When we are staying in Umbria, we always need to take the short drive to Cortona, in nearby Tuscany. There is a wonderful book/art supply store where Johnny enjoys buying some of the art supplies needed for each visit.
For me the visit to Cortona means lunch somewhere, usually Dardano, which I've blogged about before. It's our 'go to' place in Cortona, and we do love it (can you say flash fried porcini?). We get into a routine pretty quick, I guess, and we wanted to try someplace different.
We had been talking to local Panicale restauranteurs, Simone and Lorena (Il Gallo Nel Pozzo), and they said they had enjoyed lunch at Osteria del Teatro, below.
We have strolled pass this place many times, but have never stopped. It's hard to miss, with the sweet terrace outside, and all the plants, etc. It's always packed, too, so I made a reservation to make certain we could eat outside. It was a very warm September afternoon and there was a nice breeze. Perfection.
We were brought menus, ordered water and settled down to decide. I spied a couple of interesting starters, and after making certain they were vegetarian, we ordered.
The waiter was a trip...old school with white gloves. It sort of put me off at first, but he was a true professional, taking his job seriously, while still being fun to work with.
After ordering our starters and main dishes, we found a nice wine to try.
Now it was time to sit back and indulge.
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| A beautiful way to start our meal... |
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| Eggplant 'tortino'' with burrata cream and tomato with red pepper puree. Packed with flavor and texture. I didn't want to share, but I did... |
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| Johnny chose ricotta stuffed zucchini flowers, baked then served with a fresh pea and basil purée. So glad Johnny wanted to share! |
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| We slowly enjoyed sipping whilst eating, of course. I almost forgot to take a photo of this wine. We love a good Ribolla Gialla, and this was perfect, chilled, on a warm day. |
As we enjoyed the great people watching, the kitchen was busy working on our pasta course...
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| Johnny picked buratta stuffed pasta with parmesan cream and truffles. These are called cappellacci, 'little hats'. Very good, and the pasta was perfectly cooked. |
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| I couldn't resist the ravioli stuffed with pecorino and pear. Again, so glad we are good about sharing! These two really complimented each other, as well. |
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| Mmmmmmmmmmm-y. |
As vegetarians, we sometimes order 'contorni' (vegetable side dishes) as our next course. Most often, we just get pasta and share a veg...on this day, we splurged and ordered lots.
It all sounded so good!
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| Onions roasted slowly in their own juices. Ummm...YES. |
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| The grilled vegetables were quite good, and included leeks and radicchio. |
To end this most delicious meal, we shared a tiramisu. I loved this updated version!
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| Good flavors of espresso, mascarpone and chocolate. It all came through. |
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| We were in dire need of a long walk...better yet, a long nap... The walk won out, but the nap was soon to follow! |
