Monterosso al Mare

After a four-hour train ride from Rome, we arrived at one one of the most beautiful places imaginable -- a place where lemons grow as big as grapefruit, and the sounds of violins and the smell of the sea greet you. We were to spend four nights in the Cinque Terre area of Liguria, a stretch of coastline famous for its pesto, focaccia, seafood, and trofie pasta. We definitely wanted to make sure we tried as much of it as possible. Our first two nights were in Monterosso al Mare, and not only was it some of the best food of our entire trip, it was also our favorite village in Cinque Terre. 

Our first taste of Liguria was at a small stand right at the exit of the train station, Il Massimo della Focaccia. What appeared to be so simple actually turned out be extraordinary. I have never even liked focaccia bread. This certainly wasn't the focaccia bread I have been fed in the past. It seems odd that the focaccia in the U.S. is nowhere near the same thing as it is in Italy. I had plenty of it in Italy and, while it varied a little, most of of it was incredible and not at all heavy or bread-like. It is light and airy and has a nice bit of olive oil on it to make it moist and crisp at the same time. This version at Il Massimo almost seemed like it was deep fried, but it was the only one that I had like it. There will be many more focaccia photos in future blog posts. I even tried to make a proper one last night, and it turned out close, but I will try again. The pesto on this was also made in Monterosso, and it was seriously amazing. We washed it all down with a can of Italian beer and headed to the beach. 

We were lucky to stay in a great bed and breakfast that not only served up some focaccia and eggs in the morning, but also pointed us in the right direction of good dinners in the area. Our first night in Monterosso, we dined by the sea at Ristorante Belvedere.

I ordered the stuffed mussels, another signature dish of the area -- mussels cooked and chopped with breadcrumbs, cheese, parsley and lovingly put back together in the shell and bathed in a tomato sauce. I was not even quite sure how they did it. It was phenomenal, and my Italian vocabulary couldn't even find the words to express my gratification.  

Regan ordered an octopus salad. We are huge fans of this cephalopod. She usually prefers it grilled and charred, but this was a nice and light boiled version with tomatoes, olives, and potatoes. Not quite as great as the dish we had in Rome, but still worthy of a molto bene.

The next evening, we visited the restaurant that was right up the street from Belvedere, Il Castello, another outdoor seaside space that had practically the same menu.

The special of the day was branzino (sea bass) marinated in lemons. I definitely had to try that. It turned out to be possibly my favorite dish of the entire trip. It is hard to say (there was a lot of great food), but I am partial to fish, and this was about as good as it gets. I even ate the lemon slices and danced with the plate on my head.

Regan had the most popular dish of Liguria, trofie pasta with pesto. It is popular for good reason. This pasta and pesto combination is what makes life worth living. It's a good thing there are so many stairs and hill in Cinque Terre, because otherwise it would be a village of chubby sloths eating spoonfuls of pesto pasta morning, noon, and night.

We finished off the dinner with Regan's most hated dessert -- the absolutetely dreadful tiramisu! How someone hates such a fine treat I will never understand. Since we were in Italy, I thought I could persuade her to enjoy it and maybe she would love it. I am not much of a sweets lover, but when placed in front of me, I have a hard time resisting. This tiramisu did not convert Regan, but I think she enjoyed it, and if she didn't, now I know what to order if I don't feel like sharing!

We returned to Monterosso for lunch the day after we left for another village. The restaurant (Trattoria da Oscar) that supposedly has some of the best pesto and trofie pasta in Monterosso had been closed the night before. I wanted to try the pesto, but it was so hot and we just needed something light in the midday sun. We shared a plate of tuna carpaccio that came with a bag of crusty bread that could have fed a small tribe. This was so delicious and a perfect ending to our days in Monterosso: red onion, tomato, olive oil, and some excellent paper thin tuna, very similar to cold smoked salmon, but without the excessive salt.

The next couple days we stayed in Riomaggiore and had more focaccia, more pasta, and more fish. Don't worry, we also had barrels of gelato on the trip, which we practically indulged in everyday! I will save all of those for its own blog. Ciao for now!

Rome (Part 1)

Arrival: Rome. After an insanely long flight and being force-fed nuked peas in molten plastic at 37,000 feet, we needed some Italian cooking that everyone dreams about. We headed to the Trastevere neighborhood, because we had heard this was a good place to eat in a quaint Roman atmosphere. Obviously, 900 other tourists got the same memo. After wandering the streets and trying not to succumb to a tourist trap restaurant filled with Americans talking about how great the pizza was at the Colosseum, we found a cute little place that seemed to have many Italians sitting, eating, and drinking wine. 

I ordered one of my favorite things, oxtail ragu with rigatoni! I have made this dish once, and it was actually a greater success than the version at all Arco di S. Calisto. While not completely horrible, I still had to wait to use my Italian adjectives. I was so ready to shout a benisssimo or a perfetto, but sadly I had to settle for a soft whisper of discontent. If you braise oxtail in tomatoes for several hours, it will be good -- but this was just a feeble attempt at ragu and pasta.

Regan was so excited to order the saltimbocca alla Romana (one of her favorite dishes) in Rome! However, what appeared on her plate after being thrown at her from a disgruntled Italian was perhaps one of the worst meals of the entire trip: cold carrot slices in a thin off-white sauce with tough veal that did not leap into her mouth. A stray cat would have probably passed on this sad excuse for Rome's signature dish. Oh well... we finished a bottle of wine and knew the food couldn't get much worse. It may have been a good thing to have been let down in the beginning.

I decided to not go at the food thing alone and looked online for more worthy suggestions, which led us the next day to lunch near the Pantheon. We were seated next to a table filled with zucchini flowers and artichokes, which we took as a good sign of things to come.

Regan ordered a tuna salad with tomatoes, onions, beans, olives, and arugula. She enjoyed it, and it was definitely a step in the right direction, but I thought it was still not worthy of a molto bene. It wasn't rocket science, only a rocket salad.

I decided to go with the fried zucchini flowers, because I never see it in Seattle. It was good, but nothing more than tempura-fried zucchini flowers. Not bad, but not that thrilling. They could have left the zucchini flowers on the table for decoration and battered me some fish.

Later in the day there was a light at the end of the tunnel: Il Gabriello, a restaurant near the Spanish Steps that was packed, yet without a reservation we still managed to grab a table in less than 15 minutes.

Because it was 93 degrees, we ordered a cool bottle of white wine and started with an octopus and potato appetizer that was beautifully presented and prepared. Finally, this was what we had been waiting for! 

Next up, I ordered the radicchio and walnut ravioli in a shrimp cream sauce. Simply amazing! We had stumbled upon the right restaurant. Regan loved it and helped me finish off every last morsel on the plate. She thought it was some of the best pasta she had ever had. There were bits of shrimp in the sauce, and the pasta was exquisite -- our first taste of the good life!

Regan ordered a beef salad with arugula and olive oil, a very simple but deliciously executed dish. We thought about returning to this restaurant on our return to Rome at the end of our trip, but we knew there were other roads -- hopefully, roads that would lead us to the Rome of our dreams.

 Rome (Part 2) coming soon...

Emerald City's East Coast Pie

We didn't quite know what we were in for when we visited one of Seattle's top rated pizza joints. Usually a lot of hype sets me up for a major disappointment. Ballard neighborhood's Delancey is a wood-fired pizza place that (on most weekends) has people lined up outside and sometimes waiting an hour for a table. We arrived on a Saturday around 6:00 p.m. and waited to be seated for only 15 minutes, which allowed us to have a drink with friends at a small table near the entrance. They have an area for outside seating, and you would think that in June they would have tables set up, but it hasn't exactly been speedo weather yet in Seattle. 

I figured the pizza would be decent, but nothing prepared me for phenomenal pies that were just as good as some of the best in New York City. I was actually in shock after the first bite. We started with the Sausage, which was ultra tasty with lots of fennel seed -- exactly the kind of Italian sausage that I love on pizza. The crust was near perfection -- nice and charred, crispy and chewy -- and the cheese-to-sauce ratio was as it should be. 

Next up, we ordered a Margherita -- with homemade coppa -- and a Hot Salami. Each of them tasted like a good! I couldn't even say which was my favorite, but Regan loved the Hot Salami. Delancey uses great ingredients, and I'm sure every pizza combination could make you weep with joy. This was the best pizza I've ever had outside of New York City. It even reminded me of my all time favorite, John's of Bleecker Street (the legendary coal-fired brick oven pizza that I talked about in my NY pizza post). It turns out that the owner of Delancey, Brandon Pettit, is from Brooklyn and frequented DiFara and John's. (The co-owner is Brandon's wife, author Molly Wizenberg, who writes the popular food blog Orangette.) His love for these places is apparent, and his attempt to recreate that love is so successful that if Delancey was in New York City, it would be right at home. Those of us in Seattle are lucky as pie to have a slice of East coast perfection in our Emerald City.  

Between four of us, we shared three pizzas, and it was plenty. We definitely wouldn't have left hungry if we had only split two. This is one of our new favorites, and I really can't wait to go back. If you've never been to New York, and you live in Seattle, trust me -- this is the real deal! Unfortunately, if you want delivery pizza, Delancey is dine-in only. For a home slice, I recommend Pagliacci. It really is the best delivery you will ever get. Try the Parma Primo! They use high quality ingredients, including Salumi products on several pies. Next week, we head to Rome for another slice! Ciao!

Ristorante Doria & the BJM!

This weekend, we had tickets to see The Brian Jonestown Massacre in Seattle's U-district at a venue which once housed the Neptune movie theater. We don't get to this area very often, and we were looking for a nice pre-show dinner with our good mates Alex and Laura. Ristorante Doria is a place we've wanted to try for awhile. It used to be another Italian restaurant called Mamma Melina's, where we had dined a few years ago. Mamma Melina's was decent, but word was that Doria was magnifico!

We were greeted by a waiter with a thick Italian accent. The service couldn't have been better. However, I do think he must've known that we have this spectacular blog. We started by sharing a couple appetizers. We had a Caprese salad and Zuppeta di Gamberi alla Toscana (prawns in a spicy tomato broth with spinach and garbanzo beans). They were both well prepared, and tasted like a good.

Doria's menu is about as basic as it gets for an Italian restaurant. Not a lot of unusual dishes, just straight-up classics done simply, and all at a great price. None of us wanted to over-indulge, because we would be doing the mashed potato at the rock n roll show. Between the four of us, we shared two entrees. I let Regan decide for us, and she chose one of her favorite dishes -- Saltimbocca alla Romana (veal). I don't think I'd ever had it before, so I couldn't really judge it against other Italian restaurants. I thought it was splendido! Nice flavors of sage and prosciutto complimented the tender scallopine. It came with a delicious side of penne in a tomato cream sauce. The picture above is half of the dish (they split it for us), plenty for one person! If I 'd eaten the whole thing, I would've felt like Dom DeLuise!

Alex and Laura split the Penne alla Puttanesca. I tried a nibble, and it was definitely a robust gathering of anchovy, capers, and olives. They both enjoyed it and said that it was spicy, tangy, salty, and tasted like it was prepared by one sultry puttana. All the food went lovely with a good bottle of Nero D'Avola. The wine list is also simple and on the cheaper side. Most bottles are around $28.

After our meal, chef and owner Marcello came out of the kitchen to ask if everything was okay. Again, I think he might've thought we were some sort of food gurus that could take down his kitchen with one negative word about the quality of his tomatoes. We skipped dessert, wiped the sauce from our lips and headed for the stairway to the best party in the universe.

Eat Your Heart Out, San Francisco!

In the past year, I've somehow managed to visit San Francisco three times, tasting my way through various neighborhoods from the trendy Mission District and Hayes Valley to old-school Italian North Beach and sorta-sketchy Union Square. Last summer, our friend Andrew gave us a hipster tour of fog city on a Friday night, making our way to great bars such as Zeitgeist and the Toronado Pub, which has a staggering number of truly wonderful beers on tap -- despite a complete lack of service. Jay really liked the pizza at Arinell! He said it was possibly the best NY style pizza that he has had on the West coast. 

I was impressed by Four Barrel Coffee's java mixologist, who roasts and custom-brews a cup of ethically-sourced coffee from Africa, Indonesia, or South America while you wait beneath a rough-hewn wooden warehouse ceiling for your special joe. After you get your bolt of caffeine, get in line at nearby bakery Tartine. The line can be daunting, but it moves rather quickly, and you will be rewarded with some amazing savory or sweet delectable delight. 

Of all the Mexican taquerias on Mission, we really enjoyed the homespun flavor of La Oaxaqueña, well-known for their signature tacos such as ostrich, venison, or chapulines -- made with grasshopper! We tried the mole burrito, a torta, and a tamale. Everything was as good as you would expect it to be. They also let you bring in your own drinks, so stop in the nearby mini mart for your cerveza of choice and let the feast begin! 

Earlier this spring, in town for a teaching conference, I made my way through upper Hayes Valley and grabbed a nosh of grass-fed jerky (made with bourbon and blackstrap molasses) at the Fatted Calf Charcuterie. If I lived in San Francisco, I might go broke at a place like this. 

I tracked down the elusive Little Skillet in a foodie back alley on Ritch Street, just south of Union Square. Little Skillet is a tasty off-shoot of soul food restaurant Farmer Brown. During a torrential rain storm, I enjoyed my fried chicken and waffle on a tiny counter beneath an awning. I also spotted the Chairman Bao food truck (which wasn't yet open) before heading to Off The Grid on 5th & Minna for some yummy Kung Fu Tacos. 

The digestive system does need care when eating out in a new city, and I found wonderful solace in two excellent drinking establishments: one, City Beer -- a store/bar that introduced me to a spring brew called Baby Tree by Boston's Pretty Things; and the other, Samovar Tea. Facing beautiful St. Patrick's Cathedral, Samovar sits atop the Yerba Buena Gardens (gorgeous at night with a lit waterfall) and has a tea-pairing food service from a myriad of cultures. I enjoyed the Chinese service with smoked duck and squash dumplings, alongside an endless pot of Pu-erh tea which lulled me into a contented mind set. 

Both of my two favorite meals in San Francisco were Italian -- at 54 Mint in Union Square's former bank building and at Molinari in North Beach. I planned a group meal with colleagues at 54 Mint, where owner Nicola greeted us warmly and the service was great. Tomato risotto croquettes with smoked mozzarella were guilty pleasures beyond measure. 

A few blocks north of City Lights Bookstore and fun Beat bar Vesuvio, authentic Italian deli Molinari boasts a rustic store and very particular process for ordering: take a number, choose your bread, order quickly, and grab a seat outside. This is a place that Jay really wanted to try when we visited in the summer. It has been a San Franciscan institution for over 100 years! I chose the Renzo -- smoked turkey, sun-dried tomato, and mozzarella -- and only ate half before walking off my gut bomb on the way back down the hill. I look forward to future eats in San Francisco -- such as Plow, Bocadillos, and Prospect. Until then, there is always Rice-A-Roni.