The aperitivo tradition is one of my favorite ones: a time to enjoy time with friends after work before heading home for dinner, or to skip dinner altogether once you enjoy the
many snacks Italian bars will serve with their drinks- for free! Take a look at a few aperitivi in Italy- yummi!
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Rivoli is not your typical Italian restaurant, nor a trattoria. It is more of a Cal-Italian bistro, where fresh California produce find their way in newly inspired Italian dishes. However, Italian was the main language in the dining room when we were there, as another large table commented dinner in our native language, and we all had an overall pleasant experience. High quality ingredients, impeccable preparation, and a nice ambiance usually do the trick.
The dining room lighting was pretty low, and my camera is not always the best in these conditions- please forgive the light, very few pictures actually came out well! Thanks to Rivoli’s website for this shot below, which represent what we had in our plates had it been broad daylight!
Our party was large and we got a chance to try many of their preparations. Among our favorites, a warm Insalata di Mare, a seafood salad made in the typical Italian fashion: shrimps, mussels, calamari tossed with olive oil, salt and lemon juice. There was a nice touch of parseley and a bruschetta at the bottom. Although it was listed as an appetizer, this dish made for a nice entree for a not too hungry diner. We also liked a lot the fontina gnocchi with wild mushrooms, truffle oil and hazelnut salsa verde. It was light and satisfying, with a nutty flavor that was well-balanced and quite delicious.
Our party also dipped into the slow lemon and rosemary braised pork roast with grilled peaches,
white corn pudding and buttered blue lake beans- so weird to bite into what you think it’s polenta and is instead corn pudding!-, and grilled porcini crusted flat iron with creamed spinach soufflé,
mashed potatoes, horseradish, bacon jus and apple and chive sour cream. Not very Italian, in any way, but truly good dishes.
Desserts were spectacular- wonderfully prepared, delicious, and just right for the season! Chapeau to the pastry chef! Warm chocolate hazelnut cake with vanilla ice cream, chocolate sauce and orange anglaise, summer berry pudding with whipped crème fraîche and fresh berries, and warm nectarine galette with whipped cream and lemon syrup. All very much worthy of returning!
Rivoli Restaurant
1539 Solano Avenue
Berkeley CA 94707
(510) 526-2542
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“Where to” is a column whose purpose is to summarize the content of many posts by product. Where can you buy Parmigiano? And where to eat the best gelato? Find out here!
Balsamic vinegar is sold about everywhere- you can find it at Safeway, Trader Joe’s, and pretty much every store right now! However, traditional balsamic vinegar is a harder find. We’re talking about the original product, created over the span of decades in Modena, and so sweet and smooth it’s a perfect complement to strawberries and ice cream!
Traditional Balsamic Vinegar is pricy. Make sure it carries the wording “Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale” on the label to guarantee its originality, and expect to pay well over $100 for a very small bottle. It’s not an everyday use product! However, it makes for a wonderful wedding gift, as it is rare, sophisticated, and pricey enough to make a treasured find- my own bottle was a wedding gift!
In the Bay Area you can find Traditional Balsamic Vinegar in a few places. Head to these retailers for a real treat!
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Recco, a small town a few miles East of Genoa on the Italian Riviera, is not the most interesting city of that area. In fact, its most significant feature is culinary! Recco gives its name to the most famous focaccia dish- the Focaccia di Recco. It is said that in ancient times, the population of Recco would fine shelter from the invading Saracens on the hillsides. Only a few products were available- olive oil, flour, and the soft cheese referred to as formaggio di Recco, very similar to crescenza or stracchino. The ancient Recchesi would cook the cheese inside the focaccia dough on a slate stone, and that’s how the Focaccia di Recco was created.
It might be the preparation, or maybe the fact that pretty much anything with melted cheese as an ingredient turns out to be wonderful, but I can’t sing the praises of this dish enough! Every time I talk about it, or look at the pictures, I want to head back to Recco and have more! Lucky for me, I don’t have to go all that way- Farina, in San Francisco, makes an excellent focaccia di Recco…
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Back from three weeks of “palate resetting” (that’s what my mother calls it!) in Italy, I have some amazing pictures to share, some fun stories, and a lot of interesting bits about Italian culinary culture…
While I organize my pictures and write up everything I have been dying to share, let me start with a picture. Crespelle are little crepes, very similar to teh French ones. In Italy, they areusually served as a pasta dish, filled with ricotta and vegetables, or meat, or fish (like in this case), or layered lasagna-style with bechamel sauce and ragu’. They are more often found packed up as little squares or as wedges, and this preparation is labor intensive but of high visual impact! Not only it looks great, but it also taste amazing- a very delicate mixture of white fish and ricotta cheese filled this crespella, finished with an asparagus sauce. The dish was part of a wedding “trial” menu- how many courses? Twelve, of course, not counting the desserts!
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