It's been nearly a month and a half since I sat down in that bright sunny dining room in Sant'Agata Sui Due Golfi. Don Alfonso 1890, 2 Michelin stars, owned and operated by one of Campania's most respected families, the Iaccarinos.
Over a month has passed but the exciting dishes that I had the chance to experience are still fresh in my mind. Like this new creation for 2016 - Guinea fowl with pistachio stuffing.
Before the dish arrived to my table, I strolled into the kitchen to say hello to Chef Iaccarino and his brigade....
The dish arrived to my table and it was nearly impossible to ignore the colors...the energy...the vibrancy on the plate. I took a closer look before my first bite.
A long look at this guinea fowl gently stuffed with pistachios.
On a bed of velvety potatoes and saffron....crunchy fennel seeds.
A bell pepper sauce - one spicy, one sweet.
Sure, it's been a month or so. But I haven't forgotten. I mean, would you?
Not this one, or any of the dishes I've tried, no...experienced together with the Iaccarino family at Don Alfonso 1890.
My eyes light up whenever I take a look a lunch menu a see a main courses featuring fish since I didn't eat much pesce as a child. So when I was in Rome last weekend at Enoteca La Torre, the choice was easy. One, no, make that two main courses where fish is the star.
Two main courses by Chef Domenico Stile...let's take a look...
Cod with beans, celery, and a cool tomato soup made with 5 varieties of tomatoes.
Gaiole in Chianti in the heart the Siena province is about 459 km from my driveway. And that's a long way to go for lunch. But I packed my bag and put it in my car along ith my camera, computer and teenage son and headed the five hour or so drive from seaside of Campania to the hills of Tuscany.
My destination? Castello di Spaltenna - a 5 star luxury resort, home of Il Pievano Ristorantewhere Campanian born and raised Vincenzo Guarino has been serving as Executive Chef since the beginning of March. Campanian chef-there's the connection. I've known the chef for several years and as more than curious to see what he was up to and try some of his new dishes...and I needed a weekend to do so... or at least 36 hours.
Chef Vincenzo Guarino
So after a little catching up, a quick tour of the facilities and an awesome chat about his plans (details soon), I decided to take a break until dinner...
A dinner which featured Guarino's , Pigeon in “ Terre di Siena” Crust. As if the chef was saying 'Karen, here's Siena through my eyes'.
The dish included a perfectly pink pigeon with a flavorful coating. A variation of colorful orange and violet carrots, shallots fermented in Chianti wine (of course) ,and a Vin Santo sauce drizzled on top.
The sun sets early this time of year. And by the time that Chef Luciano Villani of La Locanda del Borgo sent out this main course, it was already after 4 pm, the second hour-ish of a lunch which began a couple of hours earlier. No problem, no rush. And this was worth the wait.
A cube of tender, really tender, boneless veal shoulder- reale di vitello in Italian, One of the most prized cuts on the block. The chef served it with a topinambur sauce.
A what? Topinambur..also known as Jerusalem artichoke, sunchoke, sunroot, or earth apple. Grande. To the side was an nearly roasted artichoke with a surprising spectacular licorice sauce...
A visit to the seaside town of Castellammare Di Stabia was the perfect choice that unusually warm November afternoon. My destination was Piazzetta Milu' to check out the new menu by Chef Luigi Salomone. One of the dishes that caught my eye - and taste buds! - was his guinea fowl alla diavola. The chef served this game bird in three ways spicy alla diavola versions. The breast with its skin crunchy and croccante.
A boneless thigh spicy and piccante.
And what's this? Ravioli shaped like a crest stuffed with flavorful fowl.
A must on any eno-gastronomic tour of the Sorrento Peninsula is a visit to Relais Blu located in Massa Lubrense to try the dynamic dishes prepared by Michelin star chef Roberto Allocca. I did just that earlier this week in a day that I affectionately nicknamed blu Tuesday, due to the amazing blu/blue panorama from the restaurant's terrace of the sea and the Island of Capri. With all that blu around, one may expect a menu rich with seafood specialties. It is. But Chef Allocca has also included several meat items to satisfy those who prefer to prefer a little turf instead of surf. Allocca, originally from Irpinia where lamb is key presented his version of a luscious Laticauda lamb dish. He included a rib whose meat practically fell off the bone, lamb sausage, and pancetta. All draped in a ricotta cheese and hazelnut sauce. On the side, escarole stuffed with roasted pear.
I can't remember the last time I say so many hues of blue in one place. Clean blues mingled with crisp whites greeted me as I entered the reception area of Hotel Capo La Gala. It was an early Thursday evening, I was at the gorgeous 5 star hotel awaiting to be accompanied to the Michelin star Maxi Restaurant to meet Chef Domenico Iavarone and try some of his stellar dishes. The trip to meet the chef included a trail with fantastic views of the Sorrento Peninsula, the sea, and the seashore. Colorful blues were joined by other crisp sunny colors mixed with bamboo and wood.
Upon arrival, at the end of the dining room I saw the chef along with key players of the dining room staff to include Maitre Giulia Tavolaro and Sommelier Alfonso Somma. Each with a smile that said Welcome to Maxi!
A quick look around, then into the large colorful kitchen where I met the rest of the chef's brigade and chatted a little bit about the gourmet restaurant Maxi open in the evening, Nerea - their casual restaurant open for lunch, as well as the breakfast service. It was clear to see that the entire staff takes pride in each part of the food chain - not just the Michelin star restaurant. And with that, the chef suggested that I head to the Capri Bar just below for aperitif. I may just get a glimpse of that famous Vico Equense sunset he added as he looked out over the terrace.
Chef Domenico Iavarone
Capri Bar:
Home to cocktails, light snacks, and swimming pool. It was here where I met head barman Michele Savarese. I told him I would like something easy before dinner. He brought me his colorful cocktail The Siren's Land. Siren, who in mythology, were known to be beautiful half woman/half bird singing beauties. The beautiful colors created their own little palette on my small white end table as I began to enjoy the appetizers for the evening.
The sun had almost set, unfortunately the sunset was hidden behind the clouds. That didn't matter. I decided to join the other guests at Maxi.
At Maxi, when the weather permits, guests dine outside at intimate candlelit tables. An intimacy that is contagious, complete with low voices paired with a relaxing atmosphere. I looked over the menu, which is a reflection of the chef's love of ingredients from the local territory blended with his gourmet touch. A gourmet menu which was not intimidating for an international clientele who packs the hotel season after season. One could choose a la carte or decide to go for the tasting menus such as Vanessa (an appetizer, 2 first courses, a second course and dessert) or Bianca (2 appetizers, 2 first courses, a second course and a dessert). The tasting menus even offer a different glass of wine paired with care by sommelier Somma.
The light at the table was halfway between dusk and night bringing out the colors that only Maxi could give. My benvenuto, my welcome...
Montanara with tomato sauce
Potatoes, squid ink, and grilled octopus
What better benvenuto - once again hitting on the strengths of Campania - tomato sauce, seafood...welcome to Maxi.
Appetizers: colorful and flavorful changing the mood of the evening - flavors became more intimate it seemed as the candlelight at the table fused with the overhead stylish Maxi lamp that hung above each table.
Appetizers such as the chef's totano squid and potatoes - a classic dish presented here in style. Potatoes cooked in the same water which prepared the squid, absorbing the rich flavors of the sea. Topped with purple potato chips for not only a contrast in color, but a crunch as well.
Appetizers such as the chef's tuna with artichokes; crunchy and creamy style. Not only a taste of territory, but a taste of the spring season as well. A sprinkling of caffe' to make it special was greatly appreciated.
Candlelight greeted the next couple of dishes. First up, linguine with a puttanesca sauce. Listening to Maitre Tavolaro explain the dish was almost as exciting as trying it myself. The puttanesca sauce was in reality a tomato gazpacho, she shared, giving an interesting contrast in temperatures between hot and cold. The dish was made complete by the addition of flavor sea snails.
The next pasta dish - Maxi's homemade tortelli pasta stuffed with the last broccoli greens of the season with clams and shrimp.
The second course was fish and chips. But not your simple pub food. We were at Maxi and the chef's chip were lightly fried, then baked for 48 hours at a low temperature. These chips delicately covered the fish of the fish and chips- red mullet sided with romaine lettuce, radishes and Maxi' mayonnaise.
My relaxing evening was drawing to an end. Hotel guests were heading to their room. I, instead did not want to leave. Not just yet. There was a certain kind of welcoming silence. The sound of the waves, the colors, the candlelight worked together in harmony. But for me it was time for dessert and I decided on chocolate.
A dessert listed as cioccolato, noccilo, e arancia. Chocolate, nocillo liqueur and orange. But it was so much more.
That and a coffee with Iavarone before I faced up to the truth. I needed to snap out of this colorful welcome to maxi dream, head back to my car, and back to reality.
I was reminded by Iavarone that I could always come back. There were still a few of his dishes that I had't tried, then summer was on its way - that meant new products, a new menu. And then there was the wine cellar that I wanted to get a peek at.
Then there was still that sunset that I missed out on thanks to hazy weather.
Welcome to Maxi...
To be continued.
Maxi Restaurant
Via Luigi Serio 8
Vico Equense (Na)
081 801 5757/58
When is the best time to visit a restaurant for the first time? At the beginning of the season to try the new items on the menu? In the heart and heat of the summer? At the end of the season to get an up close and personal taste of the classics?
My first visit to Taverna Estia- located in the small town of Brusciano on the outskirts of Napoli - falls into the none of the above category.
My first visit to Taverna Estia - located in the small town of Brusciano on the outskirts of Napoli was several months after I introduced myself to Maitre Sommelier Mario Sposito poolside during an event last summer.
My first visit to Taverna Estia - located in the small town of Brusciano on the outskirts of Napoli was a couple of months after I met Mario's brother, Chef Francesco Sposito at event last December.
My first visit to Taverna Estia - located in the small town of Brusciano on the outskirts of Napoli was a few months after this small taverna/ristorante was awarded their 2nd Michelin star.
I arrived at 1 pm ish on a Saturday afternoon - just in time for lunch. And I was in luck. Chef Sposito(Europe's youngest bistellato- 32 years old in August) had been working on a new dishes for the spring and asked me if I'd be willing to try it out before he finalizes the menu. He didn't have to ask twice! I immediately found my place at a small table next to the window. A table come piace a me...my type of table, with a view of the terrace and a perfect view of the kitchen whose curtains were about to open.
Let the show begin.
Chef Francesco Sposito
It began subito when Maitre Mario Sposito alongside his wife Violetta Bobrova brought out the wine list, a plate of homemade pane and grissini, and what became my new guilty pleasure. A small vase of algae chips.
Taverna Estia's algae chips. A salty savoury snack. Ingredients are sea algae, rice, patience, and amore.
I wanted to concentrate on the meal, so I entrusted the wine choices to Sposito. No problem for this highly recognized sommelier who placed down a feather light crystal wine calice and filled it with a glass of NV Domaine de l'Ocre Rouge La Perle Noire, a French sparkling wine made with pinot noir.
It wasn't long after that the appetizers began to arrive, all under the watchful eye of Chef Sposito and his lively brigade.
A colorful tray jam packed with numerous flavors and textures. Like this soft green pea sponge with a sliver of pork cheek carefully laid on top.
Bread, butter and smoked anchovy.
A codfish bonbon.
A cannelino with caprino goat cheese and Bronte pistachio nuts.
It was time to change my glass of wine. To my delight, a Lacryma Christi del Vesuvio bianco 2011 by Sorrentino Vini.
A Campania white which paired well with the next few dishes:
A beef emulsion with a foi gras granita, lemon and tarragon.
With each plate, I was handed a little bit of background, of history, of preparation notes...of flavor. I particularly rember being handed this plate. Not sure where to begin. A lot going on. A squid ink bigne' filled with burrata cheese covered with a thin layer of squid.. Then, shrimp, mandarin orange slices, and a tarragon sauce.
Mario suggested that I swipe a little of the tarragon sauce as I eat the shrimp. To get that perfect balance of flavor.
Next:
Spinach in two versions: fresh and spongy. To accompany a lightly sauteed red mullet and a red turnip sauce.
New course, new wine...We went to Northern Italy for a 2011 vintage of pinot grigio..
Two pasta dishes. Two pasta assaggini: Beginning with a dish that whose aroma's brought back memories of my early days in Italia. Mortadella. Everyone's favorite sandwich meat. Here, the staff made a pasta flavored with pistachio nuts from Bronte. On the side a smooth creamy mortedella mousse, powdered burnt leek, fresh pistachios and pistachio oil.
Sticking with pasta, Chef Sposito sent a dish out that the my camera loved as much as I did.
Fettucce pasta cacio e ova - a cacio cheese and eggs sauce with slices of black truffles. And the cheese did not stand alone...A seabass tartar held its own on the side of the plate.
Spring had something to say in Sposito's second courses as well. Beginning with sea bass with asparagus and a thin layer of pork cheek on a mussel sauce and an onion confit on the side.
Then, maybe the dish of the day... a scallop and fennel salad on a bed of creamy fennel al pastis.
Dessert? I usually pass, but. Ok. Maybe a small tray of piccoli pastries. And as usual, my eye and hand went straight for the chocolate. Like this chocolte rosemary truffle (which earned its own post! ) and a chocolatey macaroon.
Meal over. What is really 5:30 pm? I guess so. I enjoyed a long and pleasurable conversation with Mario, his mother, and wife Violetta, We talked about the upcoming season, lunch in the garden, jazz nights. I then headed into the kitchen to say goodbye to the kitchen brigade, salutare the chef. A quick see you later/I enjoyed myself/grande/grande/ciao was basically all that escaped my lips, since the staff was in full swing getting ready for yet another sold out Saturday night.
Chef Sposito shook my hand, a quick smile, then added - "On your next visit, I'll have you try some of our classics..."
Next visit?
When is the best time to visit a restaurant for the second time? At the beginning of the season to try the new items on the menu? In the heart and heat of the summer? At the end of the season to get an up close and personal taste of the classics?
Taverna Estia Via G. De Ruggiero, 108 80031 Brusciano (Na) 081 519 9633
