Osteria del Boccondivino
Under the wisteria shrubs, in a green garden, on a perfect autumn evening, I ate my first dinner in my new hometown of Bra, Italy (named from the Latin braida, for open field). My dining companions were my sister and a newly discovered classmate who lived around the corner from me. The entrance to Osteria del Boccondivino is through an ancient Roman-esque stone arched hallway opening into the most romantic outdoor garden/ patio area you have ever seen. I was there for a year long Masters program in Gastronomy at the Slow Food university. Slow Food is a global movement started by Carlo Petrini that advocates for food to be good, clean, and fair. He is from this region of Piemonte, hence the university was started in his hometown.
The first bite: seared octopus and squid slivers on top of smashed potatoes, delicate olive oil penetrating every nook and cranny of this antipasti. “What the fuck?” was the question that popped into my mind.
The first sip was a recommendation by our server, a natural red wine, Dolcetto, from the local Piemonte region. It had a deep garnet color with no lucidity and tasted acidic and vibrant with a juicy finish. This is a family run establishment and I immediately trusted them for the wine recommendation and more.
And with that first sip and bite, it was overwhelmingly clear and resoundingly apparent that I had made the best decision of my life moving to Italy!
When it came time to decide what each of us wanted for dinner, we made the easiest and most obvious decision: pasta! Our trio of pastas provided more sorcery. We had tajarin with Piemontese style ragu made with the local sausage (salsiccia di Bra), traditional agnolotti del plin (small pinched pockets of pasta filled with meat and served with sage/butter), and meat stuffed ravioli also with sage and butter.
The dessert was the strongest finish to a meal I had ever experienced. Sweet toothies might argue they were the show stealers. Jiggly panna cotta that melted in your mouth covering every millimeter with its perfect vanilla and caramel sweetness. This dish would end up being a top 3 craving for my year in Italy. Semifreddo with pistachio biscuits layered in to provide a respite from the heat of the fall night. Finally, a bonet alla piemontese which is a chocolate and amaretti pudding cake. The common denominator was melt in your mouth goodness, perhaps an intentional palate ender to let your mouth take a pause and savor without having to do much work.
I soon discovered that menus at restaurants in the area are pretty similar because of the simple philosophy of using locally available ingredients to serve the regional cuisine. In Bra, salsiccia de Bra (veal sausage) showcases the Piemontese cow and is meant to eaten raw. Castelmagno is the semi-hard cheese from the same breed of cattle. Tajarin is the 40 egg yolk pasta. Vitello tonnato is the unlikely combination of beef and tuna: thinly shaved veal served with a tuna/caper umami bomb paste similar in consistency to hummus. Weird combo yet it works like a fresh, bright sparky firework in your mouth. Agnolotti del plin, pasta shaped like little rectangular pockets filled with meat. These wondrous delicacies reinforce the concept of regional cuisine and the importance of preserving traditional dishes.
Each bite of this meal was delicate and fresh, in only the way that homemade, locally sourced, and rich soil regions provide. I remember thinking, if this meal was an indicator of what the year might bring, I was ecstatic to find out what was to unfold in my life in rural Italy. [Spoiler alert, I was not disappointed.] This meal made quite the first impression as it ended up being my first and last supper in Bra.
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For future travel, consider visiting places that are off the beaten path. The world is such a big place with treasures dotting and lighting it up. Go to a town like Bra, where you are guaranteed charm, to eat and drink well and to not put a single bad thing in your mouth!
