The Daily Diary of a Wandering Restaurateur
Re-Capturing Cortona
Perhaps our second favorite town in central Italy is Cortona ... and, of course, we had to make the 45-minute drive over there from Montepulciano for lunch at Trattoria La Grotta.
More to the point, we had to have their spinach and ricotta gnocchi again -- blissfully light and
soft golf-ball sized bits of flavor highlighted by a fresh tomato sauce. If your idea of gnocchi is small hard lumps of
pasta or potato, you really owe it to yourself to cross over from the dark side and give these a try. The dish was every bit
as good as we remembered it ... and therein is yet another testimonial to the power of consistency, particularly with
signature items.
How many times would this dish have to disappoint before the bubble popped and we were no longer willing to make the
90-minute round trip? What is the real cost of relaxing your standards, even for a moment? Over the nine years since we
first experienced the dish -- and the four or five times we've tried it -- think of how many different cooks have prepared
the item and yet it tastes the same every time. That, my friends, is professional.
Beautiful downtown Cortona itself had a nice vibe of activity to it, perhaps because all the primary shops are along the short main street so all the action was concentrated. Certainly it was far from the crush of people we see during warmer months and the locals seemed to enjoy having their town to themselves. There was an unmistakable feeling of Christmas about it and my only regret is that we didn't get to see it a night with all the lights ablaze, the buildings lit and the medieval magic in full force. Maybe another time we'll rent an apartment in the downtown area and soak it all in.
© 2014 Restaurant Doctor
[