two meals in Lezzeno

On two different evenings in Lezzeno we had a dinner that was featured the warmest hospitality and a dinner that was the biggest meal we had while on vacation.  That isn't meant to be a backhanded compliment.  I'll get to it.  Let's start out with dinner at Osteria Il Governo.

It was about an eleven minute walk along that narrow road with only occasional sidewalks to get to the osteria.  The restaurant has been in the family for seven generations, which is pretty darn cool.  The building had multiple dining rooms, and we were in the first, not far from the entrance, able to watch the bar and the comings and goings.

I'll talk about the food and drink in a moment, but here is what I loved about the place:  the people who tended to us.  All men, one of them the owner and host, they provided service that felt genuine.  Polished?  No, not entirely.  Who cares?  They made us feel as if it was their very real pleasure to take care of us, to bring us the food and drinks they were proud of.  The bartender came over and asked if he might make a special drink for any of us - I told him I liked gin and out came this fizzy and refreshing cocktail. 

The owner consulted with us on wine and we found ourselves yet again enjoying a delicious Italian red. 

Better still, when we asked him about a local amaro, he poured us some then comped the servings and even produced a bottle for us to buy when we inquired. 

That amaro is one of my prize items I returned with, and I plan to share it with friends to return that feeling of care and hospitality.

I also liked the food.  Yes, we had fancier food on the trip, but again, who cares?  The cold smoked lake trout carpaccio was very good. 

The duck breast with sweet and sour pink onion was also very good. 

The desserts - pavlova and brownie - again, very good. 

And then they brought out a dessert sampler. 

Was it on them, or did we pay?  I don't recall.  We enjoyed it all.  The restaurant interior felt cozy but not close. 

The night was an utter pleasure.  We walked home, stopping at the lovely little cemetery to admire it,

then made it back to the hotel and to bed.

Our last night in Lezzeno we had dinner at our hotel, the Filario.  The restaurant dining room had a fantastic view of the lake,

and although I will complain that they almost never had tables for more than two people with views at the windows, we could still see it getting darker over Lake Como.

As always, we started with cocktails,

though we opted for the wine pairing option for me and Conrad through dinner (Van didn't want to drink that much, so he stuck to his cocktail and maybe one more).  The wine pairing gives the game away - we did a tasting menu rather than a la carte.  Chef's choice, but we asked for it to veer more to meat for a change on the trip.  The various amuses and small bites then followed, each one quite good. 

I'll try to remember, with the help of the online menu, what else we had.

There was the duck egg with duck.

A pasta with truffles.  One of the best things I ate the entire trip.  Simple, so good.

A filled pasta topped with shavings of raw porcini.

Quail filled with sausage.

A palate cleanser of two carob - I think - filled pasta with a little gelato and olive oil.  This was extraordinary.

Crispy bread with butter ice cream.  Loved it!

An assortment of sweet treats ended the meal,

and I am fairly certain I once again had an amaro.  I think I also had a decaf cappuccino.  I think.  It was all so so very good.  And it was all so very much.  That pasta with truffles was not a small serving.  None of them really were.  All of us had a rough night after that, clutching our bellies.  Our own fault - our own greed got the better of us.  But ah, how awesome to taste it all!

a breather

A lot of posts, I know.  And still more to come.  Several more, I should think.  By the time they are all up and live, I will be back in Europe for the next trip and wanting to chime in from there.  It's a slog to go through all of these, so for those of you who have, thank you.

So, why not take a little breather.  Jump to the last full day in Lezzeno and a morning where we willfully did very little.  The weather was neither warm nor sunny, but we were darned well going to enjoy those beach cabanas at least once. 

And so we did, bringing some reading down and learning just how slippery that seating was!  But still, the setting was delightful,

and we enjoyed it while we could before taking books and devices back to the room and setting out for the little grocery nearby to buy some provisions.  Mortadella, cheese, rolls, chocolate, and a bottle of a local white.

I think that we did some repacking after that, doubtless read a bit, napped.  An easy day before a big dinner.

A short entry to give you a bit of a break.  Gird yourselves, more Italy to come!

Italy recap: on to Lezzeno

I need to say this before anything else:  Conrad deserves so much thanks and appreciation for doing ALL of the driving when we were in Italy.  He drove in cities (Bologna) and on freeways and on those narrow roads clinging to the hills that surround Lake Como.  For that last one, he merits some sort of award.  He got us to our last two destinations (and partway back to Rome, from where we flew home).

And kudos, too, to Van.  I don't think it's giving away any confidences to share that Van, like many, can be prone to car sickness.  No reading in the car for him.  And the front seat is better.  So he sat up there beside Conrad and provided excellent navigation.

Me?  I stayed quiet so as not to rattle anyone, chiming in conversationally from time to time, but otherwise occupying a back seat and reading when the landscape wasn't captivating.  So I did my part, right?

It was a somewhat rainy morning when Conrad went with Van to pick up the rental car.  I got the (heavy) bags down to street, and once we were loaded in, we were off northward.  Our destination:  Lezzeno.

I'll be honest:  the scenery was not amazing for the early part of the drive.  A lot of it was kind of flat, agricultural.  Important to Italy, not a tourist attraction.  That's fine.  But then we neared Lecco, and things got more interesting.  As we passed that town, an arm of Lake Como came into view.  Despite the grey weather, we stopped to admire and take photos.

Lake Como is shaped like an inverted Y.  Imagine the triangle that is formed by the two prongs.  We came up the western shore of the eastern prong (still with me?), rounded the bend, and came partway down the eastern shore of the western prong.  Got it?  Good.  Lezzeno was the community we were headed to, and Filario was the hotel. 

We made it there late afternoon and checked in.

The hotel property includes what look to be residences that either the hotel owns and lets out or that individuals own and the hotel manages and lets out.  I'm not sure which.  Our room was really a two-bedroom, one-and-a -half bathroom townhouse that was on the other side of the pool

from the main hotel building. 

That gave us lots of space, not to mention balcony and patio overlooking the lake.

We could sit there (and I did at least once) watching hotel guests and ferries

and other boats on the lake going by.  We overlooked beach cabanas

that we might have used given some good weather.  Ah well.  A mixed weather bag on the trip, but we enjoyed it all.

Once unpacked, we had no real plans.  Once again, we had a nice dinner booked, but for our first night, we simply went to the beach bar and sat out by the lake, enjoying what was the best pizza I had on the trip

and cocktails all around,

including a Hugo for me. 

Evening closed in,

we grabbed a bottle of wine and returned to the room to relax and read and eventually go to bed.