5M5D #1: Lunch at La Fortezza

I was browsing the blog the other day (and yeah, I browse my own blog--what of it? I’m looking for comments--maybe you should leave one?) and realized with all our visitors, and with enjoying the unexpected February sunshine (as it snows in my other home, Seattle), and with reading  the new Steve Ditko collection I received for my bday, that I haven’t had much in the way of food on Six Months lately. This also means I’ve missed talking up a few restaurants that are worthy of mention. So, welcome to (drum roll—using grissini drumsticks naturally): Five Meals, Five Days (or, for short, 5M5D). I won’t wax as foodly poetic as perhaps I’ve a want to do, just to keep the courses coming, but will be serving some delish pics (I hope, at least), and won’t have any repeats of restaurants or recipes. First up: La Fortezza. We were recently in Assisi again, dropping off my mother and her gal pals Judith and Shelly at a nunnery (not for good, just for two nights), after driving some of the leanest streets in Italy, which happened after we took a quick stroll through this lovely Italian hilltown and stopped for lunch at La Fortezza (we had thought about going to al Frantoio, but it was closed. And now we know two great restaurants in this wonderful town). I started with a very thick strangozzi, topped with olive oil and fresh black truffles, and it was yummy, chewy homemade pasta matching well with the earthy truffles:

It was a blustery chilly day (even St. Francis might have shivered), which led Nat to ordering up a zuppa verdure that was packed with warming goodness (in the shape of a host of veggies):

I ordered a second course off the contorni menu, which had a surprising eggplant parmesan on it. The eggplant p doesn’t show up much on central Italian menus, so I had to order it—and it was a great choice. Cheesy, gooey, goodness:

Nat also had a somewhat surprising second course: crepes with a creamy, cheesy sauce. A melt-in-your-mouth delight:

A lunch to take the chill off, and have us dreaming of it as we drove away from Assisi—and into the first day of 5D5M.

*See more Italian restaurants: Capponi, Nestor's,Nonna Gelsa, Le Capannine di Sommavilla, Calagrana, Trattoria Il Saraceno, L Enoteca Wine Club, Mastro Dante, Bar Fizz, Da Cesari, al Frantoio, La Balestra, Lo Strattoio, Mencuccio

*See all Italian restaurants