Posting quickly from a bar in Udine. So much to show, to tell, to share… In the meantime, a few images from lunch today at Zidarich. My goodness, probably the most interesting facilities I’ve ever visited…
Porcini frittata.
Pumpkin soup.
Category Archives: de cibo
Friuli: the obligatory dignatory dinner
Simpatico Chef Andrea Gabin (left) of the famous Ristorante La Taverna posed for my camera with Chef Lachlan at last night’s obligatory dignatory dinner, regrettably a sine qua non of these government-sponsored trips, held at the picturesque Castello di Susans in Maiano (Udine).
The food was surprisingly good for a dinner where more than 200 guests were seated, including all the fat cat pols who revel in their their Rolex and 12-ply cashmere habits at such functions. That’s Chef Gabin’s EXCELLENT “white chocolate sphere and white grape sorbet” paired with Bianco Tal Luc 2007 Friuli Isonzo by Lis Neris, one of my favorite wineries here.
That’s Andrea Di Giovanni (left), director of the Friuli department for development and Francesca Ghersinich, program director for the MIB school of management, who was asked to address the large group of foreigners gathered for the event because of her command of the English language. They were very nice although completely disinterested in our group of top-flight American restaurant professionals (enogastronomic tourism does not seem to be a priority in this duly industrious region).
The one pleasant surprise of this otherwise entirely ennui-driven event was my discovery that young Friulians are wonderfully proud of the great 20th-century poet, cineaste, novelist, and essayist Pier Paolo Pasolini’s association with his native Friuli.
The cast of last night’s event certainly could have made a cameo in one of his films… I’ll let you ponder which one…
Frico! At Trattoria “Al Parco”
Damiano Meroi took me up into the aging attic for Picolit at his family’s winery in Buttrio (Udine). Slammed for time right now, but, man, I can’t WAIT to post about my chat with him…
Fried frico, made with aged montasio cheese fried into the form of a “nest” and filled with light, creamy yellow polenta and montasio fondue and then sprinkled with freshly grated smoked ricotta.
FRICKIN’ AMAZING!
Sweet gnocco (served during the savory menu) stuffed with plums and sprinkled with powdered sugar and cinnamon.
The whole crew agreed that this was the best lunch so far… truly unforgettable people, truly unforgettable food and ambience… and the wines… the Picolit is incredible!
Running on to the next two winery visits (including Radikon!) and then the gala dinner tonight… STAY TUNED!
Friulian aquaculture, lunch on the island of Ravaiarina
The team, from left, clockwise, each a taste-maker in her or his own right: Matthew Turner (head sommlier Michael Mina, San Francisco), Steve Wildy (beverage director, Vetri, Philadelphia), Brent Karlicek (wine merchant, Postino, Phoenix), Shelley Lindgren (wine director, A16, San Francisco), Bobby Stuckey (wine director, Frasca, Boulder), Jamie Garrett (sommelier, Sonnenalp, Vail), Joe Campanale (beverage director, Dell’Anima, New York), Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson (chef, Frasca, Boulder), Mario Nocifera (director of operations, Frasca, Boulder), and Lara Persello (our handler, Turismo FVG).
This morning we departed from Grado and headed toward the island of Ravaiarina.
The antipasto.
Turbot with its brodetto and white polenta.
A classic of Friulian viticulture.
The island has its own fish farm in the form of a humanmade saltwater lagoon and the chef fishes his catch with a fishing pole as needed, like this orata (Mediterranean sea bass). Ingenious…
The fishery is perfectly attuned to the island’s aquaculture and mariculture.
La Ravaiarina
tel. 0431 845 84576
To reach the island and restaurant, you take a taxi boat from Grado.
Getting my spritz on in Friuli
Bobby, Lachlan, and I got our Aperol spritz on during the ora dell’aperitivo (the aperitif hour) in downtown Cividale del Friuli yesterday.
In keeping with my credo no wine without food, no food without wine, I just had to have a few mortadella cubes, even though I knew that much food lay in my immediate future…
Ornella Venica’s favorite wine
The inimitable Ornella Venica greeted me in the late morning with a glass of Pinot Bianco by her family’s historic winery, Venica & Venica. “Maybe not the most popular or important,” she explained, “but my personal favorite.”
For the next 5 days and nights, I’m going to be staying at the Venica & Venica estate in Dolegna del Collio (Gorizia, Friuli) with leading U.S. food and wine professionals Bobby Stuckey and Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson (owners of Frasca in Boulder, CO), who asked me to join them and a group of wine buyers on a tour of Friuli (sponsored by the Regione Friuli Venezia Giulia).
The main course at lunch was a delicious pork shank prepared by Ornella herself (note the kren in the foreground).
I’d never tasted the Venica Refosco. The 2008 (recently bottled) was killer… chewy and juicy.
I cannot conceal that I am very psyched to hang with Bobby (who helped Ornella clear the dishes after lunch) and Lachlan, two of the nicest dudes in the biz and undisputed Friulian insiders!
Stay tuned…
Are you going to Scarbolo fair? First day in Friuli
Later today I hope to have the time to reveal why and how I’ve come to Friuli.
But before the official working leg of the trip begins, I wanted to take time out to catch up with my friend Wayne, who lives and works in Friuli as the sales and marketing director for the Bastianich winery here.
In a world where ego generally trumps humanity, Wayne is one of the rare and welcomed anomalies: a right guy, as one might have said a half-century ago, who just happens to work in the top tier of the food and wine industry. When he suggested we go meet winemaker Valter Scarbolo for dinner at his legendary restaurant La Frasca in Lauzacco (Udine), I couldn’t have been more thrilled.
Dinner began with Lorenzo d’Osvaldo’s superb prosciutto crudo and ossocollo and Valter’s housemade salame (above).
Next, di rigore, came tagliolini San Daniele.
This was followed by a dish that would have been met with wholehearted approval by any semiotician gourmand, Valter’s raviolo aperto, stuffed with montasio cheese and venison, topped with wild berries. (A bottle of sparkling Verduzzo for anyone who can place the exegetic pun I’ve made for this dish!)
As we were joined by Valter’s son Mattia who had arrived from his kick-boxing workout (and was evidently famished), the conversation turned to the current student housing crisis in Italy, soon to be faced by the young matricola.
As we lingered over intensely aromatic formàdi frant (formaggio frantumato, literally splintered cheese, a classic farmer’s cheese of Friuli), the wine I kept going back to was Valter’s My Time, so-called because, despite the urgings of his enologist, he waits to bottle and releases this wine only when he feels it’s achieved its full potential. As it warmed up in the glass, this wine (made from Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, and Tocai fermented in cask) was simply gorgeous, with nuanced fruit and noble structure, delightful with the pasta dishes, intriguing and intellectually stimulating with the cheese course.
Last night wasn’t a time for delving into the details of enogastronomic science: it was time for catching up with an old friend and making a new one.
When it comes your time to go to Scarbolo fair, please remember me to the one who lives there…
Stay tuned…
Lunch at Perbellini (Verona): some guys have all the luck
Some colleagues very graciously and generously bought me lunch today at the Perbellini installation at the design fair in Verona. What can I say? Some guys have all the luck… ;-)
There is bean soup and then there is BEAN SOUP. In this instance, topped with a ragù adriatica…
I would have never believed that I’d enjoy spaghetti freddi (cold spaghetti), but when in Perbellini… with cuttlefish, marinated prawns, basil, and lime.
Perbellini’s famous millefoglie.
Duclis in fundo: I also had a peak at the design fair.
How do you say “happy as a clam” in Italian?
In Italian, when someone is as happy as a clam, you say that someone va in brodo di giuggiole, in other words, that she or he swims in jujube soup.
This sweet lady let me try one of her giuggiole in Arquà Petrarca. No Italian spoken here, just the sweet cadence of my beloved Veneto. Just to breath the fresh air of the Euganean Hills where Petrarch spent his last years of life fills my heart with joy.
She also let me try her sugolo, grape must pudding (made by boiling sweet grape must with flour). So yummy.
Lunch was served sotto una pergola (under a pergola), homemade pappardelle with fresh porcini (in season).
Fagottini stuffed with ricotta and pears.
I couldn’t resist the crostata di mele (apple pie).
Lunch with a wide selection of locally cured charcuterie, a pasta course, dessert, and wine (a Collli Euganei Pinot Bianco at a wonderful 12.5% alcohol!) was Euro 22 per person.
Have you ever taken a swim in jujube soup?
Zidarich Vitovska and horse meat dinner
Tonight I’ll be in Friuli (more on that later) but the weekend between the two working legs of this trip was spent in Padua, as a guest in the lovely home of my wonderful friends Sita and Steve, whom I’ve known since I was a junior at the Università di Padova (remember them [click and scroll down]?).
Sita knows how much I love and miss the horse meat of my beloved Veneto (more on that later) from my days as a grad student in Italy and so she prepared a wonderful dinner of horse meat for us on Friday night.
Steve knows how much I love the tannic white wines of Carso and so he grabbed a bottle of 2007 Zidarich Vitovska from his Eurocave. As it turns out, Sita’s uncle was the architect who designed the Zidarich winery!
The first course was horse meat salamino, ripe olives cured in olive oil, and taralli.
Next came my FAVORITE: sfilacci di cavallo, cured and shredded horse meat, dressed with olive oil and lemon and served with griddle-fried polenta. The horse meat bresaola and raw figs were equally delicious.
As the Vitovska came to room temperature and gently aerated in the glass, its tannic structure began to reveal itself. The floral notes on the nose and the mineral character of this wine blew my mind, so unbelievably good.
Sita really outdid herself with this spezzateino di puledro, pony and horse meat sausage stew, served over polenta (of course).
Horse meat became popular in Italy and France in the 1960s as an affordable source of protein for young families. Today, the Veneto is the only place I know of where it’s common to find horse meat butchers.
By the end of the meal, the Vitovska had opened up gloriously, the white fruit (apple and pear) singing to the rhythm of the wine’s acidity and tannin.
An acoustic guitar was produced and dutifully tuned and a chorus of John Lennon’s “Imagine” and some ubriaco brushed with Prosecco must made for the ideal coda to a meal of happy memories shared with good friends.
Do Bianchi 