The Roving Locavore

A meal at this osteria is a total immersion experience.  It was a celebration for us, so we went all out, from the delicate prosecco to the late-night liqueurs: with wine pairings, sopressata, chanterelles and homemade papardelle, wild sockeye salmon, sour cherry cake, and espresso in between.   Everything about the restaurant is an expression of the passion Deirdre and Caleb, the owners, have for food and the kind of hospitality they’ve experienced in Italy.  They wanted to transport not only the recipes and cooking methods home with them, but also the culture of food.  They gave us a good taste of all three last night, during our long meal.  It was all wonderful, but the highlights for me were the antipasti (sopressata, fresh mozzarella dressed with a little olive oil, a crostini with chicken liver pate); the olive oil served with the aperitivo, which tasted like fresh olives and greenery; the chanterelles and pasta, which melted on my tongue; and the wine pairings, which were certainly the most thrilling experiences my palate has had in a long time.   The standouts were, with the antipasti, a blend in the Alsatian gewürztraminer style made by the winery Lincoln Peak in… yes… Vermont; with the chanterelles, “Delfino della Contessa” (the—whimsical and rich—countess’s dolphin), a blend of riesling, chardonnay, and some others, which was bright and full of surprises; and with the salmon, Rainoldo Roso del Valtellino, a medium-bodied red made with the nebbiolo grape, which didn’t overpower the fish with fruit but held its own alongside the walnut-pinenut-basil pesto.

Certainly the most interesting part of the meal, aside from the company of my husband after several weeks apart, was the last part.  Deirdre, in her perfectly natural yet both eccentric and sophisticated grace, brought over two cordial glasses containing two liqueurs she had made herself.  One was dark, and tasted of walnuts, cinnamon, nutmeg, anise, and ginger.  The other was the color of iced tea, but was a combination of two mints, lemongrass, stinging nettle, and lavender.  I look forward to reading her new book, Libation.