We’ve had so much fun sharing new foods with Georgia P and taking her to eat at our favorite restaurants this year. She visited Sotto (above) in Los Angeles twice in 2012. She ate meatballs, long noodle pastas, burrata, and discovered ragù, one of her favorite dishes of the year.

“This is the restaurant for my wines,” he said.

Best Meals 2012: Sotto (Los Angeles, November).

We had a truly epic dinner at Sotto last night with Frank Cornelissen (above with chef Zach Pollack, left, and chef Steve Samson, right).

Even though I’ve followed the wines for years, I’d never met Frank, who was visiting the U.S. for the first time with his wines (he had visited before he started making wine many years ago).

With all the mystery and aura that seems to surround him, I wasn’t sure what to expect. But I discovered that he’s a super cool dude, very approachable and just fun to talk to.

We spoke at length about what he calls the “zoo of Natural wine.”

“Natural wine hasn’t been defined and so we really can’t call wine Natural,” he said, noting that he doesn’t care for the term.

I was thoroughly impressed by his concept of “high definition” wines and I admired the respectful tone with which he spoke of his neighbors on Etna.

He speaks impeccable Italian, btw.

Levi always gets mad at me for doing this but I’m so slammed today (while on the road in southern California) that I’ll have to post my complete notes, including Lou’s thoughts, when I have a moment to catch my breath…

In the meantime, the seared tuna with raisins, pinenuts, and bread crumbs was INSANE (first food photo). And the squid ink spaghetti with uni was possible my top dish for 2012… amazing… And wow, what a thrill to finally get to taste the (declassified) Magma.

Levi, I promise to post all my notes asap!

Stay tuned…

Tracie P and I have had so much fun sharing new foods with Georgia P this year. Leafing through posts on favorite meals this year, I am reminded of my friend Melanie Rehak’s wonderful book Eating for Beginners, where she chronicles her young son’s food awakenings along with her own.

The above photo of Georgia P, where she’s eating avocados for the first time, was taken around the same time that I visited one of my favorite restaurants in the world, Tony’s in Houston, owned by my friend and client Tony Vallone. The occasion was bromance Giovanni’s first visit to Texas.

Best Meals 2012: Tony’s (Houston, June).

Above: Tony’s foie gras au torchon is one of his signatures and one of the dishes where simplicity and purity of flavor is offset by detail in the presentation.

How could Giovanni’s visit to Texas be complete without a meal at Tony’s in Houston?

Tony is my client (I curate his website and his media relations) but he’s also become one of my best friends in Texas and he is the architect and author of some of the most stunning meals I’ve ever had. Yesterday, Giovanni and I drove to Houston to meet Cousin Marty for lunch and a confabulatio that centered around… yes, of course… food and wine…

Above: Orecchiette with seared mortadella cubes and runny quail egg.

The secret to the rich yellow color of his pasta, said Tony, is locally sourced, organically farmed eggs. “But it’s also the fact that I use only flour and mineral water imported from Italy,” he added. Some would argue that sparkling mineral water is key to super pasta like this. But Tony insists that still water (acqua naturale) is a sine qua non.

Above: Halbut and seafood medley “al Mare Chiaro,” named after the neighborhood in Naples.

Tony’s is the only place in Texas where we eat fine seafood (a category we reserve otherwise for our trips to California). This dish was simply stunning in its simplicity and presentation (and my camera didn’t do it justice, frankly).

Above: Lamb chops.

Tony likes to tease me, calling me the chiodo (the nail) because I’m so careful about what and how much I eat. Lamb chops would have been a bit much for me for a Tuesday lunch but Giovanni dove in with gusto.

Above: General Manager and wine director Scott Sulma’s selection was right on.

And the wine? A tall order considering the fact that one of Italy’s top winemakers was seated at our table. And let’s face it, my general disdain for the Californian style is well known to my colleagues at Tony’s. But it also seemed right to have Giovanni taste something from my home state. GM Scott’s selection, Palmaz Vineyards 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon, delivered acidity, earth and gorgeous dark fruit, and balanced alcohol and wood. It was superb with the Bucatini all’Amatriciana that I had as my second course, playing beautifully against the savory guanciale in the dish. Chapeau bas, Scott!

Above: Nobody does it better than Tony.

I can’t conceal my pride in sharing the Tony’s experience with my good friend Giovanni, who made the trans-Atlantic crossing to see, hear, taste, and feel what life is like in Texas, California, and America.

Above: Two of my favorite fressers.

Thanks, again, Tony for yet another fantastic meal and an unforgettable experience. Ti ringrazio di cuore…

Our 2012 delivered more than a fair share of opulent meals. But looking back on our annus gastronomicus, the most memorable repasts — more often than not — stand out in my mind for the purity of their ingredients and the marvel of discovery, like Georgia P’s first encounter with burrata and ripe peaches (above) or this meal at one of my favorite restaurants in the world, Scarbolo’s Frasca…

Best Meals 2012: Valter Scarbolo’s Frasca (Lauzacco, province of Udine, April).

Valter Scarbolo makes wines in Grave and so there was no way for me to include him in the Colli Orientali del Friuli 2012 blogger project itinerary. But there was no way that I was coming to Friuli without spending an evening with him at his amazing Frasca. I’ll have to recount our conversation on Pinot Grigio and his 1995 trip — his first — to the U.S. in another post when I have more time. In the meantime, here’s what we ate…

As James Bond would say, “if it’s Prosciutto d’Osvaldo, you must have been expecting me.”

Rosa di Gorizia (Rose of Gorizia), a radicchio cultivar unique to Gorizia that resembles a rose.

White asparagus is in season. Valter served it raw, thinly sliced, dressed with extra-virgin olive oil and accompanied by delicately marinated goose breast. “It had to be extremely fresh,” he said, “to serve it raw like this.”

Riso nero Venere (black Venus rice) is a hybrid of Asian and Italian cultivars and, besides being delicious, is purported to have health-enhancing properties. Valter makes his with formadi frant, the truly unique, piquant cheese made from discarded and otherwise imperfect cheese — an ingredient that appears repeatedly in his cooking.

I asked Valter to show me the rice uncooked.

His My Time is always a treat to look forward to. The 2009 was unctuous and richer than previous vintages I’d tasted. And while it will undoubtedly become more elegant with some bottle age, its more muscular expression paired well with blood-rare pan-roasted and thinly sliced Prussian rumpsteak served with herbed formadi frant and montasio cheeses.

I’m posting this from the Colli Orientali del Friuli where the COF2012 trip has just begun… Stay tuned!