Festa! part two

Cardona, May 30, 2015—

HOW TO DESCRIBE our dining on this very special day, one of the most beautiful and emotional days of my life?

For years I've wanted to get my extra-American friends together, to get to know one another, and (I must admit it) to enjoy seeing the interactions that might develop among them. The story begins a little over a century ago, when Lindsey's father, ten years old, immigrated from Italy.

It resumes thirty-five years ago, when our oldest daughter spent a year abroad with a Dutch family. When we visited at the end of that year we discovered her Dutch parents, a few years older than us and quite different in background and tastes, were our semblables, people whose hearts had an uncanny resonance with ours, and we have been the best of friends, really brothers and sisters, ever since.

Then a succession of foreign students came to our house in Berkeley — a Swedish girl for only three weeks, to polish her English; a Brazilian boy for six months, to sigh for his tropics; a French girl for a year, to escape small-town Provence I suppose. They became our own children, we their own parents. I can't explain our luck in finding such big-hearted, generous, tolerant, and fascinating teen-agers.

Our youngest daughter married a Czech immigrant, and their children have traveled and built their own international relations. I'm not sure how many languages are spoken by our children and grandchildren; more than I'm bothering to think of at the moment — for this is, after all, not a biographical website, but an account of Eating (mostly) Every Day.

I decided Lindsey's birthday was a suitable occasion for getting as many friends and family together as possible, and ended with twenty-six altogether — Italian, Dutch, French, Swedish, and Brazilian, along with a sprinkling of our extended American family who happened to be in the area. I found rooms for everyone nearby, and we met in various configurations throughout the morning, and by two o'clock some had gone off on independent expeditions related, I'm sure, to lunch.

The rest of us — ten, supplemented by two who arrived late and had to be content with a separate table — drove to a restaurant in a nearby village, a place we've liked before, and sat down to a light lunch: a series of five or six antipasti, like Russian salad, insalata da gallo, vitello tonnato, this carpaccio, very nice peperoni filled with tuna sauce, and I don't recall what else; then a big mixed salad, just lettuce leaves and tomatoes.

After lunch I mentioned to our waiter that we'd had a memorable conversation with his mother last time we were here — she was then the cook, and the second generation to own and run this place, and was by no means a young woman. "She died seven years ago," he said, with a moist eye. Passono gli anni, I said; the years go by. Increasingly quickly.

Dinner — but that will have to wait for another post…

Cortona bianco; Grignolino

•Ristorante Da Maria, via Roma 131, Zanco di Villadeati (AL); +39 0141902035
☛Restaurants visited in 2015 are listed at Eatingday's Restaurants

Big dinner, short notice

Cardona, May 29, 2015—

THE PARTY BEGINS: fifteen of us at table tonight, a little more than half the extended family — let's drop that "extended": we are all, as far as I'm concerned, family — that is assembling hereabouts this weekend to celebrate an important birthday. Tomorrow's dinner is the main event, and is pretty well planned, but what to do tonight?

I called a restaurant we've liked in a nearby town. May I reserve a table tonight? Certainly, sir, at what time? Oh, say 8:30? Certainly, sir, for how many?

Here I paused a moment, then bravely plunged on. I think twelve or fourteen, I'm not sure yet.

No problem, sir, call again when you have the exact number…

We arrived to a nearly empty restaurant; I don't know why — Friday is not a popular restaurant night, apparently. Fourteen chairs were at a long table, but at the last minute we were now fifteen. No problem: another chair was brought, with table service; plenty of room.

We ate simply, each ordering from the menu. I began with my beloved Cruda di Fossone alla monferrina con piccoli germogli e sbrisolona al parmigiano, veal tartare with little lettuce sprouts and crisp, cunning little Parmesan soufflés. The beef — what we called "baby beef" in my childhood, too mature to be veal, not yet full-grown beef — was sweet and clean, lightly seasoned, beautifully formed, and the tiny lettuces — which I've never had before — complemented it perfectly.

Next, a plate of Bottoni all'uovo Ricotta e Spinai novelli con pesto leggero di pomodori secchi, olive taggiasche e pinoli: good-sized round ravioli filled with ricotta and spinach with a light "pesto" combining sun-dried tomatoes, olives, and pine nuts, in a butter so sweet, floral, and grassy you knew you were in Piedmont, whose cows provide the best butter in the world as far as I'm concerned…

Dessert: Zuppetta di ciliegie al Malvasia di Casorzo, meringa alla liquerizia e gelato alla Viola. This was an extraordinary thing, I think: a "soup" of strongly flavored local cherries, neither sour nor sweet, sweetened with the wine, set off by crisp little meringues discreetly flavored with licorice, and softened by a beautifully made violet-scented ice cream. What a combination of flavors and textures! A marvelous creation…

Arneis, Roero, 2014; Grignolino, Bricco del Bosco, 2014; Dolcetto

•Ristorante Il Centrale, Piazza Giuseppe Romita 10, Moncalvo; 0141 917126

☛Restaurants visited in 2015 are listed at Eatingday's Restaurants

Provisional dining

"La Riviera", Arignano, 28 May, 2015—

LONG DRIVE TODAY, and we ate very casually — out of bakeries, salumerias, and the like. Lunch was bread and salami at a rest stop, washed down with water. Dinner a little better: the same, followed by a delicious melon we bought the other day and have been ripening. Tomorrow will be better, but I should not two coppette of gelato: cream and fior di latte, of course, snd my belief it is that the Gelateria Pino Pistacchio is one of the best I've run into.

• Gelateria Pino Pistacchio, Via Vittorio Emanuele II, 73/A, Chieri; 011 9414241
☛Restaurants visited in 2015 are listed at Eatingday's Restaurants

Slow food

 Grosseto, 27 May, 2015— 

A QUICK SURVEY of restaurants discussed on the popular websites turned up what looked like a serious and interesting place just a hundred meters from our hotel, and barring a glacial pace it turned out to be quite rewarding.

After a complimentary glass of Banfi frizzante I dove into a delicious mound of Tartara di Chianina, lightly accompanied by shallot, cornichon, chopped carrots, and a hen's egg. Chianina is Tuscan, not Piemontese, and lacks the distinctive sweetness of the Fossone I had the other day, but this was delicious just the same, especially with lavender-lemon flavored sea salt.

Afterward, Pici alla selvaggina di Maremma: very nice house-made thick spaghetti, cooked just right, in a ragout involving cinghiale, wild pig. No complaints.

Sangiovese-Merlot blend, Tenuta Gramineta (Tuscany), 2014

• Ristorante Enoteca Wine-Bar L'Uva e il Malto, Via Mazzini 165, Grosseto; 0564 411211
☛Restaurants visited in 2015 are listed at Eatingday's Restaurants

,

Back to Litro; on to Enzo

Viale di Villa Pamphili, May 26, 2015—

TWO LAST MEALS for the time being in the Eternal City, both en famille — wife, daughter, son-in-law, granddaughter, boy friend. Because of employment constraints, lunch at Litro again, where this time instead of vegetables I concenrated on meat, having noticed battuto di fassone on the menu. Fassone: a familiar word, untranslatable by Google, unknown by the fluent Italian speakers at the table, so we're reduced to asking — oh yes; it's the breed of cattle specific to Piemonte, where the beef is so sweet, so clean, so beautifully raised and prepared that it's traditional often to eat it uncooked.

But first, to nail down that northern Italian context, another serving of that excellent giardiniera, if you don't mind — the supple crispness, if that makes sense, of these pickled vegetables provide just the right foil for the smooth but nubby texture of the crudo. I could lunch like this every day.

white, in carafe

•Litro, Via Fratelli Bonnet, 5; (+39) 06 4544 7639

---

THEN, AFTER AN AFTERNOON strolling and shopping — and stopping in at Fatamorgana again for an excellent gelato — we accepted the urgent recommendation of our Rome host and stopped in at a very popular trattoria in Trastevere. We were thankful to sit at a table outside the door, one of a number: it was jammed inside, and the noise and the air couldn't have been comfortable, especially for a party of six.

I like pasta carbonara and amatrigiana and grigia and especially cacio e pepe as much as anyone, but I like it with fettuccine, or tagliatelle, or even spaghetti if necessary; I've developed a quite ridiculous dislike — well, disaffection — for penne or rigatoni. And that's what the pasta is here. Oh, my Roman relatives claimed, that's traditional here in Rome, it's always rigatoni. Goed so. Not at, for example, da Lucia; not at, for example, Perilli. But I bite my tongue, and do not order pasta.

Instead, after a quite delicious artichoke alla giudia, flattened and fried crisp, I went directly to my secondo: as delicious a saltimbocca alla romana as I've ever had, the veal and prosciutto flavors perfectly balanced, the sage leaf pungent and fresh, the pan liquor salty and savory. And then, since I was still hungry, the abbacchio also alla romana, grilled lamb flavored with garlic, sage, a hint of rosemary, and a few drops of olive oil; salt and pepper of course, and a bit of juice squeezed from the lemon garnish. Again: perfectly cooked, and perfectly delicious.

white (Trebbiano) and red in carafe

•Trattoria da Enzo al 29, Via dei Vascellari 29, Roma; 06 581 2260

☛Restaurants visited in 2015 are listed at Eatingday's Restaurants

Back to Litro; on to Enzo

Viale di Villa Pamphili, May 26, 2015— TWO LAST MEALS for the time being in the Eternal City, both en famille — wife, daughter, son-in-law, granddaughter, boy friend. Because of employment constraints, lunch at Litro again, where this time instead of vegetables I concenrated on meat, having noticed battuto di fassone on the menu. Fassone: a familiar word, untranslatable by Google, unknown by the fluent Italian speakers at the table, so we're reduced to asking — oh yes; it's the breed of cattle specific to Piemonte, where the beef is so sweet, so clean, so beautifully raised and prepared that it's traditional often to eat it uncooked. But first, to nail down that northern Italian context, another serving of that excellent giardiniera, if you don't mind — the supple crispness, if that makes sense, of these pickled vegetables provide just the right foil for the smooth but nubby texture of the crudo. I could lunch like this every day.

white, in carafe

•Litro, Via Fratelli Bonnet, 5; (+39) 06 4544 7639

---

THEN, AFTER AN AFTERNOON strolling and shopping — and stopping in at Fatamorgana again for an excellent gelato — we accepted the urgent recommendation of our Rome host and stopped in at a very popular trattoria in Trastevere. We were thankful to sit at a table outside the door, one of a number: it was jammed inside, and the noise and the air couldn't have been comfortable, especially for a party of six. I like pasta carbonara and amatrigiana and grigia and especially cacio e pepe as much as anyone, but I like it with fettuccine, or tagliatelle, or even spaghetti if necessary; I've developed a quite ridiculous dislike — well, disaffection — for penne or rigatoni. And that's what the pasta is here. Oh, my Roman relatives claimed, that's traditional here in Rome, it's always rigatoni. Goed so. Not at, for example, da Lucia; not at, for example, Perilli. But I bite my tongue, and do not order pasta. Instead, after a quite delicious artichoke alla giudia, flattened and fried crisp, I went directly to my secondo: as delicious a saltimbocca alla romana as I've ever had, the veal and prosciutto flavors perfectly balanced, the sage leaf pungent and fresh, the pan liquor salty and savory. And then, since I was still hungry, the abbacchio also alla romana, grilled lamb flavored with garlic, sage, a hint of rosemary, and a few drops of olive oil; salt and pepper of course, and a bit of juice squeezed from the lemon garnish. Again: perfectly cooked, and perfectly delicious.

white (Trebbiano) and red in carafe

•Trattoria da Enzo al 29, Via dei Vascellari 29, Roma; 06 581 2260
☛Restaurants visited in 2015 are listed at Eatingday's Restaurants

Wine bar

Viale Villa Pamphili, May 25, 2015—

WE WENT AT THE SUGGESTION of our granddaughter, who works nearby and finds it a convenient place for lunch. Litro has ambitions, as its website will suggest — particularly in the direction of organic and even biodynamic food and wine. This does not keep it from offering an amazing selection of Mezcals, of all things; and, hidden away on the menu, a "cocktail martini," which of course I ordered, even though it is neither Friday nor Saturday. (They're fungible, and I haven't had one since May 2.)

Soon after ordering it a young woman came to the table to verify that that was indeed what I wanted, and did I want it extra dry, or dry, or what? Dry, I said, but not too dry, with vermouth in it, and lemon rather than olives. And soon enough there it was, not cold enough of course, and made with a sweeter (but white) vermouth than I'm used to, but not bad.

With it I had various vegetables. This giardiniera, for example, made according to a recipe from the Veneto I was told, with cauliflower, red sweet pepper, carrot, and onion, in a perfect agrodolce swee-sour vinaigrette. The vegetables were crisp and retained all their flavor: this was beautifully made.

I had pickled artichoke hearts, too, served with mushroom caps and a few leaves of lettuce — very nice.

And I ordered bruschetta aglio e olio, simply bread — very good bread — toasted, rubbed with garlic, and drizzled with good olive oil, just as we do it at home.

My companions had ordered more substantial things: a tuna salad; a serving of baccalà with potatoes. And at another table I overheard a man ordering four bottles of wine with a neutral American accent, and after we'd finished lunch I apologetically intruded on him and his companion for enlightenment. They turned out to be Georgian; at least she is; he's an American expatriated to Georgia, where he paints, runs a winery and restaurant, and shares enthusiasms for polyphonic a capella song, food and wine, and as rich and natural a lifestyle as possible — and it does seem possible. Perhaps our next jaunt should be to the Caucasus.

Muscatedda (Moscato), Marabino (Noto, Sicily), 2014: beautiful golden color, unfiltered, biodynamic, supple, reasonably dry, and delicous

•Litro, Via Fratelli Bonnet, 5; (+39) 06 4544 7639
☛Restaurants visited in 2015 are listed at Eatingday's Restaurants

Da Lucia

via di Villa Pamphili, May 24, 2015—

THIS HAS ALWAYS BEEN one of my favorite restaurants in Rome, and I wanted it to be better than it was this time. I was worried when we approached, at 9:30 pm, and saw dozens of diners at tables out in the street. Inside, the dining rooms were also full, but for the table reserved for our party of six. Still, it's a wonderful room, and good simple menu, and good honest cooking and serving, and we enjoyed ourselves.

We did order too much. Three platters of anchovies; three plates of pasta (alla gricia; caccio e pepe), two orders of long-braised chicory, two of vignarola, which I'll explain later.

Then we went on to secondi of our choice. Mine was the veal spezzatini you see above: a simple dish I've had here once or twice before, just chunks of veal, cooked in the manner of the French blanquette de veau, served with peas, such a standby in this part of the world.

Speaking of peas: Vignarola is a vegetable dish involving artichoke, peas, favas, and onion. There's a recipe here, if you read Italian; I think I'll make it when we get home, if there are still fave on the market.

And, oh, those anchovies… we do love anchovies, all six of us at the table…

Poggio d'Oro (Toscana), 2014 (like most Tuscan wines, not to my taste); rosso della casa in carafe (better)

•Trattoria da Lucia, Vicolo del Mattonato 2, Roma; 06 580 3601
☛Restaurants visited in 2015 are listed at Eatingday's Restaurants

Neither trattoria nor restaurant

Via Villa Pamphily, May 23, 2015—

ALMOST TWO O'CLOCK Saturday afternoon: where to eat today? The first two or three places we phoned were full, of course, what with wedding parties, graduations, and whatnot.

So we did a little websurfing and my contessa came up with this place, a ten-minute walk from our apartment. And here I feasted:

Saltimbocca di Capasanta con la sua Mayonese, Patata fondente, Rapa rossa e Chips di Fiore di Zucca

Tagliolini all'Uovo con Ragú bianco di Piccione con Cipollotto Asparagi e Lamponi

Il Controfiletto di Scottona marchigiana con Lardo e Radicchio brasato

which is to say,

Sea scallops with mayonnaise, puréed potato, beetroot, and fried zucchini blossom
Egg noodles in white pigeon ragout with onion, asparagus, and raspberry

Grilled heifer steak with lardo and braised radicchio

or, basically, surf and turf.

This was a very rich meal for me — in the last few years I have not been able to eat rich foods as easily as in younger days — but I shouldered my way into the meal and did myself credit, I think.

The scallops were of course not really saltimbocche but managed to look like them, which was the point; and the preparation was both rich and delicate, very nicely balanced, with potatoes slightly tasting of white truffle.

The tagliolini were perfectly cooked, the onion and asparagus chopped and softened in olive oil along with chunks of previously cooked (I think) pigeon. The raspberries were puréed and drizzled over the completed preparation, garnished with what looked like very young purslane.

The steak, oh my, that was quite delicious, cooked perfectly to order, salted but innocent of further flavoring — well, maybe a little olive oil — and the braised radicchio a fine complement, slightly bitter, neither tender nor tough, a vegetable that can stand up to a beefsteak.

The service was friendly and knowledgeable, and the cooks quick, deft, and gifted. I would go back here any day of the week.

white, then red

•L'Osteria di Monteverde, Pietro Cartoni, 163, Roma; 06 5327 3887
☛Restaurants visited in 2015 are listed at Eatingday's Restaurants

Back to Perilli

Via Viale Pamphily, Rome, May 23, 2015—

WE HADN'T KNOWN YESTERDAY when we decided to lunch at Perilli that tonight's dinner had already been reserved there — a family affair in honor of our granddaughter's graduation from the American University in Rome. There were six of us at table, three generations; we arrived a little late, about quarter of ten; and we were welcomed with very friendly hospitality.

I ate simply: an artichoke alla romana , a plate of spaghetti carbonara; another of fave with guanciale; zabaglione for dessert. Others ventured further into the menu; we were all more than content.

The artichoke was delicious, and I asked the waiter about its flavor. C'e cotto con timo ? Is it cooked with thyme? No, signore; mentuccia. In a flash he was back with a small saucer on which lay a spray of catmint and a small bowl of chopped ordinary mint. Considerable discussion ensued. It's a nepeta, says Wikipedia, who kindly provided this photo; and it's selvaggio , wild, said our waiter — another roadside botanical contributing to the rich and locally specific Italian kitchen, like the silex that flavored a memorable risotto four years ago.

We were too much immersed in family and in celebration for me to think of taking photographs; I'll refer you to yesterday's — which as it happens shows the precise table we occupied well into the night.

white and red in carafe

•Perilli a Testaccio, Via Marmorata, 39, Roma; 06 575 5100
☛Restaurants visited in 2015 are listed at Eatingday's Restaurants

Rome! Perilli!

Viale Villa Pamphily, Rome, May 21, 2015—

ARRIVED HERE about ten, unloaded rental car, and returned it — that's a story, but not for an eating blog — and found ourselves at the improbable Piramide, a little bit of Luxor at the gates of Rome. Well, since we're walking into Testaccio, why not lunch at Perilli? It's one of my favorite restaurants in the (by me) known world, so why not?

We opened the place, but other tables began filling up soon enough — many local businessmen, some eating alone, others in twos, threes, and fours; a few tourists; a few young couples. The waiters are imperturbable and professional. The menu — well, I doubt it ever changes much, nor does there seem any reason it should.

I had one of the dishes that defines Rome, for me: fettuccine cacio e pepe , dressed simply with grated pecorino and black pepper. The combination of semolina, really good cheese, and pepper was bracing and substantial, and I was very happy. Afterward, a simple lettuce salad, dressed with oil and juice from the lemon accompanying my companion's dish of green beans. A perfect lunch.

Frascati in carafe

•Perilli a Testaccio, Via Marmorata, 39, Roma; 06 575 5100
☛Restaurants visited in 2015 are listed at Eatingday's Restaurants

Eating Cheap

via di Castelfusano, Ostia Antica, May 20, 2015—

A GOOD HALF-DAY on the road brought us to this port town outside Rome, where the first order of business was to get something to eat. But it was nearly three; trattorias were closed, and we weren't in the mood for snacks.

I'd parked, as it happened, right in front of a fried-fish joint, so we went in, not expecting much. A couple of plastic tables; a woman at the till looking bored, a giant of a man waiting for her to get off work, a guy clearly not European at the fryers.

But a surprisingly extended menu, from which we chose this platter: battered and deep-fried cod; French-fried potatoes, and deep-fried zucchini blossoms. For dessert we had a couple of deep-fried apple rings. Everything was clean and delicious. I looked back into the kitchen and store-room: they use sunflower-seed oil, a lot of it, and I bet it isn't GMO, not in this country.

House white

•Pesce Fritto e Baccalà, via Rutilio Namaziano 4, Ostia Lido; 06.5690835

---

THEN IT WAS on to the Roman ruins for a few hours, and check in to our hotel, and be damned if I wasn't a little hungry again. So we simply stepped into the trattoria next door, which offered a three-course dinner for ten euros.

I started with a very nice penne all'amatriciana. One bite and the combination of tomato, oil, garlic, and Pecorino said I was eating pasta in Rome again, first time in quite a while, and good to be back.

Then on to this Pollo alla brace, grilled chicken — chicken that tasted as if it had run around a chickenyard every day, eating weeds and bugs, and had grown a few feathers in its day: and yet chicken that had been roasted while retaining surprising tenderness and moisture. It was good.

I had a simple salad of lettuce, which I dressed with lemon juice and olive oil and salt; and then a lemon tart that had whole cooked (chopped) lemon for a filling, zest pith meat juice and all — a variation of a Shaker lemon pie, Lindsey said, and she should know. Not bad; not bad at all.

House red

•Il Frantoio, via di Castel Fusano 23a, Ostia Antica; 06.83086501
☛Restaurants visited in 2015 are listed at Eatingday's Restaurants

The best yet

Campobasso, 19 May, 2015—

I SET THIS PHOTO here to suggest the elegant simplicity and the total taste-genius of this place. The waiter was almost excited when he told me the artichoke came from within a few kilometers of the restaurant, also the potatoes. Their flavors, their sweetness, the freshness they both spoke, their textures, even something about the shapes they took on the plate — all those things said two things, in perfect harmony: faith in their quiddity; reliance on simplicy of treatment.



We'd chosen the place from Slow Food's Osterie d'Italia 2015 , and I can't believe the book will often be as perfectly descriptive as it was on this page.

There was no menu, of course, and after a tiring drive my Italian wasn't up to the waiter's, so I asked him to repeat, and I wrote things down on the paper tablecloth:

PRIMI

Pizza minestra
Pasta e fagiole
Taglialini, fagiole verde, pomodori, basilico
Tagliatelli, spinaci, favi, finnocchio

I chose the last; my companion the Taglialini. Both plaates were absolutely delicious. The idea of combining pasta, string beans, cherry tomatoes, and basil had never occurred to her; I'd bet we'll be having it at home this summer. The basil was very discreet, as was the fennel — the fronds only — in my tagliatelli. Then came

SECONDI

Spezzatini al sugo
Bollito di manzo
Coniglie al vino
Scamorza arrosto con pere
Fegato di maiale
Uove con la ciambotta
Salsiccia arrosto

and, the waiter almost forgot, that artichoke with potatoes.

My companion chose the rabbit, roasted in wine as if it were veal; I had the veal spezzatini, delicious in a very pointed tomato sauce. And afterward, of course, that artichoke.

Dessert was, for me, a chocolate torte, bittersweet, dense, substantial.

This is one of the best places I've been to. In the kitchen, three women, the oldest in her seventies I'm sure. Two waiters. Two dining rooms packed with, say, forty very happy diners.

House white (dry moscato, very nice) and red of the locality in carafe

•Trattoria “La Grotta” da Concetta, via Larino 7, Campobasso; 339.614.4678
☛Restaurants visited in 2015 are listed at Eatingday's Restaurants

Eating ordinarily again

Gallipoli, Puglia, May 18, 2015—

IT CAN BE DIFFICULT, finding a good restaurant in Italy on Monday. Most are closed following the big weekend ruch. The one really promising possibility turned out to be closed for the week on family business.

So we drove out to the other coast, after spending the morning and noon hour in Lecce, and ate at an ordinary trattoria specializing in seafood. We begaan with the anchovies you see here — in fact this is about a third of them; it was an enormous serving, quite delicious, dressed with very good olive oil and a little white vinegar and accompanied by extaordinarily sweet chopped lettuce.

I went on to filets of cernia — a kind of grouper, as far as I've been able to determine — cooked à la Pugliese, in tomatoes and black olives and, I think, a little mint. The Greek presence is still influential in this part of Italy's heel. Afterward, a mixed salad, and no room for dessert…

Fiano, "il bianco dei Vespa" (Salento), 2014: Nice color, good flavor and body

•Trattoria Scoglio delle Sirene, Riv. N. Sauro, 83, Gallipoli; 0833.261091
☛Restaurants visited in 2015 are listed at Eatingday's Restaurants

Another perfect ordinary

Via Torchiarolo, Squignano (Lecce), May 17, 2015—

WE FOUND TONIGHT'S agriturismo completely per caso , by accident: we decided to take a lesser road south from Brindisi (which we'd bypassed entirely) toward Lecce, and simply stop at the first place we saw that sounded good. The first pannello , signboard, by the side of the road promised LA CRIANZA AGRITURISMO. "La Crianza," I mused, that's familiar, I like the sound of that, let's go there.

So we did. We're the only people here tonight, in a building with perhaps six bedrooms, next to a huge building where probably a hundred could dine comfortably, on a 25-acre farm that grows nothing but olive trees. Well, probably a few chickens, and a small orto for the tomatoes and such.

What a meal:

• Green house-cured olives, with pimento and peppers
• Melanzane con menta; Cardoncelli: grilled eggplant with sautéed wild mushrooms
• Pomodori dell'orto : their own tomatoes, ripe, forward, substantial, meaty
• Stuffed mushroom caps, with polenta-tomato-onion "lasagna"
• "Orecciete" with fennel-sausage, tomato sauce, and mushrooms

Cardoncelli are a kind of local mushroom, highly prized, that grow where you find beach thistles. They're meaty and deep-flavored like porcini, but more intense, They are delicious. They rather deadened our first wine, but married well to the second.

This meal was similar to the one three days ago, and Montenuovo — very ordinary in technique, very special in flavor. Afterward the man of the house asked me if I hadn't found it rather salty. Yes, I said; and to tell the truth my companion had mentioned that to me while we were eating. But it pushes the wine nicely, I told him, and he chuckled, and I could see him file the comment away for whenever it might come in handy…

white and red in carafe

•Agriturismo La Crianza, via Torchiarolo, Squignano (Lecce); 08155 84006
☛Restaurants visited in 2015 are listed at Eatingday's Restaurants

Botteghe

Vico Fornaci, Matera, May 16, 2015—

BIG MEAL MIDDAY today, since we were to be at a concert from seven to ten, and Hermes knows how we'll find the place. Getting to lunch was tricky enough: on the map it looked an easy walk, but it was down hundreds of rough stone steps…

I chose the restaurant from the Slow Food website, and was happy I did. We started with the degustazione Botteghe , a selection of antipasti including

•"cialled": bread, tomatoes, cucumber, onions, basil, oregano
•Caprese salad (mozzarella, tomatoes, basil)
•Prosciutto
•Zucchini "spaghetti": zucchini cut very thin with vinaigrette
•two or three frittatas
•a couple of croquettes
•a large serving of whipped cream with chopped Treviso chicory

Then we went on to other local dishes:

•Fave e cicorie: beautifully supple purée of fava beans and olive oil, with sautéed bitter chicory greens
•Tegamino di baccalà alla menta: salt cod baked in tomato sauce flavored with mint
•Patate alla brace: potatoes baked in their jackets

White agleanico in carafe

•Ristorante Le Botteghe, Piazza S. Pietro Barisano 22, Matera; 0835 344072

Metaponto

Between Metaponto and Bernalda, May 15, 2015—

ANOTHER ÉTAPE CHOSEN from the iPhone app Agriturismo.it, and as different from last night as night and day or, as our English cousins say, chalk and cheese (though I've always suspected a good deal of cheap English cheese is, in fact, made of chalk).

Last night the setting and the appearance, while very nice, were less than palatial; the cooking was personable, authentic (as far as I could tell), enterprising, quite grounded. Tonight's digs are very impressive indeed; the cuisine was perfectly satisfactory but in no way special.

We began with a fine platter of antipasti. Well, wait a minute: we began on the terrace with a glass of white wine and a generous bowl of olives, both made on the premises, both very nice.

The antipasto included prosciutto, speck, small hard dried salami, coppa (very piquant, that), Pecorino, ricotta, and deliciously light and fluffy eggplant croquettes. Molto bene.

Then the primo : Ceccatelli con pesto. I mentioned the other day the idea of making cavatelli by pushing your two first fingers into the just-right-sized cylinder of raw pasta, pulling it to you, then releasing: ceccatelli are made exactly the same, but with four fingers. They looke to me like strozzapreti  but I'm not about to tell a professional, friendly, graceful, competent Italian waiter what his pasta is really called.

From here, Vitello stracotto — braised sliced veal; or roast veal that has been sliced, and is served with a rich gravy — with patate sfoglie, potatoes cooked with chopped artichoke leaves and a few other things, including cheese, an baked in a timbale, though served freed from such constraints.

Well: the antipast was delicious, and may well have been mostly from the premises. The cavatelli, my Companion thought, may have been made elsewhere: but quite well, though perhaps — comparisons really are odorous — not quite up to those we had in Napoli a few days ago. And the pesto, she said, was not up to mine, which made me feel pretty good.

The veal was okay but rather routine. The potato dish was marvelous.

And then for dessert we had a chocolate pudding so unctuous, liscio, and so well flavored that I thought perhaps another cook had moved into the kitchen.

Don't get me wrong: this was a good dinner; I'd come back here any time. But it didn't stand out, partly because it was competing with its site — which is, I must say, so attractive we gave some thought to scrapping our touring ideas and just staying here.

Wines from the locality: white: "Ovo de Elena," blend with local grapes; 2014, honey-brass color, nice nose and palate, clean and very pleasant; red: Malandrina, Primitiveo 60%, Merlot 30%, Cabernet sauvignon 10%; rich and ready and reminding me very much of Preston of Dry Creek Zinfandel

•Masseria Cardillo, SS 407 km 97.5, Bernalda; +39 0835 748992
☛Restaurants visited in 2015 are listed at Eatingday's Restaurants

Basilicata!

Calvera (Potenza), Basilicata, May 14, 2015—

SO MUCH OF IT, and all of it so delicious, I will give you only one photograph, and let a simple recitation of the menu do for the rest:

Antipasto: Prosciutto; salame; red peppers stuffed with ham and cheese folded over; salame; green and yellow peppers a la grecque, an omelet cooked within a lidded pan and consequently molded perfectly; another cooked within a thin shell of bread dough like a calzone and sliced, coppa, extraordinary fried dried pepperoni.

Primo: Homemade fusilli with fennel sausage, porcini, and cherry tomatoes

Secondo: Lamb chops and local sausage flavored with rosemary, thyme, and oregano

Green salad

We declined any dessert.

House red (60% Sangiovese, 40@ a local red, solid and nutitious)

This was as good a dinner as we've had in a long time. We were really excited. All of it local; much of it from the tenuta, all of it organic.

•Bioagriturismo Tenuta Montenuovo, 85030 Calvera (PZ), Italy; +39 338.6368133

☛Restaurants visited in 2015 are listed at Eatingday's Restaurants

Dinner in the country

San Cipriano Picentino, Salerno, 13 May 2015—

HOW DELICIOUS AFTER a week in the city to dine with only one other couple at a comfortable table in a quiet country house on good authentic local cuisine, especially when cooked this well and served this graciously!

We began with little rolls of stewed escarole, capers, raisins, and onions, rolled up in a thin sheet of simple bread dough and baked. Following that, marvelous ravioli stuffed with borage. Then roast chicken with potatoes, artichokes, and peas. And at the end a fine tiramisù and a glass of homemade limoncello.

We stayed in this fine county place five years ago — a very comfortable bed in a spacious room overlooking the garden; old mulberry trees; a lemon grove…

Local white (Trebbiano), rosé, and red in carafe

•La Vecchia Quercia, Via Montevetrano 4, Località Cantina di Campigliano, San Cipriano Picentino (Salerno)