OK, the food.
All the classics, which is what I wanted to try.
Simultaneous serving of the first course as the table gets to know each other. Mont San Michele – Oyster, sea flavors in the foam, and beef Tartare cubes underneath.
Not an oyster fan, but beautiful execution. This dish was inspired by his upbringing near the coast. That is a green ice on the cream sauce over the oyster and beef Tartare. The maitre d’ explained all the courses to us. Then the scallop – enormous, cooked and salted perfectly, and delicious. I would definitely order this again.
Lentils in 3 sauces. I understood what he was trying to do, but the flavors were not my favorite. Note they are serving the dinners simultaneously to the diners.
Fascinating to watch the chefs plate everything up in front of us.
I think this was my opinionated sommelier. My education advanced with him. That is value.
5 ages of Parmesan – rightfully, a true classic. Each age tasted distinct, the foam, the crisp, the sauce, the ricotta cream (what was the 5th one?). The cream of parmesan made with the fresh ricotta cheese that I now know so well – wow. If you respect parmesan at all, this dish will impress you. I had to restrain myself and eat no more than half of each dish…otherwise I would never make it thru 9 plus dishes…
The crunchy part of the lasagna – tasted a bit more like ragu than lasagna – but the crisp was fun to eat.
Oh, the veal! Carrot, beet, basil, basalmic, squash reduction sauces. Veal coated in burned herbs from the estate. This ash added a kind of “wok hei” to the meat, a very complimentary flavor. (Wok hei, “breath of the wok”, is the charred flavor imparted when the chef lets the fire enter the wok). I ate this entire course, and I never eat rare. I would eat it again.
Beautiful table settings. The flowers were rustic and understated. No white tablecoth. Old fashioned yellow china plates. Very Lara. The thin bread stick made with coarse grainy flour, is delicious. They served sourdough bread with veal for you to mop up the veal sauces.
The waiters line up at the counter to collect the plates to come to table with for simultaneous serving.
I’m ok with the fact that I didn’t love everything I tried. I just cannot eat banana so the banana filling in the “banana” made this one a no go sadly. Wish they’d had a substitute.
This is the final surprise dish, tortellini in Parmesan cream sauce. Meat filling. Who expects tradition from Bottura?? And do 5 tortellini fit in the spoon? Yes, chef!
The famous “oops I dropped the lemon tart.” Apparently when Massimo saw this accident happen in the kitchen he took one look and said yes! This is how we have to do it! Note the plate itself is made to look broken and fixed. Some incredible lemon flavors here, and multiple lemon varieties including Sicilian, making use of both rind and juice. True genius.
For the sweets course, a “green tomato”, a strawberry, a chocolate. Flavored gels.
Sadly I took too few pix of the estate.
I knew that this was a tasting menu of his greatest hits and that I might not like all of them. But not enjoying 3 out of 9 (oyster, banana, lentil) was more than I expected. Normally I shy away from tasting menus. Also at one point in my life I was really into five star dining and Michelin stars but I’m just not into the foams and the gels. I think fine dining should be just about the ingredients, and refined and exact preparation. Period. Actually this is probably why I love Italy but not France. We used to eat super fancy steak too but after too many average steaks at Ruth’s Chris or wherever that cost a fortune, the value prop just isn’t there for me. You know what? Outback scratches that steak itch. Steer and Stein cheap-ass Stockyard steak used to scratch that itch (too bad they’re out of business).
I think Massimo Bottura was a pariah in Italy for a long time for bucking tradition. I don’t believe tradition should exist in a vacuum. You can love tradition, and other things as well, and enjoy them all in the right time and place. I’m not a tradition monogamist. But I will line up again for that scallop, that 5 ages of Parmesan, that Veal, and that lemon tart. And for Lara’s very comforting informal hospitality that puts everyone at ease, which is what dining together should be all about. It is too easy to hide behind tradition, but that can read as lack of imagination, anti growth mindset, anti creativity, and anti flexibility and communality. And exactly FOR all of those things, I will be the Bottura’s fan forever.
Postscript.
Growing up the poor, uncultured half-breed daughter of a WWII vet who was the son of an alcoholic and the king of brute force, I longed to be someone very different. My uncle sent us subscriptions to Vogue when my sister and I were preteen, it helped me understand life could be different. Of course now I’m a terrible food snob and devout consumer of the good life.
The wheel spun, and stopped on “win”. I am so unbelievably grateful for where I am today, and to have – in a word – prevailed.
Postscript 2.
I am still completely thrown by the wine lists in Italy where entire bottles of wine cost what I expect a glass of wine to cost in LA – $15-35 !
