In the midst of struggling to choose from the great recommendations/reviews on HO, the Minchilli book, and Katie Parla’s site, I heard from a wine friend who grew up in Milan. Turns out he visits dogana buongusto every trip home for their Milanese specialties, deep wine list and somm classes.
so it was after a 20-minute walk from out hotel, we found ourselves at the graffiti-laden entrance to the restaurant. We considered the set menu with wine pairings chosen by their somm, but it seemed like more food and drink than we could handle. Instead, we opted to share an appetizer, a primi, and a secondi, letting our waiter choose local wines by the glass.
We started with an appetizer special: burrata with artichokes. Back in our days of wine and fine dining, we attended a wine dinner at Union Square Cafe where Danny Meyer told the story of how he and his chef, Michael Romano, flew to Italy two days before the dinner to secure, among other things, fresh fior di latte. Our fior that night was good, but this? So much better. Creamy, a little salty, and just bursting with flavor in a way you don’t expect from a mild cheese. The artichokes were equally wonderful, pan-fried in olive oil, still al dente, with just a touch of salt.
yesterday I happened upon @linguafood thread about Anthony Lane’s wonderful new yorker article, the secret history of risotto so we were predisposed to choose Risotto Milanese for our primi. The kitchen was good enough to split the order between us. It’s easy to see how Lane became addicted; I can already feel myself being pulled down that deep and fattening rabbit hole.
We’ve probably eaten veal twice in the last 40 years but decided to split the restaurant’s La Cotoletta Traditionale, a thick, bone-in veal-chop, breaded and pan-fried in butter to a temp somewhere between rare and medium rare. omigod, the chop was a little fatty in all the right ways, I could probably eat this once a week and die happy knowing that I’d cut about ten years off my life expectancy.
Full to the brim, we skipped dessert. Dinner was about $120, including three glasses of exceptional wine. By the time we left at 10 p.m., there wasn’t an empty seat in the house. fwiw, we didn’t hear English at any of the other tables.
Best,
Ps give a shout if anyone has a theory on why, every time we come across a rendering of Judith and Holofernes, my wife feels compelled to take a photo and send it to me 
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