Lunch at Ristorante Ottavius

When we headed out to Bevagna (as detailed below) one of our main drivers was a particular restaurant, Da Nina, which served (as landlord and pal Marianne told us) a wonderful gnocchi, perhaps the best in the whole of Umbria. Well, I couldn’t stay away from that, so we did indeed head to Bevagna, loved it muchly (and medievally, again as detailed below), but discovered soon that Dan Nina was no more (or had changed names--and if that was the case, we had no luck tracking down the new name). You may think, at this point in this short story, that we starved. However, we didn’t--cause we’re resourceful. Once we realized the Nina was nowhere, we followed the signs to Ristorant Ottavius (who boasted outside on a board about their gnocchi). While I’ll never know if it was as good as Da Nina, it sure tasted dandy to me. I started with an omelet topped with freshly grated black truffles (and I know I’m really out of truffle season, but these tasted fantastic):

Wait, wait, that was a lie—I really started (as did Nat, who shared my omelet, too) with some sips of Grechetto dei Colli Martani, a local DOCG white wine that is understandable renowned, because it was delicious, crisp, light, and lovely:

After the startings, we both headed to main course, the dish Ottavious likes to brag about, the gnocchi al Sagrantino:

Sagrantino (if you didn’t already know, and if you did, well, bully for you) is a famous wine that’s only available from this area (Bevagna and Montefalco—which is another lovely little town—and the areas around them), as the grapes don’t grow anywhere else (at least that’s the fable). It’s a rich, complex-but-friendly wine (also available in a dessert style), and made an absolutely fantastic sauce for the gnocchi. Really, it lived up to and backed up all the bragging they do about it.

To round out the meal, I ended (and again shared, cause good food should always be shared if possible) with an ensalata mista that was pre-dressed. This is almost unheard of (usually the bottles of vinegar and oil are brought up with the greens), shocking even. You know Italians don’t like a lot of “road-less-traveled” when it comes to the basics, so I have to imagine some are aghast! when they get their salad here, but I was overjoyed, because the dressing was delicious:

If I’m going to have to miss a meal at a restaurant whose praises have been sung to me, then I’m glad I missed it by going to another restaurant whose praises I’m happy to sing (if that sentence made sense, then I’m happy about that, too), much like happened in Bevagna.

*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, La Fortezza. La Tufa, Kentia Pizzeria, Il Feudo del Vicari, Buca di Bacco, Camino Vecchio, Quattro Leoni

*See all Italian restaurants

Lunch at Lo Strettoio

After our long, but eventually bird-tastic morning at Ponte a Buriano and the Bandella wetlands (detailed below) we were quite hungry. As we wound around into Bandella, we’d noticed a restaurant right on one of the park’s edges (it’s Italy, what did you expect--no restaurant?). It had been closed when we drove in, but the parking lot was full on the way back--even though there were only like three houses within shouting distance--which we thought was a good sign. As we walked in to Lo Strettoio, which was the name of the restaurant, we were at first a little, um, ostracized? Walking into a local spot in any rural area (I think this is worldwide phenomena) you run the risk of being given the outsider treatment, and at first we got it here: put into another room, not a very friendly waiter, some frowny stares. Then, though, a second table (three laughing Italian men) was sat in our room, and a super friendly Italian waiter (he was the owner, actually, I think, or manager at least) pulled up a chair with them so he could chat, and during the chatting he always kept an eye on us, keeping our water and wine filled wiand accompanying every stop with a huge smile and generally giving the whole room and experience a sunny feel. Of course, it wouldn’t have mattered if the food wasn’t any good (or would have mattered a little less). But the food was delish. I had a creamy porcini tagliatelle that was rich and filling in that perfect way where you know you’ll end up stuffed but happy:

Even though I’m every jolly to be diving into a cream sauce, Nat’s simple pasta with truffles made me a smidge jealous. The homemade pasta was so perfect and the slices of truffles freshly shaven off and aromatic and chewy:

Since we’d walked much of the morning, we layered on some cortoni after our pastas (even though I had that rich cream fullness, I wasn’t overfull by any means), a big plate of fagoli with fresh sage and a light tomato sauce:

and a plate of vedure fritta, or fried veggies (I’m always a fan of the fried veggies in whatever culture): cauliflower, artichokes, zucchini, and fries:

Even that (and the nice, light, white wine accompanying everything) didn’t completely sate us, however, so we split a panna cotta topped with frutta di bosco. The panna cotta was good (if not the finest ever), but the frutta di bosco was fresh juicy berries (with frutta di bosco, you often just get a berry sauce, and I thought having berries and sauce was excellent):

Overall, a great lunch at a place worth searching out (they do weddings, too, if you’re thinking of tying the knot Italian style).

*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, Calagrana Lunch, al Frantoio, La Balestra

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Lunch at al Frantoio

As mentioned below, we recently spent a great morning and afternoon in Assisi. Naturally, if we were there morning and afternoon, we had to have a stop for lunch in the middle. At home, we’d looked up a couple potential eateries, but completely forgot the piece of paper they were written on. It was a fortuitous and tasty forgetting, though, because we ended up wandering around a bit longer than we probably would have, stopping finally at a place called al Frantoio. At first, we mainly picked it because it boasted a fine and sunny view (it was quite a chilly December day):

The food, though, quickly became the star of the lunch, and the reason we will probably return for more food when taking folks to Assisi. Nat’s sister Christie and mom Carolyn were also with us, which means there are a few meat pics, too (though one warning: the agreeably warm sunlight, while cuddly, didn’t help making memorable photos when shadowing through the windows). I started with an outstanding truffle frittata, which let the earthy truffles take center stage on top of a wonderfully firm-on-the-outside-gooshy-on-the-inside frittata:

Nat started with a rich, creamy and chewy (due to the main ingredients), lush, fava bean and barley soup topped with a small slap of the sharp local olive oil:

For my pasta, I went with the stringozzi (or priest stranglers—maybe an odd choice in Assisi, but wow, it was good, with the pasta at the right stage of chewiness and the stringozzi’s odd shapes adding texture) with chunky meaty fresh porcini:

Nat had homemade tagliatelle topped with a double dose of cheese and a hint of cream:

Christie (after having a pasta similar to Nat’s to start) had (on the waiter’s suggestion—super friendly waiters, by the way) chicken cutlets stuffed with local favorite chestnuts:

while mom went for the serious meat plate, the solo sausages (by all reports--fantastic). Carnivores, start your drooling:

We ended our scrumptious Assisi lunch at Il Frantoio with a caramel panacotta and a chocolate-y cake number that filled us completely up, and had us ready for more frosty sightseeing.
*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, Calagrana Lunch

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Citta di Castello Truffle Festival

About five years ago we came to this area (at least the same general area) with a whole posse of folks: my mom, and pals Jeremy and Megan, KT and Ed, and Joel and Alexa. We stayed just over the hill from where we are now, at a large lovely stone house that sadly isn’t available for rent any more (though many more spots are—check out Amici Villas for options), and had a scrumptious time as usual. It was in the fall, about this time of year, when we were here, and one of the reasons we all made the trip at that point was to be here during the Citta di Castello truffle festival (the earth spirit mushroom, not the sweet). Sadly, somewhat like Nat and I’s recent trip to Montone for Festa di Bosco, we got there fairly early, in the early afternoon, and while we had some truffle fun, we missed out on the full experience. This year, I wanted to be sure we got our truffle festival on, and so last Saturday we didn’t head to Citta until about 6 (or 18:00). We came in by the Duomo, and instantly were walking through tents packed with people selling cheeses, local products, tirelli, meats, and more. Walking out of the tents and into the square around the Duomo was almost psychedelic—the side of the Duomo was bathed in purple:

and there was a camera attached to Duomo projecting 15 feet tall emblems for country, commune, and city:

By the by, there was an amazing number of people there, with streets around the center and Duomo packed, as if everyone from Citta (which is a solid mid-sized city) as well as the surrounding towns and farms had come out at once. It was also dark, so taking photos wasn’t as simple as you’d expect. This was really Italians at their most communal, with many folks dressed up, and kids of all ages running around, from high schoolers preening to youngsters screaming with delight. Once we got to the centro, there was a big grouping of booths all selling truffles, truffle products, and other mushroom-y delights. The smell was amazing, like being in rich, delicious, earth. We picked up a number of mushroom and truffle goodness, including:

Oh, we also, before browsing the truffle stands, stopped at another little stand for a glass of caniola. We’re not exactly sure what it is, but it’s usually served out of casks (though we saw people pouring into the casks from bottles, and there is no aging here) and tastes like wine Koolaid, with a little frizzante (or, a touch like jungle punch, depending on which stand you purchase from). But a glass is just 1 euro, and it’s certainly fun to walk around with on a cold night. There were side rooms in some of the buildings around the center for wine tastings, and olive oil tasting, and gluten free products, and a sit down dinner, and a big main stage where Italian chefs were doing cooking demos that were projected on big screens. We walked through it all, snacking and sipping, and then slipped down a side street to get away from the bustle a bit, when, out of nowhere, we were almost in the middle of a medieval parade, with knights, cross-bowers, maidens, monks, and more:

The parade (with us trailing it) wound back into the center, where the master of ceremonies (dressed to the renaissance nines) made a speech of welcome and praise of truffles (at least I think he said something like that—or I made it up, since I couldn’t completely understand him. Maybe he actually said “please don’t drink too much” or “two hour parking only.” He talked fast). It was a bustling, flavorsome evening, and I’m glad this time we were able to fully immerse ourselves in the festival experience (even though it was a little bitter sweet, as I wished we could have had the same pals as before with us).