I was lucky enough to get invited to a great dinner at San Carlo Osteria Piemonte at 90 Thompson Street last night; it was to celebrate 50 years of great wines from Elio Filippino, a producer in the legendary Barbaresco and Baraolo regions. The wine flowed and flowed and flowed–I got a buzz pretty quickly but my favorite wine came at the very end when dessert was served.
Piemonte style cuisine is hard to come by, even in a town as big as New York. It’s a Northern Italian cuisine with a strong French influence and everything is very fresh and homemade using local ingredients. There are only a couple of Piemonte style restaurants in the city and San Carlo has an overall 4 1/2 star rating on Yelp and rave reviews in other online foodie sites where eateries get reviews. Pictured above is cold rolled veal with tuna sauce more formally known as Thinly Sliced Veal Eye Round, Tuna Sauce And Crispy Capers.
The buckwheat gnocchi in light cheese sauce were a knockout (the resto also refer to these as “buckwheat potato dumplings” on the menu for some reason). The sauce has beautiful locally grown herbs like oregano and basil in it.
The ravioli were stuffed with a Raso made of beef, pork and veal and they tasted like they were just made. The pasta was just the perfect slightly soft consistency. The sauce had a touch of red wine and natural meat juices.
The beef cheeks were something our entire table raved about. It was a large portion that was tender and flavorful resting on a large bed of chickpeas. The sweet brown sauce made with the homemade beef broth juices hit the spot.
The pan seared Arctic Char served with cauliflower purée, charred cauliflower and blood orange is a favorite at San Carlo among the regulars. My friends who ordered it could not stop raving about it. It is an incredibly healthy dish as well.
The traditional Piedmontese flan was a winner–it was light and delicate with a strong natural chocolate flavor and sweet chocolate, caramel and almond cookie crumbs scattered on top and around the plate.
The tiramisu, which is technically a Southern Italian dessert, was done in a light yet classic style with a beautiful sprinkling of powdered Lavazza espresso on top and Savoyardi cookies on the bottom. The cookies were beautifully softened by the homemade mascarpone in this iconic dessert. It was so good that I thought that some of my fellow food and wine bloggers would pass out at the table, LOL!
What really made my night was the wonderful Moscato d’Asti D.O.C.G. 2015 paired with our dessert. Sweet and bubbly, this totally “rocked my world” as they say. I plan to go out and by a case of this. And I will be drinking it alone, not just paired with a dessert–although our waitstaff member suggested that I wait to drink my glass with my panna cotta. I will be ordering a case of this and will be forever grateful that our waiter slipped me a second glass! For more info on San Carlo, go to www.sancarlonyc.com. If you want to try any Elio Filippino wines, speak up and a wait staff member will make suggestions for you! Any meat or fish entree is beautifully enhanced by their Barbaresco D.O.C.G. 2015 or their Barolo D.O.C.G. 2015. Be sure to also check out www.eliofilippino.com to learn more about how these wonderful robust wines are made.
