Renovating a villa, hunting for white truffles, eating and wine tasting in Piedmont, Italy

Clay McLachlan 11/3/15 Clay McLachlan 11/3/15

Restaurant Review - Locanda dell'arco

Restaurant Review - Locanda dell'arco, Cissone, Piedmont, Italy. We visit the well celebrated restaurant with a deep and dedicated wine cellar in the Alta Langa.

I receive two texts that are music to my ears early Thursday morning just after dropping the girls off at scuola. The first from Sara, "sure, I'd love to go out to dinner with you tomorrow, find out if Elisabetta can babysit, please." And the second from Elisabetta, "si perfetto, ci vediamo domani sera verso le 7!" Yes, our date is confirmed! In our family, clearly I am the one who is driving the interest in restaurant dining. It's not that Sara doesn't like to go out, it's that she prefers a hike or a bike ride over a meal. Me, I love both!

Immediately after hearing from Elisabetta I speed-dial Locanda dell'arco in Cissone in hopes of securing a reservation for two for tomorrow evening. My heart races as I hold the line while my mind meanders the long list of wines the restaurant has to offer. "Yes," we have a table for you. I breathe a deep sigh of relief. Thursday evening I struggle to convince Tamar that, although tomorrow night's meal will most certainly include many of Piedmont's traditional recipes, the wine list has been cultivated for more than twenty years and there will be a delicious bottle of nebbiolo for us to savor. "Whatever you like, it's fine by me, you know I will be ordering the same thing anyway," says Tamar.

Friday evening I meet Sara in the main Piazza in Dogliani where head up the hill to Cissone. We drive up the hill and park. It's a crisp autumn night with fog encircling the town and church above the restaurant. We take a short walk around town up before entering the packed restaurant. We are shown to our corner table next to shelves of enticing wine bottles. We peruse the menu and I beg Sara's forgiveness before I delve into the large volume of wines. There is no rush with service as we have the table for the entire night and the staff is busy tending a number of large groups already in the middle of service.

We order from the menu and I ask for a few more minutes to read the entire wine list. Finally I settle on an outrageously good 2004 Langhe Nebbiolo from famed wine producer Giuseppe Rinaldi located in Barolo.

We order to share, although I know full well that Sara won't try everything that we order. First we have 'Filetto di trota salmonata marinato alle erbette con limone confit al sale' or 'Marinated trout salmon filet with lemon confit' and 'Linguine all article con sumo di verdure e nocciole' or 'Noodles made with wild nettles and topped with a vegetable sauce and hazelnuts.' The Salmon trout is made in house and served in a fairly small portion and, honestly, I can't recommend this dish as it is flat and uninteresting. The handmade wild nettle pasta, on the other hand, is toothsome and quite delicious if slightly sweet, this is a dish to try. The negative for this plate and the next pasta is that they are both served on small plates which result in a heap of pasta and not a lot of thought for presentation.

For our second course, Sara orders the 'Tajarin al sugo di carne langarolo' or 'traditional thin noodles with a meat ragout sauce.' I have the ultra-traditional 'Brasato al Barolo con polenta di mais integrale "otto file," or 'Roast beef braised in Barolo and served with corn polenta.' First the Tajarin pasta. In my opinion, this was a lackluster version of this outstanding dish. The Roast beef was well prepared, the sauce delicious, while the polenta cake was clearly prepared in advance and reheated. It was savoury, but not spectacular.

The wine, on the other hand, was spectacular. It unfolded throughout the evening and had me thinking more about how spectacular and nuanced the nebbiolo grape can be and thinking less about the edible, but not spectacular food that accompanied it. I decided to order the pannacotta in order to give one last attempt with food. The small dessert arrived on a large plate which stood out to me mostly because of how remarkably small the pasta plates had been. The panacotta was not silken and smooth, but it was well balanced. All in all, I would not hesitate to return to this beautiful, homey, and warm dining room with a spectacular wine list and a hope of more precisely prepared food.