Thursday, July 03, 2014

Piedmont Food Porn Day I

One of the many great things about going to Italy is the food. Pasta, fresh veggies, local cheese -- and that's not even getting into the many delicious varieties of pork and veal. If Southern Cali is ground zero for traditional porn, then Italy is definitely fighting for the crown in food porn.

First stop? The weekly local market in Alba.  It had all the tasty produce you expect at the grocery store, except it was local and way better. Big grabs were cherries, caprese-fixin's, local cheese and salumi, and sun-dried tomatoes that so addictive that they tasted like they'd been dipped in cocaine
Next stop? A Slow Food-recommended restaurant in Alba, Osteria dell'Arco. It was quite delightful. First up? Roasted Eggplants layered with tomatoes and topped with fresh cheese and infused olive oil.
Our other appetizer? Anchovies with tomato chutney and maybe the most intense pesto I've ever had. I normally hate anchovies, but these were meaty and tasted more of full-flavored sashimi than the salty old fish I'm used to.


I was one of the few with space for a second (and the obsessive photo compulsion for taking pictures of my food), but the main course of rabbit with roasted zucchini* and potatoes was amazing. The rabbit was juicy by firm, and the accompany sauce was (I think) a light glaze made from pan drippings.



Dessert? I'd been in Italy over 12 hours at this point, and I was nearing a fatal level of gelato-deprivation. There was only 1 solution: 
As (almost) always, I couldn't be swayed from the Coconut-Dark Chocolate (here called Black Chocolate, so, duh) combo. But I should have gone for Pistachio, easily the best I've ever tried.  The local hazelnut was also crazy good, if you're into that sort of thing. Which I am.

 * Courgette if you're French/British


2 comments:

swcook said...

The difference between real porn and food porn. After looking at food porn, I'm still hungry. After looking at real porn, I want to take a nap.

jtingermany said...

So are you hungry before the nap?