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