Da Vittorio – Brusaporto (Italy) (***)

Food: focus on fish- and seafood
Address: via Cantalupa 17, 24060 Brusaporto, Italy
Phone Number: +39 035 681024
Website: http://www.davittorio.com
E-mail: info@davittorio.com
Guide Michelin: 3 stars
What I paid: 1269€ (For five persons including water, wine and coffee)
Visited: October 18, 2012

Da Vittorio is famous foremost for its fish and seafood. Located in a small village (Brusaporto) just close by Bergamo and about 50 kilometers east of Milan is a charming villa with its garden and two nearby lakes.

Da Vittorio is run by the Cerea Family and got its name by Vittorio Cerea who opened a restaurant in Bergamo with his wife in 1966. It got its first star in 1970, its second in 1996 and finally its third (present) Guide Michelin star in 2010. Today Signora Bruna Cerea and her five children run Da Vittorio. Enrico and Roberto are the chefs.

We went for the “In the tradition of Vittorio” alternative, which is a menu of fish crustaceans prepared according to market availability.

Instead of the “usual no name aperitif” we ordered a bottle of 2006 Ca del bosco dosage zero which we all liked.

The first (and only) amusement of the dinner was Ovuli mushrooms with tuna.

The first “real” starter was a sashimi with balsamic vinegar that gave the dish a needed good acidity. I personally liked this dish a lot.

As usually there were a variety of different breads to chose from.

Even though all in the dinner company have a huge interest in wine we are not that knowledgeable in Italian white wines so we therefore asked the sommelier for some advice. I really enjoyed the first of the suggested white wines and that was also my personal favorite of the evening (even though the succeeding wines also were good). The wine name is 2009 Bellavista Curtefranca Uccellanda. This wine is made from grapes that are grown in the Uccellanda vineyard, planted entirely with Chardonnay, in the village of Nigoline in the commune of Cortefranca, at an average altitude of 300 meters (985 ft.) above sea level.

Next, we got Cuttlefish with sweet nuts and popcorn. Some of us did not like this combo and did not understand why they had popcorn in the dish to start with and they also thought the taste of the nuts were too prominent and took over.

After this we got a dish of King Prawns with roveja and a cream of almonds.

Now we switched to the next wine, a 2007 Lis Neris Gris that is white wine from the Friuli region of 100% Pinot Grigio.

The next plate was one the highlights of the evening which consisted of rice with foie gras and crispy shrimps. I think the foie gras sphere (see picture below) was made with some kind of spherification technique though it was supposed to “crash” the foie gras ball and blend it with the rice. Very good!

After this dish we took a break outside of the restaurant.

A lovely Turbot fish followed the break.

Since we did not have a printed menu (and the menu was not available in advance since the market availability determines the dishes for the menu on a daily basis) we were now discussing around the table that we wanted one but only one more main course. This was exactly what we got and this was a large bowl of delicious fried fish and seafood. It was a little bit on the salty side if you should remark on anything regarding this dish.

The main course part of the menu was now ended and we now got to choose from a wagon full of cheeses. We ordered an Italian sweet dessert wine to the cheese and subsequent dessert, Faber Passito. Also, for the first time on a restaurant, I was served a wine in a Riedel Sommelier glass (maybe I have ordered to cheap wines…). That said all wines during the evening were served in Riedel glasses (but not from the Sommelier series, except for this last one).

We then got some really nice cake (I do not remember its main ingredients but I think it contained at least saffron). It may look very ordinary but the taste was anything then ordinary.

Next up was Mozzarella Ice Cream which all of us prized.

We then got some assorted berries (strawberries, raspberries, blackberries…) accompanied with some sweets.

It then continued with tons of candies etc.

To summarize; a very good fish and seafood restaurant that I actually think is more of a traditional restaurant than a creative one.  This is a reflection though I have seen for instance Guide Michelin label Da Vittorio as a “creative restaurant”. That said; this consideration bears absolute no negative association from my side.