White Truffles from Italy
photo: courtesy of Marinus restaurant
Fungus freaks will be popping up like wild spores after the rain to savor the prized white truffles of Piemonte, which have just appeared after Italy’s long awaited rains and will soon be arriving at several Bay Area restaurants.
On November 8th, Perbacco will celebrate its one-year anniversary with an evening of tartufi bianchi (white truffles) at the restaurant. Both an à la carte and a tasting menu showcasing the delicacies, hand-delivered from Italy, will be available, along with a selection of Piemonte’s finest wines, which will be poured from large format bottles (415-955-0663).
At Palio d’ Asti, former owner and founder Gianni Fassio will be inspecting shipments from Asti to personally guarantee quality of the mushrooms. Those that pass muster will then be featured on the fall menu. The current price for shavings is $25, while a plate of tajerin (noodles) with truffles is $40 (415-395-9800).
Meanwhile, Acquerello is waiting until the prices drop and the quality rises, but plans to offer its annual five-course White Truffle Tasting Menu the week of November 13th–17th, as well as add additional individual dishes to its à la carte menu (415-567-5432).
Over in Sausalito, Poggio chef Peter McNee plans to travel to Alba later this month, just like he did last year, to buy around five pounds of white truffles for the restaurant’s annual Festa del Tartufo week, which runs from November 14th–18th (415-332-7771).
And across the Bay Bridge in Oakland, Oliveto hosts truffle dinners from November 13th–16th. Waiters will be shaving truffles – from the Crete Sensese area located just south of Siena – by the gram over specially crafted mushroom-friendly à la carte dishes. We wouldn’t be surprised to see white truffles showing up in other dishes, too (510-547-5356).
If you miss white truffle season, which generally winds down around Thanksgiving, have no fear because their black counterparts will pop up on menus starting in December and January.
Down in Carmel Valley, Marinus chef Cal Stamenov will be preparing his 11th annual truffle dinner on December 7th. This year, he’s teaming up with Traci des Jardins to create a six-course tasting menu (paired with wine) featuring four varieties of truffles: French black truffles, Italian white truffles, summer truffles and Burgundy truffles. The menu will feature Stamenov’s signature truffle dish of white-truffle risotto with Carnaroli rice and Parmigiano-Reggiano foam. Prior to dinner, guests will enjoy a cocktail reception featuring a prestigious cuvée champagne and Grey Goose black truffle martinis. Tickets are expected to sell out early (6:30 PM; $500 per person; for reservations, contact Gary Obligacion, director of restaurants, at 831-658-3518).
Up in Napa Valley, La Toque's Ken Frank will be carrying on his 26-year tradition of serving all-black-truffle menus – yes, truffles are in the dessert course – in January (call for prices and details; 707-963-9770).
– Meesha Halm