Thanksgiving day of this year was unusual. We took a train to Verona from Venice, Italy, where we were staying, which will be another story. Based on his quick research, J picked a restaurant called
Ristorante 12 Apostoli for our Thanksgiving dinner.
They provided three tasting menus:
Specchi: the glorious history of the city of Verona through its most famous dishes
Bagliori: the chef’s exploration of local and seasonal flavors
Divagazioni: a play on the paradigms of Italian cuisine
We both chose
Specchi, or mirrors to look in the region's identity. The 7 dish course was fantastic.
Codega - crispy pork skin and spiced bacon. I haven't had fried pork skin before. The texture reminded me of Japanese rice puff, but the taste was totally smoky bacon. Interesting.
Assorted bread (sliced crusty loaf bread and thin corn chip) and light cream cheese with chive(?). The spread was pretty good. I wish that I remembered what kind of cheese it was. By the way, serving bread was endless until just before the 6th dish.
Spinaci al formaggio - spinach, blue goat cheese and red beets. The structure was interesting. By unfolding tender spinach rolls with fork, I felt as if I were eating thin wide pasta with rich cream sauce. It tasted lovely, and I was very happy to eat veggie since we hadn't had enough veggie in Venice!
Baccalà- salt cod, truffle and cauliflower. The delicate fish and earthy truffle aroma created a wonderful dish. Oh, I didn't recognize which part was cauliflower, which really didn't matter.
Pasta e fagioli - borlotti beans and cheese rinds. This seemed like one of the restaurant's staple dishes. I would never guess what would be hidden in the hearty bean soup in the elegant soup cup. There was a jumbo tube pasta (?) stuffed with something... meaty, tasty, unidentified. Delicious. My
home-made version of "pasta and beans" is chunky with tube-shaped pastas and cannellini beans. This was pureed until silky smooth. In fact, one that we had in Venice a few days ago was also smooth bean soup mixed with cooked tube pasta. Perhaps, Veneto region's
Pasta e fagioli is
traditionally pureed bean soup with pasta, I guess.
Omaggio a Dall'Oca - maltagliati, smoked goose and scallion. The pasta was "melt-in-mouth" tender. The sauce was robust. Maybe it was the first goose in my life. It tasted fabulous. Could I have a big bowl of this pasta dish, please?
Sua maestà la Pearà - the famous black pepper sauce with boiled meats. The black pepper sauce mountain was surrounded by horseradish puree (white), horseradish-parsley(?) puree (green), candied horseradish (yellow), and a maple leaf shaped glazed carrot. The meat was lean and simple; the sauce was nice. However, I confess that I was distracted with the various garnishes. It was fun to pick one of them and nibbled it after each bite of meat. My favorite was candied one.
Pomi cotti - cooked apples, pumpkin gelato and sbrisolona tart. Lovely. It is my understanding that
Sbrisolona is an almond cake that is cookie-like crumbly. It was created around the 16th century in the northern Italian, near Mantua and Verona. The name is literally "crumbly cake" or it could be practically a giant cookie instead of cake. It was one of local sweets I wanted to try in Verona, and gladly my dream came true!
At the last, little nutty chocolaty cake were served. From the beginning to the end, the entire experience was memorable. Every dish was presented in an elegant but also playful way, and tasted bright and fantastic. I believe J would agree with me.
The restaurant has a long history. In 18th century, "a group of merchants who used to sell their goods in Verona’s nearby Piazza dei Signori would gather in this restaurant to conduct business between a steaming bowl of pasta e fagioli and a glass of wine. The people of Verona used to refer to this curious group of characters as the dodici apostoli, or twelve apostles, and quickly started referring to the restaurant by the same name," according to the restaurant's website. Then, in the beginning of 20th century, Antonio Gioco, the hotel porter of Colomba d’Oro and his wife acquired the restaurant. After WWII, their son Giorgio led the restaurant as a chef and gained two Michelin stars. Giorgio's son Antonio and his wife took over the restaurant later. Now, Antonio's son, Filippo, the fourth generation of the Gioco family runs the restaurant with Verona native chef, Mario Buffo.
During our lunch, there was only another couple of guests in the dining room. The room was quiet yet cosy; the service was very attentive. When we seated, the hostess quickly brought a handbag stool for me. I appreciated such a thoughtful welcome. Later I learned that "12 steps below the cellar (of the restaurant) rest precious archeological ruins: roads, stones and marble from Ancient Rome." We should come back to the restaurant to see the ruins as well as try another lunch menu in the future.
Before and after the lunch, we explored the town of Verona and enjoyed to see some landmarks, including Portoni della Bra, an old clock on the ancient city wall;
Arena di Verona, a Roman amphitheatre built in the first century; Castelvecchio a 14th century castle ruin and now a museum that houses religious paintings and sculptures, etc, dating from the Middle age to the 18th century; and Ponte Scaligero, a 14 century fortified bridge over the Adige River.
The town was charming and relaxed, which made a clear contrast with Venice where is always busy with hundreds of tourists and souvenir shops.
The Adige River winds through Verona. During our walk in the city, we reached the river again. Colle San Pietro (Saint Peter's Hill) was just across the river. In the middle of the hill, there are Teatro Romano (Roman Theatre) built 1BC and an ancient church, and on the top of the hill, Castel San Pietro, an ancient fortress built atop the ruins of a viscount’s castle. The view from there must be spectacular. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to across the river due to our train schedule, hoping that we have a chance to visit Verona again.
On our way to the station, we happened to find a Christmas market. It looked like a German style market. We briefly browsed the shops, snacked a couple of airy marshmallows covered with chocolate, and left to the station.
Happy Thanksgiving!
