Saturday, August 22, 2009

sappada, hidden treasures...

In the northern part of Veneto, province of Belluno, in the italian dolomites, not far from Austria, you will find a town called Sappada.  Then you will find ristorante laite.  Whenever im in sappada visiting my friends Giacomo and Filippo Kratter, we always make sure to reserve a spot here. Giacomo and Fil are the shit, they know how to live it up and party hard and it is always an unforgetable experience.


 Above, one of my favorite dishes, la lepre (wild hare), served with violet mashed potatoes and mysteriously delicious and delicate fried pepper and zucchine.  Then some very thinly sliced and fried melanzane. Followed by the infamous dessert, campo. The first course, was a pasta i can't even attempt to give justice.  The name was much to complicated to remember, after all of that wine. It involved a home made pasta, very delicate, triangular in shape, with a local type of green stuffed inside, a shaven cheese, and a very memorable touch of cinnamon, which alltogether had an unprecedented texture, taste,  combination on the palate! We had about 7 different wines during dinner, including this rare radikon, ribolla gialla. 

 

a stunning display of local cheeses.  if you look closely the sign says latte crudo, non pastorizzato.  which is unpasteurized, a much harder to find product in America, along with the chicken with its head still attached in a supermarket, which for some reason is forbidden.


with giacomo and friends, a Valle Isarco Muller Thurgau Aristos 2007 aristos and local speck wrapped around a type of grainy rye bread, typical of sappada. 


going porcini hunting, is the best way to work off the hangover you might have from that last shot of grappa the night before.  no porcini's this hike, shit out of luck. above is federica with a ''fungo gialletto'', second to the porcino.


A trip to Sappada in august isn't complete without attending the annual festa della birra.  Massive debauchery and bordello with beautiful local ladies and good beer!  A few years ago i managed ten straight nights untill the festival ended. This year was a much briefer trip. tranquillo...