That Paniscia! I flagged this place.
Osteria Imperfetta (Guarene)
My favorite discovery in the Langhe area (this being just outside of it). Opened during the pandemic by two brothers. One runs the front, the other the kitchen with extensive experience including Piazza Duomo. Young, efficient, energetic staff, pleasant atmosphere. Mostly locals, including families. How do you criticize a place called Osteria Imperfetta anyway. No one forced you to come.
The trio of antipasti alone is worth the price of admission. Vitello Tonnato of course, peppers stuffed with tuna, capers and anchovies (so good), and yet another sublime Fassona tartare. I may not be able to enjoy French style or any kind of Tartare for a while after this trip. Another outstanding Tajarin with Bra sausage ragu. So light (for a ragu) and addictive. The Maialino here is a specialty, and for good reason, albeit could have been crispier. The baked lamb however is closer to perfect in texture and flavor. All washed down with Barbera by the glass. We came to enjoy the Nebbiolo/Barolo/Barbaresco but found a newfound appreciation for Barbera.
We rarely order two desserts but couldn’t pass on these. A trio of hazelnut creations and the lightest, silkiest panna cotta you’ll ever encounter. One of those flawless meals from start to finish, and one of our new area faves. Only issue is the location in Guarene. Driving to this part of Piedmont in the dark isn’t for the faint of heart. From La Morra its 25 minutes that felt like 90. But I would certainly make an effort to eat here next time, perhaps for lunch. Or dinner while overnighting at the amazing looking Guarene castle hotel.
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Il Centro (Priocca)
As with all such experiences there’s the risk of inflating expectations to absurd levels, but I’m not even gonna to attempt to downplay this one. We’ve been lucky enough to have some amazing meals all over the world, and Il Centro is probably responsible for two of our top 10. Owned by the Cordero family for over 60 years. Mom heads the busy kitchen. Dad walks around shaving truffles and schmoozing with the ladies. The son speaks English and runs the show. Oh and the daughter lives in NJ for some reason 
. If my mom cooked like this I would have never left the house.
Millefeuille of Jerusalem artichoke with Bagna Cauda was the star early on, beating the thing you see below that looks like a red/white Mille Crepe cake. Its actually layers of raw Fassona veal thigh, and lardo. I liked it, but not sure if I prefer over the magnificent Fassona tartare I had here last time.
Plain Tagliolini (Tajarin) with truffles and just the right amount of butter was very satisfying. Piedmont is the one region where I would gladly order kid’s pasta with butter. Not surprisingly best of the trip Agnolotti del Plin. So delicate and delicious. A comped Primi of agnolotti (that looked more like Tortellini) with butter, anchovies and bread crumbs was some of the best pasta of the trip. Just enough crunch, and bursting with flavor. So much more balanced than the anchovy pasta we had in Turin.
Beef cheeks with caramelized figs, deep, lasting sweet flavors, with the figs really shining throughout. Fantastic, turned forgettable once we tasted the crusted veal fillet with cauliflower. Baby angels singing with every morsel. I asked young Cordero if he can set us up with local Roero, both white (White “Roero” is Arnais, red is Nebbiolo grape) and red and he delivered big time especially with the aromatic well balanced red from Cascina Chicco. If you are not a fan of three hour lunches, this place may change that.
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Amazing!!
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Relais Le Rocche, a boutique hotel in La Morra ticked all the boxes, especially their outstanding breakfasts. I liked the ability to walk to the center (15-20 mins) and even wineries nearby. I booked a tasting at Voerzio Martini next door and they didn’t even charge us for it partially due to us staying at Le Rocche. People we met during breakfast told us that their dinners are excellent as well FWIW. Highly recommend this place.
One day we hired a local driver/sommelier who took us to Manzone where we enjoyed the wine and salumi/cheese. Honestly the best discovery for me there was actually Cugna, a jam made with wine, various fruits, and nuts. Goes really well with cheese. She also took us to Rodi where we had lunch with a truffle hunter and his wife. They served only black truffles as white isn’t the best quality atm, and quite a lot of them. And they happened to sell Cugna. I may regret buying only one jar.
La Morra is an excellent base for the region. You have some of the most famous places in the region like L’Osteria del Vignaiolo, Osteria Veglio, Osteria La Torre and many more minutes away.
I haven’t been to every single corner of Italy, but I’ve visited many places and can confidently say, the Langhe has some of the highest concentration of great dining in the country. Its such a unique area.
Moving on to our two days in Lake Maggiore where we ate surprisingly, shockingly really, well.
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Just smashing!
Question: It was a dinner in Alba that turned me on to the joys of baby goat which I’ve since found elsewhere in Italy only in the Gargano, once in a place in northern Puglia, and in Molise. Did you see any goat on menus in Piemonte; as I recall it was fairly usual on menus in and near Turin and around?
What was probably the best burger of my life was made from Fassona beef (the neck, or so I understood from the non-English-speaking waiter in our hotel in Rome) a few years ago. Why did we have dinner in our hotel? It was part of the room deal (JK Place) and we canceled Santo Palato due to pounding rain.
Hey Erica, no, didnt see any goats on menus anywhere. I was expecting to see more rabbit, but didnt see much of that either. Could be seasonal, dont know. Its Fassona and Guancia (cheeks).
In Italy, no shame in eating at some hotels
I just realized that baby goat, like baby lamb, might well be a spring dish, I know we were in Piemonte in May; we did have the goat in the Gargano in September but it was at a farm restaurant that raised the animals.
I bought some at the NYC Greenmarket that year and had to throw my efforts in the trash can…probably the first and only time I ever threw out an entire cooked dish without even putting it on the table!
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I had a different version of a mortadella and pistachio foccacia in Hong Kong this summer, so simple and so delicious
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Wow! Mouthwatering looking stuff
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I have asked my wife, the resident expert on the subject. (She grew up in Torino and often spent childhood weekends and holidays with family in the Langhe.) She has no recollection of goat of any age being served there. Lamb was a possibility, and rabbit was common.
Many households had goats and sheep, but we don’t know where the meat animals went. Obviously, goats were once an important farm product in that area and you have to assume that at some point, they were eaten. But how and when are unknown here.
Finally, I have never seen goat meat for sale at a country butcher in Piemonte. In Cuneo, the Halal butchers near the train station have nice looking goat meat, but that’s about it.
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Thank you, Byarvin, for your helpful information. So perhaps its was an outlier that I had goat in springtime in Alba–seems that this is the case. It’s a meat you would expect to be served more in the south, if at all, of Italy. I had it about 18 years ago and never forgot how tasty that roasted young goat was…I’ve read articles every few years about how it is so little used in USA kitchens, but despite the prodding, you don’t see it much for sale here except in very few Greenmarket stands and in the halal (and maybe southern Asian) neighborhoods. It does have to be young to avoid that gamey flavor that people here are not used to. The was where I probably went wrong when I bought the rack of goat to serve for a Christmas dinner.
Again, I knew so little and perhaps I should have realized that spring was the time, if any, to buy it here in the NYC area…
Please consider more on-the-scene reporting on this site!!!
Erica, I have strong personal ties to the Cuneo region and have co-written a book on the subject. (Long Ago) When I lived in New Jersey, it was easy to get locally raised goat meat in shops on Oak Tree Road in Iselin. Right now, I’m in Lancaster, PA where there’s plenty of goat farming, but those animals are taken to urban areas for Halal slaughter. If you’re interested in exploring goat cookery, I would speak to butchers in those places.
I would like to report more on my time in Cuneo (usually about 10-12 weeks a year) but it’s been my experience that there’s almost zero interest in the foodways I explore. For whatever reason, members who’d eat street and bar food in every other corner of the world, revert to fine dining when they’re in our area.
These restaurants are certainly wonderful, but they’re not cheap, and not really what most locals want to eat. I’m sounding more negative than I think that I am, after all they’re a big tourist draw and source of money for the local economy.
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My arm is twisted! Here are two restaurants in the Cuneo area that are very Piemontese, terrific, and perhaps a bit formal for me. They are our first two choices for entertaining deserving guests:
- Il Nazionale in Vernante. Complete with a Michelin star and all that goes with it. It’s in town and there’s a train station a short walk away.
- Ristorante Moderno in Carru. Very formal and famous for bollito misto. We once went as a party of twelve (at least!) and it included two American vegetarians. When we asked in English, they said they couldn’t serve them. Ten minutes later, we asked in Italian and they were presented with an amazing (vegan) fritto misto plate.
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I’d gladly read what you might care to post, if you decide that you have any interest. We get to the Monferrato region, when we can, to visit friends and there’s regional food and wine that we enjoy learning about even in our short trips. 10-12 weeks a year sounds just amazing.
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I want to hear EVERYTHING food related about Piemonte and elsewhere, price no object…can be great street food and can be Gambero Rosso, Michelin, etc.
I know I am not alone in this desire and cannot express how glad I am that you have signed on here…we have so few people on this forum that are really interested in not only where to eat, but about the food itself.
I’ve written a lot here but it’s almost, if not all, about the south, where I have been focusing lately, and about Spain. Imagine, we are booked to visit Valencia next week, in the midst of all the flooding concerns…
I cannot reveal how disastrous was that goat rack dinner that I made long ago. I am not even sure I would be willing to try it again soon, at home, but certainly would be on the lookout in Italy… But sure, common sense tells us that the south would be the goat region, where they do not have an overabundance of cattle. But even in Sicily, the cheeses are cow and sheep mostly, in my small experience…We just returned from that island and I don’t think I ever spied goat on a menu there, so who knows. Rabbit, yes, and fantastic in agrodolce…but even that was a rare menu find and was more prevalent on the Aeolians (Salina, where we spent 12 nights) than on mainland Sicily, during our pretty short visit…
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Denise, I’ll see what I can do. I’ll be back in the spring. Winters are brutal in our little village.
Erica, more easily said than done. Cuneo has an amazing range of immigrant and ethnic shops and restaurants. Italian out-of-town visitors more often want to try Sichuan or Russian than the dishes Ziggy has shared.
And as always, modern street and bar foods are worthy of your attention. In our village (Entracque, about 7 miles south of Borgo San Dalmazzo), there are two bars with kitchens that are the choice of most visitors. They serve salads and sandwiches that are light and easy to eat along with bottles of local, microbrewed beers. (Piemontese beer is yet another subject that’s pretty much untouched at HO)
My wife is not fond of the winter there so it is unlikely that I’ll be back before April or May, but I’m an original member of HO and Chowhounder since 1994 and I try to keep up.
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Call me intrigued. Some years back in a small town whose name doesn’t now come to mind, the woman in charge of the local bar kitchen prepared a dinner for our friends and us. She kept bringing out family-style platters of food until we requested to stop. Once in a lifetime dream moment for us.
When I get a chance, I will also try to write up a couple regional food/wine traditions that we experienced on our short October trip.
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Talking about Russian, I was surprised to meet so many Russians, Moldovans, Romanians in Piedmont.
I like the look of your village and the area nearby. The lakes, Santuario di S. Magno in particular
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Entracque isn’t tourist-free. It fills with day and weekend trippers from Genoa, Nice, and Turin when the weather is good. But you won’t find those sorts of “platter after platter” places. Most of the weekend crowd would find them too fattening and expensive - our major draw is outdoor sports, not gastronomy.
However, Ristorante Moderno in Carru (mentioned above), isn’t exactly like that, but its bollitto cart falls in the same category. Without traffic, it’s an hour’s drive from Entracque or a bit less from Cuneo.
Where all country restaurants in Italy once like that? That should be a separate thread.
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