One of the special occasions on our anniversary trip to Italy was to take the train with two of the couples travelling with us, Mathiew and Christina, Cindy and Gary, from Firenze to Bologna to have dinner at Franco Rossi’s restaurant (Via Gioto No 3, Bologna – francorossibologna@hotmail.it, www.ristorantefrancorossi.it). Franco’s Restaurant was featured in John Grisham’s novel, The Broker, and one of my novels, Life After, www.dhtreichler.com . This was probably our fifth visit with Franco, our host, his brother the chef, and the staff who always make our meal memorable.
The arrival in Bologna in the modern and underground station set an expectation as only Mathiew had been to Bologna before of those travelling with us. The taxis met us and emerged from the underground, bringing us into the light and down the portico fronted streets of the main commercial area. We arrived on the main street adjacent to the restaurant, which is on a side street, but a barrier prevents tuning at this location. On an earlier visit to Bologna, Karen and I had stayed at the Grand Hotel Majestic gia Baglioni, (www.grandhotelmajestic.duetorrihotels.com), which is just a block north of the restaurant. We led our group to visit the hotel, to see the grand lobby and sitting room which overlooks a lower level breakfast area solarium we had enjoyed. This hotel had been the second-choice location for our anniversary visit, only because with a large group coming, we wanted multiple areas for our guests to be able to mingle and visit. While the hotel is a gorgeous venue, centered in the heart of one of our favorite cities, where people could easily walk to many sites, we ultimately opted for a more remote villa where we would be the only guests, but needed transportation to go anywhere.
Franco came this night and contributed to the lively discussion, pouring a welcoming Prosecco. The evening started out with the recognition that half our group wanted still water and the other half, with gas. It was duly noted that the sparkling half was all at one end. The conversation progressed from there about Bologna, the food and wine of the evening, along with experiences we wished to share.
To set the tone, Mathiew chose a 2012 Amarone wine and I asked about the oldest wine Franco had in his cellar. He had several Piemonte wines from the 1970s but he was not confident of their drinkability. He said that a 1986 Bertone Valpolicella would be the most likely candidate. The bottle was brought and decanted. The bottle needed a long time to breathe and although we were at the restaurant a little over two hours, it was just beginning to reveal its drinkability at the end of the evening showing indications of its fruit. Another hour would have made it a more memorable bottle, but it served its purpose as a thirty-three-year-old bottle for our traveling group to experience.
Franco supplied our table with fried zucchini flowers to start the evening. Cindy and Gary added cheese boards as appetizers that included an interesting onion relish, while Mathiew and Christina tried shaved octopus and Karen and I had Branzino with a light mint sauce. Each proved to be excellent.
The three couples ordered from just three dishes for our main courses. Cindy and Gary had a wonderful Tortolloni with a light tomato sauce. Mathiew and I each had thin pasta with figs in a white sauce, while our wives each had the Pasta Bolognese Franco is famous for. The simplicity of the dishes revealed great flavors underlying the ingredient combinations. The Amarone complimented these dishes wonderfully.
The kidding and good-natured discussion filled the evening with laughter and smiles until Franco brought out a Semifreddo with a chute throwing sparks into the darkened room. It was a perfect culmination for the evening. Photos with Franco and a Tesla taxi ride back to the station made the whole evening perfect.
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