Three Dishes That Tell You How Good an Italian Restaurant Is
Pizza, spaghetti bolognese, we all know these dishes in restaurants that claim to be Italian. But how can you tell you are in a good Italian restaurant? Now, I’m not Italian myself, but I do love good (and simple) Italian food. Here are three dishes you can try to figure out if that Italian restaurant around the corner — yes, they are everywhere, just like Irish pubs — is a good one. And no, it’s not the pizza.
Spaghetti Alla Vongole
This is quite a simple dish: spaghetti and clams. That makes it a perfect test. For starters the spaghetti. Does it have a full taste, is it cooked just right, does it stick? Or is it overdone and rather tasteless. How the chef prepares the spaghetti says a lot about how he will treat other dishes. Then the clams. It’s easy to taste whether they are fresh and also, cooked just right. If they aren’t fresh, you can question the freshness of all the other ingredients in the place. It’s that simple.
Vitello Tonnato
Sure, you can place some slices of roasted veal on a plate with creativity and care, then add some sauce that sort of tastes like tuna on top of it, and sprinkle some capers on top for color. But that does not make a good vitello tonnato. Your first taste will tell you whether the sauce is made from canned tuna and mayonnaise, or whether it is made in the traditional way. With love and care. And time.
The veal should not be super thin, but also not too thick, and preferrably roasted to a rose perfection. This dish will tell you about tradition, the use of ingredients and cooking methods. If your chef takes the easy way out, he or she will do that with other dishes as well.
Risotto
My favorite. I love to make it, because it is a labour of love and you can taste that. Once a friend of a friend served me his version of risotto. He had put some sort of vegetables in a pan with rice and water and cooked it for a long time. Then he dared call it a risotto. Even though I’m not Italian, I was offended. For a good risotto, you can’t just use water. It has to be stock. And you can not put all ingredients in a pan and let it cook and simmer for an hour. You have to add the stock to the rice (arborio preferrably) bit by bit. Let the rice soak it all up, before you add the next bit. The result has to have a bite and be creamy at the same time. A well made risotto shows you the love of the chef for preparing great dishes.
So, don’t let yourself be fooled by fancy tables and plates. A great Italian restaurant looks simple, and the food is prepared with love and fresh ingredients.
What is your favorite Italian restaurant?
