Eating in Italy - Part 2
But wait, there’s more! Since we stayed in Varenna for 4 nights, we spent most of our time also eating in Varenna. I made a couple dinner reservations, which proved necessary, but also left some meals up in the air. There are many day tripper to the city, but still enough people staying overnight to keep the restaurants occupied, they are also not large. And there are lots of lunching options.
The first evening, I had not made a reservation, so we sat down at Bar Il Molo for dinner, which has a large covered outdoor area, which was handy because it was raining on and off. There is also a lovely view over the lake, also a great place for lunch or aperitivi. And gelato is right next door.
We had a fairly light meal, caprese salad (this one was my favorite version), pasta fagioli soup, and spaghetti.
Nothing is far away in Varenna and Osteria Quattro Pass was conveniently right down the way from our apartment. It’s moderately sized, with two levels, but has no lake view. Specializing in lake fish, along with other traditional italian dishes, I was particularly excited to try some lake fish. The amuse was asparagus cream. Our primi selection was tagliatelle bolognese and salted fish with polenta. I jumped at the opportunity for polenta which was served in cake form with the fish, which was pretty salty, I didn’t love it, but it was interesting and I’m glad I tried it. On my first trip to Italy, I ate lasagna just about every meal, and although on this trip I did branch out a bit, I didn’t have to think too hard, before I decided on the lasagna as it was a special for the evening, and it was fabulous, creamy and cheesy. To finish the meal - Tiramisu.
La Vista, is part of Albergo Milano hotel (reservation required), and has a fabulous deck overlooking Lake Como. Somehow, the weather cooperated (it had been raining the other evenings) and the night we ate at La Vista, we were able to sit outside. However, it was really cold, especially towards the end of the meal, but they offered blankets to keep warm and kept piling them on as needed. The food was very pretty and presentations were very fancy, but as it got dark, it was hard to see and the pictures did not turn out. I enjoyed both the potato soup and the buckwheat ravioli with bresaola and ricotta.
There are at least 3 places to eat lunch in Varenna’s piazza, they were bustling at lunchtime, and much quieter or closed at dinner time. Here’ s a piadina with bresaola and caprese salad from Ventisettemetriquadri.
Da Luigi, in Acquaseria, across the lake and north of Menaggio, was a lifesaver, while we were walking the Via Regina, we didn’t exactly realize what we were getting into and hadn’t completely decided to walk the whole thing, but there we were at lunch time and hungry and Acquaseria appeared and we were very happy to wander into Da Luigi for caprese salad (there’s a theme here…) spaghetti, and gnocchi.
Peck, in Milan near the Duomo, is a market hall and a gift shop. There is a sit down restaurant upstairs and a cafe in the main area. We sat and had a light lunch of meat and cheese before filling up on gelato.
