Tuesday, October 24, 2006

for ai

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3 comments:

Mr roT said...

Pepe, this is too polite of you. AI talks a lot of cognoscente stuff but then complains when a burger costs more than 5 bucks. Imagine him in front of a white truffle from Alba.
I read the piece and enjoy the writer's enthusiasm but disagree with about all he says.
For example he doesn't mention Toscana at all though the best wines in Italy certainly come from there. They put the Barolo, Barbaresco, and Dolcetto into the Bordeaux league for thinness.

This is not the usual hate Frence/love Italy from me. I like French wines from Rhone where the concentrations are higher from grenache and syrah than the delicate stuff the Brits like from west. Also, when we were in France I would drink two bottles of Corbieres a day. God I loved that stuff. Have trouble finding the good stuff here.

The writer puts down Sicily quoting some campanilista of a cook saying big deal they have a tomato or two. Really now? Any Italian will tell you that the Sicilians have the best desserts in the country except for Piemonte and probably as good.
The cheeses he mentions from Piemonte are interesting, but the robiola stagionata from the Langhe has got to be the best doc from the province.

I am a big fan of Piemontese cooking, generally, so I won't fight him too hard on this. We go to the Valle d'Aosta every summer partly for the grub, of course. But again, Lazio has cuisine that can compete on every level with the Piemontese except dessert. The pecorino romano doc makes some splendid stuff you simply cannot find in America and the way Romans do lamb and fish dishes in unbeatable.

Look at this. They say the best cooking is in Veneto! Never been there.

Note also that the #3 restaurant in the country is in Rome. Heinz Beck is the chef there and he makessmall variations on the local cuisine. He even uses local wine (when it's white).

#1 is in Livorno (Toscana) and #2 is in Terni (Umbria).

He's NVTS.

10/24/2006 11:40 PM
Tecumseh said...

This is all propaganda, guys. I find the food here in Italy ranging from mediocre to crappy. And the wines are thin. And they do rip you off big time in restautants, while serviung you microscopic frozen fried shrimp. Gotta try New Orleans one of these days.

10/25/2006 4:34 AM
Mr roT said...

Q.E.D. He misses Burger King and Harpoon IPA.

10/25/2006 6:16 AM

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