"Pensavo di raccontarvi in Italiano la storia della incantevole cena che abbiamo avuto a Gaudenzio, eppure, magari se la scrivo in inglese, aiuterà a più lettori ad avere la bellissima esperienza che abbiamo avuto. My wife, our two daughters and myself had dinner at Gaudenzio Vino e Cucina in October 2018. We had the most delightful and food wise wittiest experience we ever had eating out. As the dinner went along, I started to have the same feeling I had when I read Alice’s adventures in wonderland and Through the looking glass, with one big difference, there were no unpleasant and capricious characters in this very story. It was a dinner full of whimsical and playful dishes. Every dish opened a different tiny door, behind which there was either a beautiful garden of ideas, or a most cleverly designed bridge between ingredients I had never expected to step on. The dishes were very well cooked, but this after all is something that can be learned. The choices of ingredients and the particular combinations though, are something that cannot be learned, but have to be thought through. This food can only be conceived by someone very, very open minded and far sighted. Most of the dishes we had, brought us such a joyful feeling of discovery and surprise! In addition our daughters made a very clever decision regarding the wine choice. We had a bubbly dry wine. Being aware that wine is an important piece in the puzzle of this restaurant, we asked for a recommendation. We had a lovely Nerello Mascalese bubbly wine, full of green apples, and yeasty aromas, which provided the perfect frame for the collection of surprises that was to arrive. In the menu there are some small appetizers Cicchetti), of which we had three: 1. Sword fish skewer with bread crumbs. 2. Crumble covered razor clam. 3. Marinated duck with algae. To make it short, I will tell you only about number 2. After the visual surprise, the first bite revealed that the crumble, which as you would expect in a fruit crumble, was sweet and buttery, but was seasoned with other spices too. The sweetness of the clam and that of the crumble provided the perfect bridge between the meatiness of the clam and the spices in the crumble. So very clever! For main courses we had: 1. Tagliatelle with calamari and fish broth x 2. 2. Pidgeon with sausage sauce and bitter greens. 3. White fish I cannot seem to find the name in my notes) with figs, tomato and olives. Again, to make it short I will only write about number 1 this time: if you ever wondered whether all the tastes in the sea you could think of, could be put together in a single dish in harmony, this is it! By then we decided that there were two other main dishes that we had to try. We discussed this with the staff which is most attentive and kind, and ordered 1 portion of each, divided in four small plates. We had: 1. Risotto with sour butter coffee and chocolate. 2. Baked monkfish with raw tomato juice and dried olives. Number 1 this time: it was an invitation to review one’s biases. This was like eating a quartet of flavors which kept playing among them. The acidity of the sour butter, cut right through the starchiness of the risotto. The chocolate in turn, balanced the very acidity of the butter that was left, while the coffee and chocolate brought a woody and earthy background. Fan-tas-tic. We shared two very good desserts, which I leave for you to discover. All I can close this with is that if you like thoughtful, creative and pristinely cooked food, have a meal at Gaudenzio Vino e Cucina. It is always a pleasure to come across people who make their craft in such a beautiful and dedicated manner."
Salsa Di Soia
