A wise observer of the Italian culinary scene said that Italians can be outrageous radicals in their political life and crazy innovators when it comes to fashion, furniture design and housewares. But, when they sit down at the table they want the kind of traditional, comforting food they associate with home and Mama. In that respect, Jewish-American HG is truly Italian.
Or is he? Seems that high end Italian restaurants would beg to differ and Frank Bruni, a food writer respected by HG, did a piece in last Sunday’s Times Travel Section about these new, frighteningly creative (and expensive) restaurants in Italy. One restaurant offers its patrons a surgical scalpel to open a little plastic ball containing a raw egg yolk and caviar. HG gathers that if the diner doesn’t have the hands of a surgeon the tasty, one swallow morsel will land on the diner’s lap (along with some blood, one presumes). Madness.
HG and BSK will be in Bologna in November. And what HG wants are those tasty and traditional treats: Bollito misto. Tortellini in brodo; culatello, mortadella and steaming bowls of tagliatelle with Bolognese ragu.
HG can hardly wait to pour some red wine and bask in the joy of Bologna’s trattorias and osterias.
The radical founder of Futurism, Marinetti eating pasta at Milan's Biffi restaurant, 1930.