Three Places in Puglia 2011

Puglia

Polingiano a Mare – Thursday, May 5 – Sunday, May 8
Martina Franca – Monday, May 9 – Thursday, May 12
Il Frantoio – Friday, May 13 – Monday, May 16

reserve online or call 510-547-5356

For this year’s Puglian event, we’re looking at three very specific places in Puglia and serving a carefully chosen prix fixe menu from each place alongside our regular but shorter à la carte menu, spending four evenings on each place. Several of the Puglian menu dishes will also appear on our daily à la carte menu.

Puglia is characterized by foods we all know: olives and soft olive oils (Puglia is the number one producer in all of Italy), orecchiette (”little ears” of pasta), chicories, puntarella, burrata, artichokes, taralli, a predominance of lamb, a multitude of different sea food, tomatoes dried on the branch, etc. etc. Such a fertile area produces a simple cuisine, Puglians having a profound understanding of the essence of each ingredient in and of itself.

Polignano a Mare

Three small plates:
• Squid polpettine
• Marinated young Fava beans
• Oyster with green coriander berries

Salad of Puglian chicories with toasted almonds and fig balsamic vinaigrette
Crudo of triglia (red mullet) with preserved lemon
Pasta: Orecchiette neri with sea urchin, mussels and Ceci beans
Main course: Grilled sardine with farro and mint salsa

Dolci: Prickly pear sorbetto or Tiramisu

$75 prix fixe


Martina Franca

Three small plates:
• Fried baby artichokes with lemon aioli
Sfromatino of ricotta
• Potato and Fava croquette

Salad: Warm lamb’s tongue and potato salad with salsa verde
Pasta: Toasted Durum wheat penne with pork sausage, rapini, and garlic
Main course: Wild “boarchetta” with braised fruit and chicories

Dolci (from small-town sweet shops in Puglia): Coviglie al caffé: semi-frozen coffee mousse in little cups
Torrone semifreddo: a layered nougat and wafer cake

$65 prix fixe


Il Frantoio

Three small plates:
• Fried pasta with all’ arrabiata
Panzerotti of pork and olives
• Grilled squash blossoms

Salad of wild greens with fresh almonds, farro, and orange honey vinaigrette
Minestra of baccalà and farro laganari with celery leaf pesto and pine nuts
Main course: Roasted young goat with fava bean purée and poppy seed sugo

Dolci: Olive oil cake with kumquat compôte garnished with borage and jasmine blossoms
Almond milk, cinnamon, and rose biancomangiare with strawberries garnished with rose petals

$65 prix fixe