A LA CARTE : WHITE TRUFFLES: THE ULTIMATE INDULGENCE.Byline: Larry Lipson The king of the funghi, white truffles from Italy, are in season and available fresh in Los Angeles right now. Only trouble is, restaurants are paying as much as $1,750 per pound. Wolfgang Puck actually paid more. Puck and fellow restaurateur Piero Selvaggio were in Alba, Italy, last week where Puck's winning bid of $7,500 for a huge 800-gram white truffle at an auction there became an immediate hot news item across Italy. By now that giant truffle may have already been cooked and eaten at Spago in Beverly Hills. Puck's Spago and Selvaggio's Valentino have stocked plenty more of the regular-size ones. Considering the cost of white truffles, if you wish to indulge, be prepared for very thin shavings of these white earthy beauties. Here are a few select restaurants around town that have enough money to buy them and a moneyed clientele who'll order them: Ago Address: 8478 Melrose Ave., West Hollywood. Phone: (323) 655-6333. Cuisine: Italian. When: Now. Menu items: (By request only. Not listed on menu.) Fettuccine with white truffles or white truffle risotto. Price: $60 each. Miscellaneous: Any reasonable white truffle dish request will be honored. Alto Palato Address: 755 N. La Cienega Blvd., West Hollywood. Phone: (310) 657-9271. Cuisine: Italian. When: Nov. 19. Menu items: Four-course white truffle meal starts with potato tart with white truffles and pecorino pe·co·ri·no n. pl. pe·co·ri·nos An Italian cheese, especially Romano, made from ewe's milk. [Italian, of ewes, pecorino, from pecora, ewe, sheep, from Latin, sauce and is followed by ricotta cheese-stuffed ravioli with marjoram marjoram or sweet marjoram (mär`jərəm), Old World perennial aromatic herb (Marjorana hortensis) of the family Labiatae (mint family), cultivated in gardens for flavoring. and white truffles. The main entree is either seabass saltimbocca Saltimbocca (sometimes also: Saltinbocca) (Italian: jumps in the mouth) is a dish (popular in southern Switzerland, Italy, Spain and Greece) made of veal, chicken or pork, lined or topped with prosciutto and sage; marinated in wine, oil or saltwater depending on the with prosciutto and sage plus white truffles or saddle of rabbit with white truffles. Dessert is zabaglione with moscato wine, balsamic vinegar and white truffles. Price: $65 per person. Drago Address: 2628 Wilshire Blvd., Santa Monica. Phone: (310) 828-1585. Cuisine: Italian. When: Now. Menu items: Tagliolini alla Piemontese cooked in capon capon castrated male fowl, larger than broiler, weighing up to 7 lb; produced either by administration of estrogenic substances or by surgical excision of the testicles. broth topped with white truffles, risotto with fontina fon·ti·na n. A ripened cheese of variable texture and flavor, originally produced in Italy. [Italian.] cheese and white truffles, ravioli stuffed with veal topped with shaved white truffles, John Dory with baby vegetables and mushroom broth. Price: Tagliolini $42; risotto $46; ravioli $48; John Dory $56. Granita gra·ni·ta n. A granular dessert ice with a sugar-syrup base, usually flavored with fruit purée, coffee, or wine. [Italian, from feminine past participle of granire, to make grainy, granulate Address: 23725 W. Malibu Road, Malibu. Phone: (310) 456-0488. Cuisine: Seafood. When: Dec. 9. Menu items: Similar to last year's seven-course white truffle dinner that included truffled crostini with beef carpaccio car·pac·cio n. Very thinly sliced raw meat or fish, especially beef or tuna, garnished with a sauce. [Italian, after Vittore Carpaccio, who favored red pigments. , truffled eggs, pumpkin tortelli with foie gras and white truffles, white truffles with sea bass and baby artichokes, roast squab squab baby or fledgling pigeon. with baby broccoli and white truffles, and Italian cheeses with pear mustard and truffles. Price: $98 per person. Posto Address: 14928 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks. Phone: (818) 784-4400. Cuisine: Italian. When: Now. Menu items: Shaved white truffles are available with carpaccio, fonduta and pasta or risotto. Price: Carpaccio ($30), fonduta ($35), pasta or risotto ($55). Miscellaneous: A large portion of white truffle shavings may be ordered with any dish ($75 to $90 extra). Spago Address: 176 N. Canon Drive, Beverly Hills. Phone: (310) 385-0880. Cuisine: Euro-Californian. When: Now. Menu items: The annual favorite here is the appetizer dish of agnolotti Agnolotti ('priest hats' in Italian) is a kind of ravioli made with a small round piece of flattened pasta dough, folded over with a meat and vegetable stuffing inside. They are prepared by either poaching them or by browning them in a frying pan with butter. pasta with four cheeses (mascarpone mas·car·po·ne n. A fresh soft Italian cheese with a high butterfat content, made from cow's milk enriched with cream. [Italian, augmentative of dialectal mascarpa, whey cheese. , locatelli, romano and goat cheese) and shaved white truffles. Price: $18. Miscellaneous: Occasionally, white truffle pizza is obtainable here. Tanino Ristorante/Bar Address: 1043 Westwood Blvd., Westwood. Phone: (310) 208-0444. Cuisine: Italian. When: Through November. Menu items: Variety of dishes with shaved white truffles include cornmeal corn·meal also corn meal n. Meal made from corn, used in a wide variety of foods. Also called Indian meal. Noun 1. polenta and fontina cheese soup, poached eggs with sauteed duck liver, smoked duck breast salad, stracchino cheese ravioli in sage and butter sauce and veal tenderloin with fresh duck liver sauce. Also look for tagliolini or risotto with white truffles and striped bass poached in chardonnay with a white truffle sauce. Price: Varies. Soups $18 to $20, antipasti Antipasti can refer to:
Valentino Address: 3115 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica. Phone: (310) 829-4313. Cuisine: Italian. When: Now. Menu items: Same as Posto (above). Price: Same as Posto (above). |
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