But first you will indulge me in a brief detour. Part of the reason we went was it was the last weekend of the season. In February, we were skiing off-piste on this slope looking for sweet jumps. In April, we were counting the number of broken ski poles below the lift and making appreciative noises as Stefano described the different wildflowers.
Now we can rejoin the autostrada that is the central theme of this post. This is the pizza I had on Friday night. A margarita base with rucola and tomatoes covered with fresh grated Grana. Wood fired and a crust that didn't start leaking in the middle from the sauce like so many of the pizzas here do.
This is Stefano's pizza. Also a margarita base with Bresaola, a type of cured beef, with wild mushrooms.
For lunch on Saturday we ate on the mountain. We were drawn here by the smell of charred meats, the sun and a big deck. A grill, a tap, and the option of steak, sausage or wurstel. Mmm, you had me at grill. We ate at about 2500 meters. For some reason mountain food always seems to taste better. Don't get me started on mountain chocolate. I had this simple panino with a piece of grilled steak and it was fantastic. The beer (and the view which I’m not allowed to show you) certainly helped.
With the sun shining, spring skiing quickly turned into spring hydroplaning, so we packed it in and headed into town for aprés ski here. (You can't see us because we're not in the picture but imagine us sitting on the deck just above where the two rivers are coming together. Go ahead, imagine, it's good for you.)
A couple of cocktails, the one on the left is the house specialty and the other is a spritz. (No sarcastic comments about the frou frou drinks please, these are quite common to the region. Just point your pinky skyward and enjoy.)
A platter (plank?) of local cheeses and cured meats and a basket (bushel?) of local bread...
And another panino featuring some more of that bresaola and what you have is an acceptable way to end the day.
We didn't feel like going out for dinner Saturday night so four boys decided to see what we could cook. Turns out what we could cook was pretty tasty (even if you can't tell from the photo) but I couldn't figure out if this cooking skill is known or kept secret from the wives. I was also too distracted to take pictures of everything so what you see is the main dish: orecchiette (translation: "little ears" so named because of their shape, it's a pasta typical of Puglia) in a gorgonzola (made locally) cream sauce with speck and radicchio (picked fresh that day or at least it better have been for what the lady charged us). What you don't see is the bruschetta toasted in the wood stove and topped with spicey anchovies and drizzled with olive oil. Or the dessert of fresh strawberries and yogurt with whipped cream.
The forecast for Sunday predicted fog, low clouds and rain in Ponte di Legno where we were staying and fog, low clouds and snow in Tonale where the last open lifts were. The forecast was correct. We couldn't see a thing when we woke-up. We were all blind, stumbling around and bumping into the furniture! The priest said that would happen if we weren't careful. The conditions worsened as we drove to Tonale so no skiing for us, but at least it was snowing which boded well for Monday. The french fries, roast beef and beer I had for lunch helped quash, quell, disperse the disappointment of the weather and knowing what was in store for dinner that night almost totally assuaged the boo-boo of disappointment.
For dinner on Sunday we were going to Ristorante Kro (please watch the video, it's a little surreal but kind of cool) in Temù which is just down the road from Ponte di Legno. Stefano goes here just about every time he is in town and they know him well there. Fortunately, they didn't hold that against the rest of us. They treated us fabulously and the food was outstanding. The experience was a lot like a Portland dining experience but in a good way. I started with the canederli con capuccio fresco e pancetta croccante o in brodo. Canederli, very loosely, are a dumpling made with bread, egg, milk, speck and onion and can be served in broth (brodo) or not. Mine were not and came with pancetta and sourkraut (sour Germans) instead.
Stefano's hand-made tagliatelle con funghi e tartufo della valle (local mushrooms and truffles).
To follow my canederli I had Tagliata di angus Scozzese al bitto con patate which is just a delicious way to say sliced steak from Scotland with roasted potatoes.
Also on the menu were dishes featuring pork, horse or deer. The deer (cervo) was served with polenta, wild mushrooms (delinquents, they really knew how to party) and pomegranate (melagrana).
It's white asparagus season and while the Austrians really go crazy for it (seriously, they go nuts) they are also quite popular in Lombardia (the asparagus, not the Austrians). This is white asparagus with fried egg and shaved black truffle.
After all that was foisted upon us by the fine folks of Kro came the desserts. And I can't be bothered to try and describe them. Well, yes I can, sort of. First mine, a sort of cloud-like, soft meringue (not merengue) in a sort of creamy, anglaisey type thing.
And this is a sort-of chocolate cake with a sort-of mint ice cream if I'm not mistaken.
Oh I give up.
This is Barbara. She owns the restaurant with her husband Gabriele (that's Stefano; Gabriele is in the kitchen cooking my dinner). She is fantastic. They both are. They are renovating the building so they can offer rooms for rent. They snowboard (told you they are fantastic) which is slowing down the renovation process. And they are really passionate about what they do which in this case is serving some of the best food I've ever had.
The miserable storm Sunday left in time for a Monday with bluebird skies, a heaping pile of new snow and perfect conditions. We started early, stayed late and I later calculated that I got close to 25,000 vertical feet that day. An absolutely stunning way to end the season.
Ok, I lied. I couldn't resist including at least one picture of a person (Stefano) in the snow with a bunch of mountains in the background. This is from Monday and we had hiked up a small slope above the final lift, were at about 3100 meters surrounded by beautiful sun, mountains and snow everywhere.
Food items not pictured include the capuccino and pastry we ate each morning for breakfast, a reasonably tasty couple of hotdogs that I had for lunch on Monday that due to an unfortunate misunderstanding came smothered in mustard and mayonaise, and a slice of margarita pizza at a rest stop Monday evening that I had when we stopped on the drive back to Ancona.
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