An Italian Restaurant You Won't Want to Miss

TURIN, Italy, Oct. 20, 2009 — -- The Piedmont region of Italy may not be as recognizable as Rome, Venice or Florence, and its principal city, Turin, is often passed over by tourists. But if you are a food and wine lover, then the Piedmont should be at the top of your list of destinations to visit here. As every Italian would agree, you will dine to your heart's content in the Piedmont.

The northern region is home to the great Italian vineyards that produce the deep red Barolo, Barbera and Dolcetto wines. The surrounding mountains host herds of cows and sheep to make the hundreds of varieties of sumptuous cheeses.

Throughout the region, in even the smallest of villages, you will find superb restaurants that use these and other local ingredients that make the Piedmont Italy's food leader.

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In Turin, or Torino, its name in Italian, you might want to seek out L' Birichin, a small restaurant that was awarded a Michelin star in 2006 for excellence. It is found in a rather nondescript neighborhood between the Porta Nuova train station and the Lingotto; the area where former Fiat factories have now been converted into an exhibition center.

Ring the bell to enter L' Birichin and you will be welcomed by the owner and chef, Nicola Batavia, most likely wearing his chef's smock because he pops from your table to the kitchen and back between each course.

Birichin, I was told, means "the naughty one or the troublemaker" in Italian. Batavia seems more serious and serene, but is also clearly proud of his accomplishments.

The brightly colored restaurant is adorned with more than a few images of him, the bathroom has magazines containing articles about him and, if patrons wonder about the two out-of-place television screens in the dining rooms, they soon realize that they repeat his television appearances over and over again. So there is little doubt you will get more than a glimpse of Batavia.

But proud he should be, because the food is outstanding.

He opened his restaurant in 1994 after travelling the world in his youth to discover the tastes and flavors from other countries. But he says his earliest inspirations are those scents that came from his mother's kitchen. She is still a great part of her son's life and business: She works alongside him preparing the variety of home-baked breads and breadsticks placed on each table.

Lessons From a Great Chef

The most important thing to being a great chef, he said, is using the best ingredients and maintaining a passion for cooking. "There are no secrets," he said of his success.

When I first visited his restaurant a few years back, I remember being unable to decide from all the tantalizing choices. So we let Batavia choose for us. This time was no different, and the variety of tasting menu options was a great way to sample many different dishes at one meal. Identifying the courses we wanted, we then let the chef pick the plates and the selection of wines.

First out, the aforementioned breads were delicious and served on a long board that completely crossed the table. Mamma Batavia makes two types of "grissini" or breadsticks, one flavored with fennel seeds. There is flat bread made from corn, whole wheat rolls and warm onion bread.

This was one of the few Italian restaurants in Italy where I have been that serves olive oil with its bread (something that is expected at restaurants in the United States or the United Kingdom). The olive oil comes from Batavia's own trees that he has in Umbria.

But don't fill up on the bread because soon came the antipasto courses. First up were steamed baby zucchini and cherry tomatoes served at room temperature but stuffed with a warm pate of veal sitting on a drizzle of pesto. These were very tasty, but not that unique or outstanding. But the second antipasto.

It was a tepid flan of herbs served over a steaming hot "fonduta," or melted local cheese, which was surrounded by a poached egg. The egg was cooked just enough to hold it together, but when touched by your fork, the yolk broke to mix with the flan and cheese to create an amazing taste sensation in which you could distinguish all three flavors at once in your mouth.

The first wine served with the antipasto plates was Dolcetto di Dogliani, a substantial red. There was not going to be any gradual steps from a delicate white to a hearty red at this meal. We went with the full-flavored red and would keep going from there.

Before we decided to go with the tasting menu, I had been somewhat torn between the choices for the Primi Piatti, or pasta course. Batavia must have read my mind because the two dishes I had both wanted were the two that he served.

Pasta, Risotto, Pork, Washed Down With Wine

"Plin" are similar to tortellini or ravioli, although I am certain that everyone from Piedmont would not agree with my simple definition. The pasta is filled with what was described only as "three meats."

These ground meats and light spices gave the tiny rectangular pastas a wonderful taste from the inside, and they were bathed on the outside in a light sauce that would be wrong to call a gravy because of the way it was prepared. But its flavor definitely came from the juices of the meat filling. The "Plin" were perfect.

Batavia came out to briefly explain the "primi" courses and presented us with a Barbera. This deep colored wine is one of the best from the Piedmont. You can't help but think of cherries as you taste it.

Next came the risotto with Castelmagno cheese and a Barolo swirl. Risotto is a northern rice dish flavored by stock and stirred constantly to give it a creamy texture. The semi-strong local Castelmagno is added toward the end of the cooking process and melted into the rice, infusing the whole dish with cheese. A sauce based with Barolo wine -– the deep red that is also famous in the Piedmont -– was drizzled around the portion of risotto, while crushed toasted pistachios were sprinkled on top.

I was happy. It was delicious. Maybe it would have been a bit better if the television had been switched off; by the time our main course tasting was due, I had seen Batavia's appearance on the Italian equivalent of "Good Morning America" about 20 times.

But besides the mild distraction, I was keen to sample more and the "secondo," or main course, did not disappoint; seared pork medallions with a vitello tonnato topping.

The pork was seasoned with fresh herbs that flavo red the olive oil in which the meat was seared. The pork, slightly pink inside, melted in the mouth. The topping was a pure blend of tuna and veal – not at all like the tonata sauce that is usual in Italy and is heavy with mayonnaise. This chilled paste stood in peaks on top of the scalding pieces of meat to accentuate the taste of the pork.

This course was served with a glass of red from the Langhe district -– one of the best places in the Piedmont for wine production -– another full bodied wine with a 50/50 mix of Nebiolo and Chardonnay grapes.

It would have been fine just to have stopped there, but Batavia soon appeared with large champagne style glasses that provided us ample amounts of a sparkling Asti, a sweet white bubbly that we normally associate as something to drink before dinner, not to accompany the dessert. But it was a perfect choice, as were all the previous wines, partly because none of the two final courses was that sweet.

Great Food Served Without Stuffiness

I will admit that I am a chocolate lover, so I was a bit disappointed with the desserts. The first was a parfait of "cachi," similar to what we would call a persimmon, and a layer of chestnut. There was only a hint of sugar from the fruit in an otherwise rather earthy tasting dessert.

The second dessert sample was a mini-muffin made from nuts and nestled between a zabaglione froth and creamy custard. It was tasty but neither had even a suggestion of chocolate, which is also famous in the Piedmont region.

When I came in, I noticed the great selection of cheeses on the cart by the door, and I had promised myself that I was going to sample a few. But by the time the plate was cleared from our table, I could not do it. I will save that for next time.

L'Birichin is not an overbearing place, by any means. Batavia and one other waiter handled all the tables by themselves, and the patrons ran the course from some very elegant Italians to a few dressed in T-shirts and jeans.

A famous politician was spotted in the corner while the back room hosted a rather noisy larger group that got up frequently to go outside for a cigarette. The bright colors on the walls and the odd self-portraits of the chef worked well with the crisp white linens and the plethora of different wine glasses and polished silver.

It isn't inexpensive but, then again, for excellent food, the fine service and the variety of courses that we were able to sample, it wasn't outrageous either. We paid $120 per person and left feeling extremely satisfied and with the ever-attentive Chef Batavia standing at the door to wish us good night.