Restaurant: La Quercia
Location: Loc. Madonna del Portone 6, Civitella d’Agliano, Italy
Date: June 12 & 13, 2015
Cuisine: Italian
Rating: Surprisingly good local kitchen
The epic 2015 Italian dining continues as we explore northern Lazio. It turned out to be good enough that we went two nights in a row!
Our hostess at our hotel recommended this local restaurant (the name means “the oak”).
It offers both al fresco dining with a view of the charming countryside.
And a spacious interior.
The sizeable menu is divided into both meat and seafood sections.
Bread.
2014 Santa Maria La Palma Vermentino di Sardegna Aragosta. Not a bad white at all.
I ordered a mixed seafood antipasta. These are the bargains because they come with dish after dish of good stuff. That includes these “shooters”, a fish spread bruschetta, a shrimp one, some cured fish and marinated anchovies.
This squid and olives in red sauce.
Mussels.
Even a portion of creamy seafood risotto (also pictured below when I ordered it another night as an entree).
Basic salad.
Insalate mixta. Gets some added color.
Fiocchi di Formaggio e Pere. Pasta parcels filled with cheese and pears.
Spaghetti alle Vongole. The classic spaghetti with clam sauce.
Agnolotti al Tartufo Nero. Meat ravioli with truffle. Pretty darn delicious.
Risotto in Crema di Gamberi. Creamy prawn risotto. I loved this stuff. So creamy good.
Risotto alla pescatora. Fish risotto.
2009 Bibbiano Chianti Classico Montornello. 88 points. Taste like Italy, with plenty of earth. Black pepper and cherry, with plenty of oak and tannins. Comes across a bit hot, at 14% alcohol.
Vegetable pizza.
Pizza Margherita.
Grigliata Mista. Mixed grilled seafood.
Zuppa di Pesce. Big fish soup. They weren’t kidding about the big. That plate is about 15 inches long!
Frittura Mista. Crispy fried seafood mix.
Cinghiale in Agrodolce. Sweet and sour boar stew. A bit chewy, but that’s boar. Flavor was nice.
Grilled seabass.
Overall, a great little place. The service wasn’t always the fastest, and the first night was mobbed with a giant 50 person party, and outside we were dived bombed by mosquitos, but the food was really quiet delicious and the prices extremely reasonable.