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Archive for Modena

Eating Milano Marittima – Notte E Di’

Jun23

Restaurant: Ristorante Notte E Di’

Location: Cervia / Milano Marittima, Italy

Date: June 10, 2011

Cuisine: Pizza etc

Rating: Great pizza place, bug menu

ANY CHARACTER HERE

After a morning touring ancient mosaics in Ravenna we were hanking for pizza — having reached a certain saturation level on good pasta (how would have thought that possibile?). We located a likely prospect on the Milano Marittima main drag, this time making sure that the pizza oven was on.


They had a huge menu, but i only photoed the pizza section.


Insalta Misto.

And the condiments. This place had a hot oil!


One of us evidently wasn’t ready to make the pasta -> pizza transition. Pistoli del mare. Look at that squidy goodness!


Pizza fungi.

Four cheese with arugula.


And my brother and I went for the “house for two,” which requires this stand.


It had prosciutto, arugula, sausage, mushrooms, and various cheeses.  Mmmm good. The crust was perfect too.


Check out the size!


And they brought us Limoncello (nicely chilled) at the end. Like melted lemon drops with a kick.


Cafe!

And a bit of foam for those that need to take it as a macchiato.

This was a fantastic pizza place, just what we wanted.

Click here to see more Eating Italy posts.

Related posts:

  1. Eating Milano Marittima – Lo Sporting
  2. Eating Milano Marittima – Ristorante La Frasca
  3. Eating Milano Marittima – Palace Hotel Breakfast
  4. Eating Modena – Osteria del Pozzo
  5. Eating Modena – Il Fantino
By: agavin
Comments (2)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Cervia, eating-italy, Emilia–Romagna, Italian cuisine, Italy, Modena, pasta, Pizza, Prosciutto

Eating Modena – Il Fantino

Jun16

Restaurant: Il Fantino

Location: Modena, Italy

Date: June 7, 2011

Cuisine: Emilia Romagna

Rating: Big portions, too big!

ANY CHARACTER HERE

This evening we took to wandering around Modena. We stopped into a local restaurant at 7:30 or so but they weren’t open yet (in the summer Italians rarely sit down before 8:30 or 9). So we stopped at a nearby bar for…


Campari and soda, with a bit of orange.

They also had these funny fruit teas.

Here after the tea has been added.


Then along to the restaurant.

And it’s simple menu posted outside.

My mother models the bread.

A light start with a plate of mixed local meats.

Cheeses.

And an array off ready prepared cups of lard. Who needs butter? In all seriousness, this is spread on bread and enjoyed straight up.


Our wines of the evening. The lambrusco was of the flat variety. It tasted like a mediocre Beaujolais. The Sangiovese was better, but Emilia-Romagna isn’t Italy’s greatest wine region.


A now ubiquitous instalta misto.

And the local olive oil and balsamic.


We then moved to some pastas. They served huge bowls of each. I mean HUGE! This is a slightly worse variant of the ricotta and spinach stuffed ravioli we had at Cocchi.


Classic ragu.

An interesting gnocchi, with ragu and pumpkin, spiced likely with nutmeg I think. My favorite of the group.


And an extra pasta we didn’t have.

The rub here was that these portions were so big that after we stuffed ourselves silly, we hadn’t even cleared half of each dish. So we had to cancel the meat course, get the check, and go in search of gelato.

Il Fantino was tasty, and the quantities were huge, but the pasta while great by American standards, just wasn’t up to some of the other places in this fabulous food region.

Click here to see more Eating Italy posts.

Related posts:

  1. Eating Modena – Osteria del Pozzo
  2. Eating Modena – Osteria Francescana
  3. Eating Modena – Real Fini Breakfast
  4. Eating Parma – Cocchi Ristorante
  5. Eating Bologna – Trattoria Leonida
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Beaujolais, Campari, Cold cuts, eating-italy, Emilia Romagna, Emilia–Romagna, Il Fantino, Italian cuisine, Italy, Modena, pasta, Sangiovese, Tea

Eating Modena – Osteria Francescana

Jun14

Restaurant: Osteria Francescana

Location: Modena, Italy

Date: June 6, 2011

Cuisine: Emilia Romagna

Rating: Amazing Italian Molecular!

ANY CHARACTER HERE

Our first fancy meal of the trip was at Osteria Francescana, a modern Italian in Modena with 2 Michelin stars. Francescana has an unusual and creative take on Italian. Most of the dishes have as their basis traditional ones, and the finest local ingredients (in a land rich with fine ingredients), but then they mess playfully with the forms, flavors, and textures. You’ll see.


The restaurant is located in scenic old Modena.


Here is the formal dusgustation menu. There is also an extensive ala carte. We put together a custom (and lengthy) molecular omakase.


First bread course.


We asked the sommelier for recommendations in interesting Italian wines. He started us with this Nero D’Avola, which surprisingly, tasted like a good Burgundy! Arianna Occhipinti bottles Frappato and Nero d’Avola. The two grapes are traditionally blended to make Cerasuolo di Vittoria, which in 2005 became the first style of red wine in Sicily to achieve DOCG status. Only 2 percent of Sicilian wine even merits DOC status (a tier down from DOCG) and only 15 percent is even bottled on the island. Native grape Nero d’Avola gives darkness, and Frappato provides uncommon fragrance. By utilizing native yeasts to begin fermentation, ageing in older and larger oak barrels and farming in adherence to the tenets of biodynamics, Occhipinti finds grace in the fields surrounding Ragusa and Vittoria.


This first dish is meant to represent “rock of the sea” and it’s colored and sweetened with squid ink. Mom says: the black sponge needed more flavor! To be fair, there were supposed to be clams inside, but they were removed to accomodate dietary restrictions.


This is “foam of mortadella di bologna.” Mortadella (seen below) is a classic traditional meat. Here it is basically whipped into a mousse-like consistency and served with a wonderful bit of toasted bread. The meat is spread on the bread and eaten, and it retains the exact flavor profile of the original. This is essentially a baloney sandwich.

Traditional Mortadella.


Various homemade breads and grisini.


Mackerel and salmon eggs.

With a pea soup.

Very tasty!

One of my favorites. The Fois Gras lollipop.


Inside is fois gras, coated with toasted almonds, and injected with a dab of aged balsamic (from Modena of course). This was rich, but pretty much incredible!


This wine was so rare the label is scotch taped on. It tasted like a cross between a Tavel (Rose) and a Pinot Noir, with strong tones of rosewater.


A “tart” of shallots and leeks, with Italian white truffles. This was absolutely delicious, and tasted a bit like Eggplant Bharta, the traditional cooked down eggplant and onion dish from India.


We also mixed in this Moscato, which while still sweet had more subtlety than most of the breed.


This is cod, with sicilian pesto and pistachios. The pesto was tomato and eggplant based. Also yummy.


Parmesan, five ways! This wonderful statement of the varieties of local Parmesan involves taking five different ages of the cheese, and processing them into five different forms and textures. Mouses, foams, sauce, crisp, etc. A very cheesy dish!


This dish was meant to represent a “cow in the pasture.”


It had various spring vegetables, and some fresh cream! Not the most exciting, just lots of types of peas!


This is a “compression of pasta and beans.” There is some fois gras in here too. Which perfectly fine, this was my least favorite dish of the evening.


This 1999 Barbera was rich and smokey, aged such that it had considerable sediment. It tasted like an old barbaresco!


This pasta is a fairly close reinterpretation of Pasta con Sarde. There were anchovies, breadcrumbs, and pesto. The pasta was al dente and the very flavor very refined.


Two raviolis contain cotechino (a very interesting cooked salami-like product) and lentils. The pasta itself was nigh on perfect, and the inside a traditional combination generally eaten at new years in Italy for at least 2500 years – festive pork and beans!


Black cod with potato confit.

A molecular reinterpretation of “bollito misto” (mixed boiled meats). Starting with the clear one at the bottom, and moving clockwise, we have: head, tongue, cheek, belly, tail, and cotechino! This last and the tongue were my favorites, the head and tail my least.


The pre dessert. Yogurt almond galette ice cream, goat cheese, drops of strawberry, mint. Very tasty. Sharp.


The first “real” dessert. Vanilla ice cream, chocolate cake, and a sort of gelatin cover. The taste was a bit like cassata.


Vanilla ice cream.

With fresh local cherries! My wife loved it.


An indication of the damage.

The petite fours, cheesecake, profiteroles, chocolate truffles, passionfruit gele, chocolate with cherry and tea, something with lemon and maybe shiso!


Our meal was so long that we emptied out the room!

This was a fantastic dinner. I happen to love the playful nature of modern molecular cuisine, which you can also see at my reviews of Calima, Saam, and La Terraza. You can also check the other two Michelin 2-star takes I sampled in Italy: La Frasca and Arnolfo. Like Osteria Francescana they both reinterpret their local cuisines (Adriatic seafood and Tuscan respectively) through a modern culinary lens.

Click here to see more Eating Italy posts.

Related posts:

  1. Eating Modena – Osteria del Pozzo
  2. Eating Modena – Real Fini Breakfast
  3. Eating Parma – Cocchi Ristorante
  4. Quick Eats: Osteria Latini 2
  5. Quick Eats: Osteria Latini
By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Dessert, eating-italy, Emilia Romagna, Emilia–Romagna, Foie gras, Italian cuisine, Italian wine, Meat, Michelin Guide, Modena, Nero D'Avola, Osteria Francescana, Sicily, vegetarian

Eating Modena – Real Fini Breakfast

Jun12

Restaurant: Hotel Real Fini Via Emilia

Location: Modena, Italy

Date: June 5-8, 2011

Cuisine: Breakfast Buffet

Rating: Typical Italian Hotel Breakfast

ANY CHARACTER HERE

Italian hotels almost always include breakfast. The Real Fini in Modena’s is extremely typical of mid range hotels.


Cappuccino is always available, and unlike in the states is free and not $8. Plus, they know how to make a decent one at nearly any place in Italy.


There are very few hot items, just some scrambled eggs and a meat or two (sausage or ham). But there are lots of typical dry northern Italian cakes and cereal.


A couple fruits.

Yogurts, meats, cheeses. Often regional.

More bread products and jams. There’s always nutella, which makes anything better.


Biscuits and yogurt.


And this unusual selection of different “tinned” meats.


Like this Pate di prosciutto. Better than spam!


And a couple juices.

Click here to see more Eating Italy posts.

Related posts:

  1. Eating Modena – Osteria del Pozzo
  2. Quick Eats: Italian-Iberian Snack
  3. Quick Eats: Piccolo
  4. Riviera Country Club – Gluttony with a View
By: agavin
Comments (4)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Breakfast, Buffet, cakes, cappuccino, coffee, eating-italy, Eggs, ham, Hotel, Italian cuisine, Italy, Modena, pate, Travel and Tourism

Eating Modena – Osteria del Pozzo

Jun11

Restaurant: Osteria del Pozzo

Location: Modena, Italy

Date: June 5, 2011

Cuisine: Emilia Romagna

Rating: Very good casual

ANY CHARACTER HERE

This post kicks off the food portion of my 2011 Europe trip, Eating Italy. We begin our month of gastronomic excess in the heart of Emilia Romagna, Modena — home of both Ferrari and Balsamico di Modena. It’s oddly rainy for June, and exhausted from over 27 hours of air and ground travel we stumbled across the street to this local place.


The have a number of rooms in these cute little tents.


The menu.

A prosecco, slightly sweet.

Caprese of course. Each portion is a whole ball of real buffalo mozzerella! Huge.


Homemade pasta, ham, arugala, cream, parmesan. This was a VERY good pasta by my taste, the in heavy ham & cream style I love (see here or here).


Spagetti and pomodoro.

Bresola, thin sheets of cured beef and parmesan and arugala. Good stuff.


Insalata mixta.

This 15E sangiovese was very drinkable.


Homemade (all the pasta except the spagetti was) with zucchini and shrimp. A nice light pasta.


Potato gnocchi in gorgonzola sauce. These were the kind of amazing gnocchi that are nearly impossible to find in the states, where they are so fluffy they melt in the mouth.


Tortellini in broth. A very traditional dish, little meat pockets in a savory chicken broth.


Classic taggliatelli ragu.Probably mixed pork and beef.


The case of traditional northern Italian desserts. Various cakes and tortes.


The chocolate with hazelnut nougat cake. Very rich.


Cherry torte. It tasted like strawberry rhubarb pie.


A sampler of fresh fruits. The cantaloupe was particularly flavorful and sweet. The cherries were great too.

This place was a perfect choice for the right off the plane choice. It was casual, reasonable, but had very good food. Perfecto.

Click here to see more Eating Italy posts.

Related posts:

  1. Quick Eats: Osteria Latini 2
  2. Quick Eats: Osteria Latini
  3. Sicilian Style – Drago
  4. Seconds at Sotto
  5. Sotto – Sicily con Sardo
By: agavin
Comments (2)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Balsamic vinegar, Cheese, Cooking, Dessert, eating-italy, Emilia Romagna, Emilia–Romagna, Food, Italian cuisine, Italy, Meat, Modena, pasta, side dishes, vegetarian
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