Long time, no blog. The reason is our March trip to Milan (in the Lombardy region), Rapallo (in Liguria), The Laghne (Piedmont wine country), and the unbelievable amount of planning involved with making that trip happen. (Did I mention that I was also trying to learn at least a modicum of Italian via Rosetta Stone?) My goal now is to share what I learned about traveling in those three regions: restaurants that serve amazing vegetarian meals, navigating grocery stores and markets, and sharing my embarrassing mistakes . . . so that you don’t make them!
The good news is that even in meat-centric regions like Lombardy and Piedmont it is remarkably easy to have a great vegetarian meal at most restaurants. The list of allergens at the restaurants we visited went well beyond advising if a dish contains gluten, dairy, or nuts. For example, here is the extensive list of potential allergens on the menu at Joia (the only Michelin starred vegetarian restaurant in all of Italy):
And while Joia was by far our swankiest dining experience in Milan, even more modest restaurants go out of their way to make sure that you are aware of exactly what is in each dish. To me, this showed each chef’s respect for their guests and the reverence they have for the delicious food that they lovingly prepare.
So, my first hot tip is to put The Fork app on your phone a couple of weeks before your trip. You can download it for free from the App Store or Google Play.
The Fork is Western Europe’s answer to Open Table or Resy. The Fork is more user-friendly and contains helpful information so you can narrow your search to restaurants that are comfortable with vegetarians and vegans. You can search by date and time, area (or neighborhood in large cities), type of cuisine, and dietary restrictions. You can preview menus, read reviews on both The Fork and Trip Advisor (which owns The Fork), link to the Michelin Guide, learn about the chef, get directions to the restaurant, and communicate your dietary restrictions or allergens when you make your reservation. Based on our experience on this trip, we found The Fork’s rating system to be accurate and were not disappointed with any of the restaurants we booked through this app. The Fork also offers discounts of anywhere between 20% to 50% off food on a limited number of tables at many restaurants – so it can pay to book early. You can also search by what restaurants are offering discounts and then search among those for ones that are vegetarian or vegan friendly. Since I’ve been a big Trip Advisor fan for many years, I liked the fact that you could see reviews from Trip Advisor, as well as reviews left on The Fork, without leaving the app.
The photo at the top of the page is from my birthday lunch at Vento Ariel Ristorante in Camogli. I hadn’t seen Vento Ariel listed in the guidebooks – I just knew that I wanted to return to the beautiful medieval fishing village of Camogli on my birthday since it was my favorite town on the Riviera Di Levante, and less than 30 minutes away from our home base in Rapallo. One of the dishes I loved was Trofie al Pesto, a traditional Ligurian dish with hand rolled pasta, green beans, potatoes, fresh basil, garlic, pine nuts, olive oil, and Parmigiana Reggiano. This is a dish I’ve made hundreds of times – but never so well. The Trofie was hand made with durum wheat flour, salt, and water (no eggs) and the pesto was undoubtedly made with a mortar and pestle. The pesto was delicate, silky smooth, and absolutely divine, coating every square centimeter of the pasta. I’ve always cut my green beans, but these were left whole and like the potatoes, they were well cooked and meltingly tender. Did the dish need added Parmesan or Romano sprinkled on top? Absolutely not! Cheese wasn’t offered, and if I had asked for it, I would have insulted the chef who knew that the dish was already perfection personified!
Over the coming weeks, I hope to share my thoughts about traveling in these three beautiful regions, along with my hot tips (and lessons learned) so that your future dining experiences in Northern Italy can be healthy and delicious!
