Did I mention that we are foodies?  We have really high expectations when it comes to food and wine.   We were in Barolo 2 years ago and we loved it so much that we returned this past May when we were celebrating our 30th anniversary. We stayed at La Giolitta where the lovely Daniela took beautiful care of us in her B&B. Our favorite meal was at La Cantinetta – where Maurilio Chiappetto, one of the owners, remembered us from 2014!  It was one of our favorite meals ever!

When we ate there two years ago we ate outside and it was wonderful.  This time we were ushered into the inner sanctum – a room we didn’t even know was there!  We didn’t even look at the menu.  We told Maurilio we wanted him to just “bring us food” that was typical to the region – and he could decide what that would be!!

We started with bubbles – a nice and tart Prosecco, always a good way to start.  And the wine….we love it so much….our host picked out a lovely Barolo that we were unfamiliar with but happy to enjoy.  There is a picture below – I’m pretty sure we can’t get it back in the States so I guess we’ll just have to keep returning to Piedmont! 

I think we had 5 antipasta – they just kept bringing us more!!  Of course we had carne cruda – literally translated as “raw meat.”  It is so good and so fresh it’s unbelievable.  Other memorable antipasta were the insalada russia which is a little like potato salad and then the most spectacular soft egg ravioli.  How do they do that?  A large ravioli with a soft egg yolk inside that makes the dish rich and delicious when it is released on the steaming fresh pasta.  Spectacular.  Then we had a pasta course.  They brought us risotto made with Barolo wine and shaved pecorino cheese, a tajarin with beautiful boar ragu and our favorite – agnolotti - little raviolis stuffed with 3 meats.  We were stuffed already whey then brought out our secondi.   One was absolutely succulent – Coniglio…or rabbit, in a Piemontese style and brasato al Barolo.   Sadly, we had no room for dessert but our server brought us some grappa as a digestif and that was a perfect end to our meal.   We had no idea how much we had just spent on this fantastic, memorable dinner but we knew it was worth every penny.  When we went to pay our bill, Maurilio asked our server what dishes we ended up with and then he just said “100 Euro.”  That was it!!  About $112 for this locally sourced, personally prepared beautiful feast!!  This was one of our all time favorite meals – La Cantinetta…absolutely outstanding!

Are you planning a trip somewhere in Europe? We can help with that! Remember that we are always available to you and your friends and family for custom trip planning to Italy, France, Ireland, England and all of Europe. We also still have spots available on our small group trip to Tuscany in May and our small group trip to Piedmont in October 2019!  We'd love for you to join us!  Feel free to reach out via email — We’re always available to talk about travel!!