Osteria del Bosco, July 2, 2014

 I have to admit that I’ve got a new favorite Osteria…del Bosco.  In Italian Bosco means forest, and it is also the name of a small town just outside of Perugia on the way to Gubbio.

Luigi is the owner and host of this wonderful tasty oasis for foodies, Osteria del Bosco.

Owner & Sommelier Luigi

I’ve been 4 times now in the past year and it just keeps getting better.

Inside you will find a kind of old school simply furnished restaurant, while outside is a classic patio. 

view from parking lot of Osteria

What’s placed on the tables is what makes it special.  While I am usually pretty into the atmosphere aspect of dinning out, I can leave all that behind when the food and service distract my artistic eye.




Fabrizio the chef says that he is lucky because Luigi allows him to use some very high quality ingredients, which make all the difference in the world.  So true.   In every bit you can taste that difference, and also see it on the beautifully prepared plates.

Chef Fabrizio

This was a really nice little 

surprise that Fabrizio 

prepared for us in the kitchen. 

It was a sample of his innovative 

new vegan burger, 

served as an antipasto

Luigi is also a sommelier and totally into wine.  I have to say that he is a little challenging to please though.  On a recent visit to Vinosofia I couldn’t find the right wine for him, but his friends all confirmed that he has taste buds all his own.  These are some of the most interesting moments of being a sommelier/enotecaria.  When having guests like Luigi, that know what they like, which is not the usual or easy to please, I just hope Graziano will be at Vinosofia the next time he comes!

we started the evening off with a nice
Villa Franciacorta Brut

this was so colorful and delicious

California girls love these kind of plates

Carpaccio di salmon with apricots, 

peaches and almonds

Some of these photo’s are from a great dinner we enjoyed for Graziano’s birthday in July. 

I adore Barbaresco,
and this vintage was perfect

Fois Gras detail

When we selected the wine Luigi wasn’t quite convinced that it was ready yet.  So he called Graziano into the cellar and had him hand pick an older vintage, and it was perfect. 

fantastic Fois Gras

A couple others photo’s were from January & May.

Ummmm Barbaresco 

look at that color!

tartar detail

Enjoy and no drooling please.

Octopus detail

mis en place, inside from May 2014

Graziano and his digestivo

from the vintage in which he was born!

a little olive oil tasting on homemade bread
by Luigi's wife, from January 2014

a little complimentary salumi taste, 

from January 2014

Graziano's Grappa

nice Pinot Noir from our dinner 

in May 2014

front door of the Osteria

Franciacorta, homemade bread 

and a classic menu 

grilled steak

salad from May 2014

Grilled Octopus, 

from May 2014 

Grilled Snapper from lunch in January 2014

Cecchini

This is a TBT (Throw Back Thursday) Blog...from the summer of 2011 circa.

I became aware Signore Cecchini thanks to my friend Dwight.  He asked us if we wanted to join him and some friends to go for lunch at this great steak place in Chianti, of course we said yes.  Since that initial lunch, we have returned maybe 5 times and always have fun, and excellent meat.

Dante & Dario Cecchini

This time in particular we ran into my friend Judy Witts Franchini,  

another California girl who has transplanted herself her in central Italy like myself.

Signature Beer

Our friend Sommelier Pierre, of Tuscan Wine Tours at the head of the table
with a group of Americans

Dante, the always happy waiter

Here’s a couple of shots of the place. Unfortunately these were the pre-food photography days so there's no foody shots.

Raìna, Cantina Aperta, May 25, 2014

This year for Cantina Aperta (Open Winery Day) we decided to go check out this new innovative winery in Montefalco. 

road to Raìna

Since we were thinking about adding Francesco’s wines to our inventory we wanted to see the behind the scenes action at the winery.

cement vat logo

stainless steel tanks

They had just moved everything out of the main winemaking room to do some painting, so everything was kind of random that day, but no worries.

Francesco Marini, viticoltore of Raìna Estate Winery

retro cement vats

some good old American Oak

love the font

mixed oak barrels

French Oak

old school cement vats

botte medium

The Raìna winery choose to do something different than the usual Cantina Aperta and called their event Gallina Aperta (free-range chicken). 

attention to being green, 

we like that!

 

The Agriturismo (farm stay)

historical barrels

Oberdan, the winery Bovaro

Estate Vineyards

baby wine

local boys from Dodici Rondine

it works!

Agriturismo

Galina Aperta was a huge success. Basically it was a by reservation only, limited to 100 people, BBQ of chicken of course, panzanella and wine. Francesco is an excellent cook, not everyone can make great BBQ.

There was a DJ, fun people and a beautiful day, until the storm rolled in around 4 ish…..

Raìna’s wines are now available at Vinosofia.