After lunch, with our jet lag drowsiness deepened by the dreary weather, we drove back to the B&B to relax and chat with Roberta.

I had reserved ahead, by e-mail, at La Libera in Alba, so we set out around 6pm with directions to the parking lots most likely to have free spaces provided by Roberta. Parking the car in Alba was a snap, that night and each time we visited. There is both free parking (outlined in white) and paid parking (blue outlines; get a ticket at the nearby machine and put the white slip inside the car, on your dashboard). After 7:30pm, parking is free.

We meandered around Alba a bit, but since this was a Monday, many shops were closed. At an open tabacci, I bought a bag of Barattii & Milano hard candies.

7:30 found us at La Libera, at Via Elvio Pertinace, #24.


http://www.lalibera.com/

La Libera is a sleek, contemporary restaurant adorned with handsome food-centric photos. A bouquet of artfully scattered grissini on each ivory-linen-draped table hints at the contemporary twist that Chef Marco Forneis gives to traditional Piemontese cuisine. Those breaksticks were excellent and we agreed that the first test of an eating place in these parts should be the breadsticks!
(Surprisingly, we were served obviously packaged grissini only once the entire week!)

Cruda di fassone battuta al coltello, or raw veal cut by hand and dressed with olive oil, salt, pepper, and lemon, is a classic of Le Langhe.

I was determined to try as many traditional dishes as possible during the week. I also wanted to try that other quintessential Langhe dish: vitello tonnato.

Although the carne cruda and the vitello tonnato are listed as two separate dishes on the menu (10 euro each), the friendly server did not hesitate to offer to mix half orders of each dish as an antipasto for me.

Vitello tonnato—delicate slices of rare poached veal sauced with a blend of tuna, anchovies, lemon, capers, mayonnaise, and olive oil may not sound particularly appealing. But this dish, which reflects the traditional link of Piedmont to the coast, is a marvel! The Slow Food guide calls La Libera’s vitello tonnato “very good.” I would call it great!

Here is a recipe; it would make an elegant party dish:

http://www.saveur.com/article/food/Vitello-Tonnato


The menu ventures into other regional territory, including Emilia Romagna and Liguria.

Tortellini in brodo has been one of my partner’s favorite dishes ever since he first samped it in Bologna a few years ago. So when he spotted Raviolini di Gallina in Brodo on the menu, he did not hesitate. He also wanted to try another pasta, the Lasagnetta Gratinata di Asparagi e Burrata, lasagna with asparagus and burrata. Both of these dishes were excellent.

It was on this rainy April night in Alba that I actually met a dish I did not like: The carne cruda. I tried several mouthfuls and just could not get past the raw meat texture. Noticing that I left more than half of the (half) portion on my plate, the server asked if I would like to try another dish before my secondi. I, too, opted for the excellent raviolini in brodo.

After reading a recent New York Times article about the rising popularity of goat,

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/01/dining/01goat.html


and sampling it once at an Italian restaurant here in New York, I was
eager to try it again and so was elated to find Capretto Nostrano Arrostito al Forno con Primi Asparagi on the menu (roast local goat with the very first asparagus of the season).

What a revelation! I loved the flavor of the roasted meat; more subtle than lamb with a wonderful delicate flavor. Excellent!!

We passed on dessert, but were treated to a complimentary plate of lovely cookies with coffee.

With the meal we drank this bottle of Dolcetto Diano D’Alba 2007 from Bricco Maiolica (11 euro)

http://www.briccomaiolica.it/english/dolcetto.htm


With water and wine, the bill totalled 65 euro.

Highly recommended!

EKS, thank you, thank you, thank you for this report. I am having severe Italy withdrawals (I was there exactly a year ago).

I am really enjoying this report.

Johanna

Is goat a relatively common menu item in Piemonte? It's actually my favorite meat and I order it in Spain and Mexico (I've not been to other Latin American countries where I'd imagine it's similarly available) almost every chance I get. If I can get goat in Piemonte, I'll be even more excited to be there. Minimally, I know I can get it in La Libera--and I shall. Thanks. What else shall I eat? Tell me. Tell me.

I agree that there are so many options on where to stay. Although, we were surprised how little information exists in guide books on this area of Italy. So I'm printing out everything from the internet which is where I do most of my research anyway. Thank you for the recommendation of the agriturismo of the Castello di Verduno.

We don't mind driving at night as long as we understand the directions, plus our car will have a GPS. We are starting in Munich and driving through Alsace wine region in France before entering Northern Italy and back up through Switzerland and Austria.

I'm a little confused on the best market day as it seems different in each village. I'm arranging the schedule to arrive early on a Saturday. Did you go to any?
Also, do you think we can just do a day trip to Turin or do we need to spend the night?
Thank you,
Nicci

Yes, Nicci, let's find out about market days. Eks, hope you went to many and know where we can find the straight scoop on all of them. It would be nice to have something like the Patricia Wells France book that tells market days even for the tiniest towns. I try to arrange sightseeing days to maximize markets. And I too am interested in the amount of time recommended for Turin.

And can you tell us anything about Pollenzo, and the La Corte Albertina, hotel in a winery that is in that small village?

Just briefly: Julie, yes, there is goat on quite a few menus. It was on the menu at Osteria del Vignaiolo and I think also at Trattoria della Posta. Looking back at this report I am astonished at the few dishes that I actually sampled. I will try to find out more about goat in Piemonte.

Nicci: If you do not care much about museums (Egyptian Museum, Cinema Museum, etc) you could do Turin as a day trip. But would you be driving? I am not sure I would want to drive there and back in one day with the traffic of weekdays. But as you now, we are squeamish drivers and I get a little anxious as navigator. It is certainly close enough in miles.

I asked a local person if he took the train when he visited Turin and he chortled and exclaimed something like "ha ha, the trains--of course I don't take those!" So that tells you something!

There is a large market in Alba on Saturday and there are also smaller markets in Alba every OTHER day of the week; we visited the Thursday market (actually fairly large even during this season) so following that reasoning, there would be Tuesday market as well. (This sounds confusing but it is how Roberta described it to me..I will report back on that and on other markets if I can find more information. We were there in a season when there was not much local produce in the markets (most came from further south) so I was not as dogged as usual in finding out about them)


Julie we did not go to Pollenzo (I know: Shocking to miss the SlowFood capital) I had looked at Corte Gondina on TA before we decided upon La Favorita. It has a pool, which would be fabulous in hot weather. The other one that looks great (we saw the exterior) is in the gorgeous town of Cherasco:


http://www.cardinalmazzarino.com/

More soon...I have to go to my own market!!

You can look up market days for the tiniest towns here:
http://www.regione.piemonte.it/cgi-b...ti/dynIndex.pl

It's worth noting that in most places non-food (i.e., junk) stalls outnumber food stalls. Also, many vendors go from market to market, so it hardly seems worth one's while to go to more than one.

Zerlina that is a good point. At the Alba Thursday market there were, indeed, a lot of vendors selling those big tan pointy men's shoes and cheap women's underwear. Also, purple is BIG this year, apparently, because everyone--from cheap market stalls to upscale Turin shops--had light purple clothes in the window. But there were many food vendors, including quite a few of those mobile carts that roam from market to market. There was even one with Calabrese products--dried peppers, cheeses, salumi, etc. But Alba is so filled with food shops that the market did not exert the draw for me that it would have in a different season.

Thanks for that link!

Julie: I took a look at the menu of Trattoria della Posta; it does not include a goat dish. But I did see it at least a few times at other places. Lamb and rabbit, and of course, beef, and pork, were also popular secondi, with duck, pigeon and goose a bit less common (results are from the limited ekscrunchy sampling).

Also, please remember that "coscia" means leg; you will see this often on menus.

I don't know where I've been all these years on the goat front. I think my initial hesitancy resulted from eating inferior, gristly goat meat in Mexico. In New York, I had goat at L'Impero (now Convivio) in a braise. But it was not until having the roast goat at La Libera that I became a convert!

The roast meats are certainly one of the secondi to focus on in this region.



I am rethinking my comment on the trains, above. While the local person may have disparaged the train system, much as I might scoff at the Long Island Railroad service, my guess is that there are decent enough train services to Turin. The Turin station is conveniently located within walking distance of the historic center. By train I think Turin would be a very easy day trip.

We will drive to Turin rather than a train…perhaps on the way to our next destination, Verona.
I am mostly interested in food markets and visiting one or two is fine. Trying to justify the rush to get there early on Saturday from Como. We might want to take a cooking class, if we have time. Most that we have taken in other countries usually start with a trip to the local market. Did you run across any worth noting?
We love cheese and we wondering if there's a cheese tasting route similar to the wines. I would like to visit the farms and possibly see the process.

Nicci: That sounds like an excellent plan. Why don't you post your itinerary so I can understand exactly what the route will be.

One of the largest food markets in Italy is Turin's Porta Palazzo, open until 1pm every day and later on Saturday. Closed Sundays. Just north of the center; you can walk easily.

Since we were in Turin on 25 April, a major Italian holiday, the market was closed.

But just as good, if not better, is Eatialy, the Slow-Food "supermarket/enoteca" in the Lingotto area, south of the historic district. If you are interested in food you cannot visit Turin without stopping here. I will write the details in my report, but you do not need them--you just need to GO! Monday is closing day:


http://www.eatalytorino.it/eatalytor...come_eng.lasso

Now, are you asking about a class in Turin or in the Piedmont region? I did not take one but maybe we can find some names, if you think you will have time.

ps. I just realized: Eatialy offers cooking classes (see the website) but they are in Italian. And I think you will want classes in English, right?

You are too kind. I can do a search for English speaking cooking classes around Alba or Asti. I just thought that you might have come across a recommendation while on your recent visit.
This trip has been somewhat last minute and I don't have a wine route planned yet. We bought our ridiculously cheap air tickets about a month ago for $382rt non-stop both ways from Atlanta(our home) to Munich. We travel internationally once or twice a year and have been avoiding Europe because of the weak dollar. Although, we have wanted to get back to Italy since our marriage in Florence in 2001 followed by honeymoon in Cambodia and Thailand. Anyway, until a couple of days ago, we have been in the process of negotiating the sale of our home and house hunting since we close 4 days after returning from this trip. Luckily we are not moving for 4 weeks after closing.
With one week until departure, I am in cram mode trying to secure plans. I greatly appreciate all of your comments and suggestions. You have been most helpful.

Nicci: Roberta at Villa Favorita gives cooking classes. She speaks perfect English and I can attest to the fact that she knows how to cook! You could drop her an e-mail and see if you can arrage a market visit and a class. Her kitchen is large and well set up for classes.

One well-respected, more formal, cooking school in the region is that of Roberto Boggio in Revigliasco in the province of Asti. This information comes from my Fred Plotkin Italy guide; you could e-mail for information:

http://www.scuoladicucina.it/

But since you really want a cooking lesson, not formal classes, my guess is that Sant Eufemia (which looks great, by the way) could arrange this for you. In a region like this, great cooks seem to be thick on the ground, so to speak! See if you can set up a market visit and a class.

I also meant to post this restaurant/hotel option, for Jule V:


http://www.felicin.it/pagine/eng/albergo.lasso

Eks, thanks for the restaurant rec. I tripped on the place when looking at lodging and thought it looked good. If you say so, it must be so. It goes on the list. Thanks.

Julie: I did not eat there, but I did note it on my "possibles" list. It does look good. But then, so do so many places in this area! It is almost impossible to decide!

After dinner, we wandered around Alba for quite a while searching for our car; we had forgotten the location of the parking lot! Finally, after much drenched searching, we stumbled upon it and made our way back to Villa Favorita; the drive takes about 5 minutes.

The next morning we awoke to more rain! Very dreary! Because of the poor weather, we really did not explore nearly as much as is our custom. Normally we (or rather, I) would be up at 7am, eager to begin the day’s wandering. But with the rain, we gave into the temptation to sleep late and have a leisurely breakfast and some computer time (one person wanted to check baseball scores while another, your faithful correspondent, was busily rifling through on-line menus of restaurants in Turin!). There is a free computer with high-speed internet in the front room, and this came in very handy during our visit.

After another sumptuous breakfast, highlighted by fresh Roero strawberries and cream, we finally set off for Cherasco, about a 40 minute drive from the villa.

I loved Cherasco!

Dating in 1243, this walled fortress town on a high elevation at the confluence of two rivers, founded by the city of Alba as a defensive position against rival Asti, is built on a grid and surrounded by star-shaped ramparts. The perpendicular streets are lined with gorgeous medieval and Baroque palaces and churches.

Cherasco is Italy’s snail capital and home to an institute of snail culture! An elaborate 17th Century triumphal arch guards one end of the town, a tribute built by a citizen grateful for remaining unscathed during the plague of 1630. (Brought to Venice by ships, this scourge reportedly decimated up to 70% of the population of present-day Northern Italy.)

You can see photos of this beautiful town, and the arch, on the website of the commune:

http://www.comune.cherasco.cn.it/ita/index.asp

The 16th Century monastery in town is now being restored and is scheduled to open as a hotel sometime this year, according to their website:

http://www.piedmontplaces.com/hotel/index.html

You can see an old engraving showing the unusual star shape of the bastions and the grid plan here:


http://www.piedmontplaces.com/attractions/index.html




After a wander through the streets and some menu-reading (snails are much in evidence and there are several well-reviewed restaurants) and browsing in a few food shops, where the celebrated Baci di Cherasco, Cherasco chocolate kisses were much in evidence, we set off again, bound for our long-awaited lunch at Trattoria della Posta, in Monforte d’Alba

OMG. I can't believe that I've never tumbled to what a fantastic foodie place Piemonte is. All those wines,
Eataly, SlowFood movement headquarters, and now Snails and Baci chocolates. I must have been under a rock. I remember a friend suggesting we go there and all I could say was, I've been to Aoste and didn't get very excited about it. Thanks so much for such interesting, informative "stuff." Now I'll quit gushing and just read as you keep posting. Thanks.

TRATTORIA DELLA POSTA, Monforte d’Alba (a few km outside the town, in the countryside). Closed Thursday, and Friday lunch).

We arrived at Trattoria della Posta with high expectations, based on the multitude of reviews I had read during my research. We were not disappointed. This place fulfills every element that we could want in a restaurant—great local fare, warm service, lovely surroundings, no pretension of stuffiness. And prices that are most reasonable. I only wish that we had had time for a second meal here; we certainly would have returned but their scheduled closing days did not allow this.

The restaurant occupies the ground floor of a country house; a few clues told us that the owners may live upstairs.


There are at least three dining rooms, including the two front rooms which I think are the nicest—a couple of window tables offer a fine view. Furnished with antiques and an extensive library of wine- and food-related books, the restaurant is elegant but not at all ostentatious. Tables are large and there is ample space between them. The pace was only about half filled on the afternoon we were there. (But after lunch, the German couple at the next table proceeded to confer with the owner about a group dinner planned for late September; reservations are a must in high season)


http://www.trattoriadellaposta.it/en...rroundings.htm

Considering how much we had looked forward to our lunch here, we had a rather small meal:

After placing our orders, we received complimentary crudi (raw fish) of swordfish carpaccio, lightly dressed with a lemony vinaigrette.

For my antipasti, I chose Bagna Cauda., (15 euro) This was undoubtedly not the most exciting choice, but I was determined to sample as many Piemontese classics as I could, and there is probably no dish more representative of the cuisine than this preparation of raw vegetables accompanied by a warm, anchovy-laced dip (bagna cauda, or warm bath), a relative of the Provencal achoiade that reflects the historical links betweenPiedmont and France.

Had I thought out my selection in a bit more depth, I would have realized that this dish would have been better ordered when the classic vegetables, especially the famous peperone (red peppers of Asti and Cuneo) and cardi gobbo (“hunchback” cardoons) of Nizza Monferrato, were in season.

But although bagna cauda is a trademark dish of the region, it is not frequently found on restaurant menus, being more of an end-of-harvest extravaganza prepared at home. Nevertheless, it was delicious—a plate of red peppers, fennel, and endive arrayed the deep cup of bagna cauda. Although the vegetables were not in their prime, I could not resist dipping into the anchovy-and-garlic-laced “bath.”

My partner, on this rainy day, chose the vegetable soup, a chunky puree presented in a handsome copper pot-- excellent.

He proceeded to the agnolotti del plin, one of the two quintessential Piemontese pasta preparations—delicate “pinched” ravioli (usually made with rabbit) in a light butter sauce.

Fabulous!

I skipped a primo and followed the bagna cauda with one of the house specialties: Il Cosciotto d’Oca Ripieno del suo Fegato Grasso (25 euro) —roasted goose leg stuffed with its own liver. I had never tried goose before, but I will certainly try it again. Perfectly cooked. Delicious.

For dessert: A molten chocolate cake with orange syrup (8 euro)
Heavenly.

With water and one glass of wine, the bill came to 74 euro.

Clearly, this restaurant is an essential stop. In good weather, tables on the terrace offer a stupendous vineyard view.

Ahhhhhh I realize ekscrunchy that you are Erica on Chowhound! So here we have a much more detailed report, thank you :) I am drooling with anticipation now! We leave in two days for our Piedmont trip. We have Trattoria della Posta already booked.

I am glad that Roberta at Villa la Favorita was so helpful to you, we also enjoyed our stay there very much on our last Piedmont trip.

I am also looking forward to bringing home lots of goodies from the markets, hazelnuts are a great idea! We are indeed bringing an extra suitcase for bringing wine home but I hope to bring home more wine than just one bottle! Ok, back to read this again with more attention to detail...