Saturday, June 6, 2009

Ristorante La Brisa, Milan

My recent Italian wine lunch (yesterday at PWX) has opened up my appetite for hearty Italian food and wine, so I remembered that I still had a few posts about some Restaurants during my last trip to Italy...so here I'm going to feature La Brisa. I heard about this Restaurant through a Food magazine, highly recommended by one of Italy's top food critics, so I decided to try it out.

I went there for lunch and as I got there, it was quite packed, mostly all local businessmen. That was a good sign. They had 2 menus: a set lunch and a la carte. It was my first meal in Italy so I was craving for ham, so for starters I had: Culatello de Zibello con focaccina. Culatello is a refined variety of prosciutto, made from heavier pigs, cut to a fraction of the normal prosciutto and aged, and may be cured with wine, with Culatello di Zibello having DOP status. Zibello is a Municipality in the province of Parma, where most of the Ham in Italy come from. Initially found it saltier than the usual Parma ham (maybe it's aged longer), but not as fatty. Its very different to Spanish ham which is what I'm used to, having less salt and spices, but still very good.



For second, I had: Tagliata di Controfiletto con Finocchi Gratinati e Salsa Agro-Picante (Thinly sliced veal, Fennel Au Gratin and Spicy-Sour sauce. Perfectly cooked veal (grilled on the outside and bright pink on the inside), a perfect combination with the Fennel Augratin and the sauce, which I found actually sweet and spicy. Again a very simple dish which I loved. With this, I had a glass of their house wine, which was actually French and not Italian: 05 Chateau Pierre Bise-Anjou Villages, from Loire Valley.


For dessert, another simple but great and refreshing one: Carpaccio di Ananas (Pineapple Carpaccio). Just thinly sliced pineapple served...very refreshing and light dessert.

I loved this Restaurant and do plan to go back on my next trip to try the other dishes...and hopefully pair them with Italian wines too....Ciao!!

4 comments:

Noel said...

That veal looks to die for. Now I want to eat veal tonight....I hope they have some in Tosca.

N

Miguel said...

He he I knew you would like this...it was rare to medium rare....lovely...

Anonymous said...

Migs,

How was the pineapple dessert dressed? Did it have a touch of simple sugar syrup at all? That's a novel (to me, at least)presentation - looks like those deli meat slicers do more than just deli sausages.

Edwin

Miguel said...

Edwin,

Nothing at all...just plain and simple pineapple sliced thinly...just a different way to present it but very enjoyable to eat...