Alba White Truffles

[Robert Brown]

Are you fun to dine with?

[Suzanne F]

Thank you, Robert, for the report. Great vicarious thrills.

[Robert Brown]

Thanks very much, Suzanne. I'm glad I could impart something of the visit.

[Chambolle]

How will Chambo the chimp champ who likes to chomp respond and not seem like a total chump ?

 

 

 

Are you fun to dine with?

 

I truly wish I were ... but alas ... I'm not.

Anyway, nice report, Robert. A thoughtful perspective on Piedmont dining and a truffle's appropriate place within one's meal and within one's mouth. Bravo !

I was having trouble fully understanding what you were saying here ...

 

We chose to select from seven or eight our own truffle at both restaurants. While the price at both was the same, 3.5 euros a gram, which seemed to be a reasonable 20-25% mark-up from the late-November wholesale price, Renzo also charged according to the size of the truffle. In both restaurants we chose small truffles: 60 grams at Enzo and only 27.5 at Ciau. Both truffles were similar in quality, which in this case was the highest we had ever encountered. Not only were both aromatic, but also provided a strength of flavor commensurate with the aroma. I asked our waiter at Renzo what type of tree our truffle was from, and after asking the chef, he returned to say that it was probably from a hazel tree. The inside was alternating bands of white and pale brown, as was the truffle at Ciau. People weren’t kidding when they said this was a superb truffle season. There was, however, a large difference in price per grated serving. Renzo charged 60 euros and Ciao 35. We have no idea, however, if Renzo’s gratings were more copious than Ciao’s.

So let me ask a few questions and maybe you can further elaborate.

- If the price at both were 3.5 euros/gram, I was confused by you then saying that Renzo also charged according to size of the truffle. How so ? Can you elaborate ?

- Are these restos indeed bringing a scale to the table, letting you choose your truffle and then weighing it prior, shaving it onto your plate and reweighing after ? Is the weighing and shaving happening in front of you? I thought you previously said that Ciau does this and you were inquiring to see if da Renzo would offer this option as they supposedly have done in the past for Vedat. It doesn't sound like it to me since you have no idea if Renzo's gratings were more copious than Ciau's.

- You say that Renzo charges 60 euros per serving and Ciau 35e. What's your best guess ? Is Ciau shaving 10-ish grams per serving and hence the 35 euro charge ? and is Renzo probably shaving a similar amount but charging 6 euros gram ? or do you think Renzo is actually shaving almost twice as much per serving ? I would think that if they were then you might be able to notice that difference. Thoughts ?

- What considerations, powers of observation and deep thinking lead you to choose the truffle that you opt for ?

Off-topic : I had a few bad cepes experiences this season. I go to the top purveyor at the market who prices accordingly ... mostly with good results. But on two critical dinner occasions, some external-looking beauties were mush inside and in one instance I found a warren of worms. I was kinda pissed because it severely impacted a dish where the shroom was to be the star. Bien sur, I took pics. Upon my next return to my semi-reliable cepes supplier, I showed the head honcho the incriminating evidence. He said "Frankly, it hasn't been the greatest season for cepes". I said "I've noticed". The problem is that they don't let you feel them although they do do the squeezing bit for you ... but clearly not with the greatest results. Anyway, for the rest of the season, he pretty much comped me my cepes ... but charged me for my pieds de moutons, girolles, chanterelles, etc.

Re wine, did you drink anything especially pleasing during your recent visits ? Do you opt to visit winemakers when in the zone ? (I have La Spinetta and Vayra booked at the moment. I need to get to work in that department)

Re lunch vs dinner at Ciau and Renzo, any thoughts re the more potentially pleasing meal to enjoy at these respective abodes ? Got a dinner ressie at Ciau but I could equally do lunch if you think the daytime view is especially worthy. da Renzo is telling me that they are full for Sunday lunch (do you believe that ? were they mostly full when you were just there? ) and they are offering dinner. Don't really want to do Sunday dinner there but because you have now convinced me that I must go, I'm actively re-juggling other ressies to try to enable a Renzo pranzo, which is impacting Guido and Il Centro. Ohhhhhh ohhhhhh ohhhhh ...

Final thought. Here is the Chowhound view on Ciau (commentary is from 2013 and 2014 and Mr A is a very experienced Piedmont diner who likes Renzo ... and I'm still going to Ciau ! ... I got faith in you Robert, but you better effing be right ! ) :

Mr A. IMO cross off Bovio, Vignaiolo, Ciau Tornovento, dell'Arco ... I didn't mention Il Ciau del Tornavento because we do not like it and we tell our friends who are tempted to go there to stay away. We don't like the cooking, the menu or the combination of ingredients ... We do not like Ciau del Tornavento near Barbaresco. Great list, but very overpriced, unlike the great very reasonably priced lists e.g. Bardon, Centro. Plays games with food and has a very inflated opinion of himself as a chef. Mix of ingredients in many dishes is strange, very strange.

 

Mr B. La Ciau del Tornavento was a charming place before it became too big for its britches. Avoid it.

Mr C. Ciau del Tornavento used to be quite spectacular but we haven't been there for years and some recent guests were quite disappointed by the service.

 

[Behemoth]

Off-topic : I had a few bad cepes experiences this season. I go to the top purveyor at the market who prices accordingly ... mostly with good results. But on two critical dinner occasions, some external-looking beauties were mush inside and in one instance I found a warren of worms. I was kinda pissed because it severely impacted a dish where the shroom was to be the star. Bien sur, I took pics. Upon my next return to my semi-reliable cepes supplier, I showed the head honcho the incriminating evidence. He said "Frankly, it hasn't been the greatest season for cepes". I said "I've noticed". The problem is that they don't let you feel them although they do do the squeezing bit for you ... but clearly not with the greatest results. Anyway, for the rest of the season, he pretty much comped me my cepes ... but charged me for my pieds de moutons, girolles, chanterelles, etc.

 

Interesting, cepes sellers in Munich always sell them cut in half, for exactly that reason.

[Robert Brown]

Chambolle, can you wait a couple of days or so? I am about to hit the sack and then head back to NYC to tomorrow. Good questions that I look forward to answering. In the meantime, have you dined with Vedat ever? I like Ciau dei Tornavento a lot. I find it better than when I first went several years ago. I paid 220 or 230 euros for a 2001 Voerzio La Serra. It's not a crazy price for a great winemaker in a great year. I have a pretty good consumer knowledge of wine, but not enough where I want to visit winemakers. I find it a bit forced, but that's probably my doing. I feel more comfortable around chefs and maitres d'hotel.

[Chambolle]

have you dined with Vedat ever?

 

Nope. Read a bunch of his stuff on Spain ... agree with much of what he says.

 

Chambolle, can you wait a couple of days or so?

 

I can wait a couple, but if it's much more than 2 couples, I will have answered my own questions by then.

If there is anything worth saying re the lunch vs dinner question, fire off a one-liner if you can ... but I don't want to be responsible for you missing your plane.

 

 

Interesting, cepes sellers in Munich always sell them cut in half, for exactly that reason.

 

In Paris the better vendors do NOT cut them in half. In fact, most don't.

[Robert Brown]

As I can't digest big meals as before, I prefer lunch. Regardless, I find lunch in Treiso to be better than dinner as there are fewer diners (not that the service seems to be any better) and the room is more luminescent, not to mention the fine view out the enormous picture window. As there are rooms, you could have dinner there and not have to drive; so that's a reason to have dinner. Of course if you're in your salad days, you can have both meals in one day!!! At Renzo, I don't think it matters whether lunch or dinner.

[Sneakeater]

Shakespeare notwithstanding, it sounds like these are more your "salad days", Robert. (At least at lunchtime.)

[Robert Brown]

Sneak, no extra-inning doubleheaders any more. Chambolle is surely up to it, and I am willing to bet that is what he will do. I am wiped out and can barely move. I will try posting at length in the next day or two. I agree that Vedat is great on the Basque country. For one, he avoided sous -vide places recently. A fellow traveler!

[Chambolle]

Chambolle is surely up to it, and I am willing to bet that is what he will do.

 

Could Chambo ? Of course, for he is a man of great stamina.

 

Will Chambo ? Of course NOT, he is a civilized man who knows how to fully appreciate the finer things in life.

 

A great restaurant should be thought of as a great woman or lover. They deserve your undivided attention ... at least, for a day.

 

Two greats in one day ? Absurd and only for amateurs.

 

Ladies and gentle people who profess to have big appetites, Chambo asks you to reflect upon the following ...

 

How can you fully appreciate the first when you are already thinking about the second with the first still in your mouth ?

 

How can you appreciate the second when you are still fantasizing about the first and the second's sloppy secondi is still to swallow ?

 

I said absurd and only for amateurs because everyone knows that a great day starts with a big breakfast.

[Orik]

Life lesson #17874

 

Cepes have worms.

[Robert Brown]

You should fry a lunch-dinner-breakfast-lunch at the same place (if they also have rooms).

[Robert Brown]

Two years ago I wrote here that we tried eating a truffle from the middle out; i.e, cutting it in half. The theory was that if the center tasted better than the outside, you used the heart of it for the best truffle dishes. We did not do it this time, so it still remains a hypothesis.

[Chambolle]

a...worm...

 

Life lesson #17875

 

Prostrating yourself before Chambo like that and trying to wiggle and worm your way into his bedroom to experience the stamina of his stamen is not sexy nor will it be successful.

 

http://mouthfulsfood.com/forums/index.php/topic/6497-paris-bistros-restos/?p=1305226

 

Chambo ... Take Three ...

What are some good places in Paris where I haven't been?

My Bedroom ??? OFFER EXPIRED, NULL AND VOID !!!

 

You snooze, you lose.

 

 

 

And for the record, if anyone here actually thought that Chambo's segue into cepes was actually off-topic, then you are off your rocker and susceptible to being bamboozled by a baboon.

 

For as Chambo well knows, in the fall, white truffles from Alba are idolized in Italy in the same way that les cepes de Lozere are fawned over by the French.

 

Just try le Ris de Veau a l'Oustau dans les Baux and then you'll know ...

 

 

And of course this was totally relevant for Robert, since Les Baux and Bra are exactly equidistant from beach in Nice.

 

And l'Oustau is a Robert-type of place, if you know what I mean ...

 

Complete with crudite ...

 

 

Baguettes with whiskers ...

 

 

Carts from the 1950s ...

 

 

A lovely view ...

 

 

And plenty of grace and good manners ...

 

 

 

 

 

a hypothesis.

Dr Brown, thanks for the hypothesizing. I think that the Nobel Prize for Tuber research is truly within reach !

But if you could hang up the white truffle lab coat for just a moment and focus on your post-doc student Chambo's thesis questions above, that would be a good day's work.