Updated Sunday, Jan. 17, 06:44 EST
TAKEAWAY: It is sort of hidden, off a narrow street and up long and wide stairs but Ancioe Belle Donne is worth finding when in Genova if you want gourmet fare in what feels like the dining room of your own home. And, the plum/date cake provides a fantastic climax. PLUS: Jacky’s Picks from Bild Zeitung
Follow the grand steps to Ancioe Belle Donne
Spaghetti al nero di seppia con calamari e salsiccia
I enjoy the Baccala coto a bassa temperatura con crema di castagne, served in a tightly closed preserves jar
Plumcake di datteri e cedro con salsa di cachi
Luca Abrate Brut Rosé from Italy’s Pocapaglia—-made with especially selected grapes
Interior of Trattoria Ancioe Belle Donne in Genoa
I pose with Fausto Cavanna, the man behind Trattoria Ancioe Belle Donne
We seldom do “restaurant reviews” in TheMarioBlog. Not only is it not our specialty, but there are so many who do it well that we leave it to them to do justice to the best places to eat.
However, I am afraid that while the food is superb at Ancioe Belle Donne, the marketing of itself probably amounts to zero, and my host for the night and former Il Secolo XIX editor, Lanfranco Vaccari, corroborates the fact:
I often come here, Mario. It is quaint, it has some of the best food in town, and the owner/chef/creator is quite creative with his food preparation, but you hardly see any advertising or marketing of the place. Word of mouth does it.
No better advertising than word of mouth, regardless of what business you find yourself in. This Saturday night, Ancioe Belle Donne (which translates roughly into—Anchovies, beautiful woman) is packed, a rather youngish crowd of lively customers who are engaged in animated conversations, reminding me how similar Italians and Cubans are when they go out for dinner and entertainment: at any table you could find 10 people but 25 conversations going on simultaneously.
That’s La Dolce Vita, which is quite visible at this restaurant , not a very spacious one (barely a dozen tables), with walls painted in two tones of peach, and electrical wires hanging proudly from one end of the ceiling to the other, proclaiming to the world that although almost everyone else could claim to be “wireless”, at Ancioe Belle Donne, we are still “withwires”.
The menu
Vaccari knows the restaurant’s owner well, and so we dispense with looking at the one page menu printed on what seems like grocery store brown bags, and go immediately for what the Maestro (Fausto Cavanna) recommends.
Il Maestro suggests Spaghetti al nero di seppia con calamari e salsiccia —-black spaghetti with calamari and sausage. This is a primo piatti, but it could have been a full meal for me. Not one string of spaghetti appears in my plate when I am finished. My eating companions clean their plates too. In fact, a little bit more of the black spaghetti would have been nice, except that we still had the highlight of the meal coming for “secondi”—-the baccala coto a bassa temperatura con crema di castagne. (This evening we had the option of having the chestnut sauce substituted for pumpkin sauce, and a great, savory option that was).
Highlight of this “second” entree: it is served in one of those jars used to preserve jams and marmalades. The jar arrives with the lid tightly closed with a clasp. When you open it, the aroma of the white pieces of cod and the pumpkin sauce say “hello” and invite you to dig in.
The bottles of Luca Abrate Brut Rose, directly from the Pocapaglia region and made with special grapes, help juice things up—-including the conversation which leans towards all that is great about Italian culture (that could be several meals here, something I would not mind at all), and how the world views things Italian——from art to film to fashion, and, indeed, food and drink.
Normally, I go straight for the expresso, especially after such a rewarding meal offering, but when the waitress approached our table asking about “dolces”, I had to give desserts a second glance. She mentioned a chocolate tart, and then, plum/date tort. That was it, I said. I must have that. No regrets at all, and I will run an extra kilometer here today, with gusto. That Plumcake di datteri e cedro con salsa di cachi is worth increasing the distance
By the time the tiny—-but robust——expressos arrive, a wrapped square bonbon on the side, the Brut Rose had done its job of making all of us quite animated, and I am just thinking of that song Fergie sings in the movie Nine——Be Italian. That girl certainly knows what she is singing about when she tells us “Live today as if it becomes your last”.
This evening, being Italian is what it was all about——eating, drinking, partaking of great conversation about Italian national treasures and celebrating life.
Fergie: Be Italian!
If you go
Trattoria Ancioe Belle Donne
Salita San Gerolamo 2r
Genova, Italy
Tel: 010 2534255
infotrattoria@gmail.com
In case you missed it
Yesterday’s blog was also about Genova
https://www.garciamedia.com/blog/articles/genova_postcard_from_hats_to_gelatos
Who is Jacky?
Jacky belongs to Frank Deville, of Luxembourg. Each Sunday, Jacky makes his picks from the colorful Bild am Sonntag and shares them with us here.
Front page of Bild am Sonntag devoted to the newspaper’s Haiti relief effort
The graphic that tells you what each of David Beckham’s tatoos mean
Sylvester Stallone the artist: did you know his paintings are selling well?
For more: www.bild.de
Making donations to Haiti relief effort
Poster by Philip Brooker
Former Miami Herald artist Philip Brooker, who has created this poster to raise awareness and money to help the victims of the devastating earthquake in Haiti. For donations: www.redcross.org
Clinton-Bush Haiti Fund
Also, former Presidents Bill Clinton and George Bush join forces to lead a fund raising effort to help devastated Haiti.
Go here for donations:
http://www.clintonbushhaitifund.org/
TheMarioBlog post #457