly, it is light on its feet and does not take itself too seriously. Consequently it worked with these two desserts and left a happy impression.

Talking about the child, Ceylan opted for the tea pairing, more than expertly provided, courtesy of the gentleman who is Madame Grattard’s husband and a certified tea sommelier.  To our astonishment Ceylan loved the The Noir “Pu Er” which had been aged for six years and had a strong-complex tannin structure.

This should go well with the beef consommé!

Evaluation: 17/20

This is the best restaurant in Corsica, even better than Casadelmar in Porte Vecchio (which merits 16/20).  Chef/owner Ange Canonzi buys his fish and vegetables daily from the market, and he creates deceptively simple dishes which are full of flavor and technically precise.  He respects the best products of the island, knows the pedigree of each ingredient, and puts them to best use in a restrained way which is more reminiscent of the best of Italian cooking.

The charcuterie platter is the best I have had in France, on par with choicest Spanish jamon and saucisson.  The cheese selection is equally stunning, and in summer it is comprised of artisanal goat and sheep milk cheeses.  These two plates are not to be missed.

We have eaten there about 15 times in the last seven or so years, and I have never left the table less than fully satisfied.  Over the years we have been served outstanding, very good, good, and some average dishes, but never a bad one.

One thing I particularly love is to sit on the terrace with my family and watch the sunset.  The restaurant is in the town center, and the evening scene there is always colorful and slow paced (men playing petanque).  Very nicely designed colorful water glasses adorn every table, and you can inhale the wonderful aromas emanating from the charcuterie cart, while sipping your cocktail and studying the ardoise (dishes are written on the blackboard).

Most Americans are frustrated by the slow pace of the service and cooking.   There is essentially one server, Monsieur Emanuel, who speaks English and is a genuinely nice, welcoming, and knowledgeable gentleman, and he is also a professional cook. It takes time to recite the dishes and to cook most everything from scratch. To me it has never been a problem to spend about three hours at dinner in the beautiful L’Ile Rousse, in an enchanted setting, drinking good Vermentino and interacting with Monsieur Emanuel and Monsieur Canonzi who is warm hearted and generous in addition to being a great chef and connoisseur of best ingredients.  I sometime wish I could stay longer and leave room for a digestive.

It would be a great loss for not only Corsica, but also for the true lovers of unmanipulated flavorful and natural food if this restaurant closes its doors due to economic reasons.

Looking at my three meals in the summer of 2014, here is a list of my highest recommendations (although you cannot go wrong).

1. CHARCUTERIE CORSE FERMIERE

We were served prosciutto, coppa, lonzu, and saucisson.  The 43 months aged prosciutto from Poggiole Ucciane is amazingly complex and as good as any grand cru jamon bellota from Joselito or the incredible jamon bellota from Carrasco.  The rest are from Albertini and are also superb.

2. POISSON DE PECHE LOCALE FUMES AU BOIS DE CHATAIGNE CORSE.

Mr. Canonzi smokes his larger fish with chestnut wood and serves them with a mache salade and perfect seasoning. It is always perfect.  This summer I had the wild daurade.

3. ROUGET POELE

I have had excellent denti, espadon (swordfish), rascasse preparations from Mr. Canonzi, but my preference is the sweetest and meaty rouget de roche or rock rouget. This small fish is one of the most flavorful bounties of the world, and the chef usually serves them with their own jus and a risotto flavored by bouillabaisse broth.

4.  LANGOUSTINES POELE, DEGLAZE AVEC EAU DE VIE

Barely cooked, deglazed with eau de vie, and served in their shells, these are the most sweet and succulent mid-sized langoustines I have eaten anywhere. I have ordered them about ten times over the years and have never been disappointed.

A different preparation of langoustines will get my vote as the best of the year (on par with L’Ambroisie and ex-Ledoyen Le Squer) when Monsieur Canonzi served them de-shelled and crusted with fleur de sel, freshly ground pepper, and hazelnut crumbles.  They were served with an amazing sauce sabayon a l’hydromel (a honey flavored liquour). Flavorful green asparagus marinated in lemon and olive oil adds color and texture to the dish. Langoustine eggs are used in the sauce which has sweet, nutty, and slightly salty undertones. This is a perfect dish which merits 20/20.

5.  L’HOMARD AVEC SABAYON A L’HYDROMEL

This amazing lobster dish has the same sauce as the dish above, and I can’t think of a better sauce for lobster. (L’Ambroisie’s homard with new potatoes is another contender for the best preparation of lobster.) The chef serves an excellent risotto flavored by shellfish carcass and head and saffron as an accompaniment in a small saucepan alongside the dish.

6. LASAGNA OUVERT

I have had excellent pigeon (with coffee beans), good goat and veal dishes at Pasquale Paoli, but this is my favorite course with meat. Mr. Canonzi marinates veal brisket for 24 hours with red wine and spices, cooks it at a low temperature for five hours, and then serves it with homemade al dente lasagna from artisanal flour and tops it with brebis cheese.  This is delightful, the best of comfort food.

7. FROMAGES

The cheese course should not be missed. It is served with watermelon mustarda. I have tried to find similar level brebis and chevre cheeses in the island but failed. All of the cheeses are artisanal (wild yeast), and they vary in terms of texture and maturity. Some are half goat, half sheep milk. They all taste of herbal nuances due to the rich vegetation in the island.   Monsieur Emanuel will cut about 10-12 thin slices and tell you the right order to taste them. Listen to his advice and try the cheeses with a sweet red wine from the island.

8. DESSERTS

They are all good, especially the millefeuille with crème de citron.  But the best we have tried in the past, which is the apricot tart, was not available this year.

WINE

This is the weakest part of the restaurant. I like the Yves Leccia d’y Croce, Antoine Arena Cuvee Carco, and also Nicolas Mariotto Biondi Vermentinos from Patrimonio.  Abbatucci’s Cuvee Faustine is also a very balanced and elegant Vermentino from Ajaccio. Let’s hope that Monsieur Canonzi will find ways to enrich his cellar. I also think that champagne, Loire Valley (Anjou, Savennieres) Chenins, and non-oaky Chablis will be a good match for his cuisine.