<a target="_blank" href="http://www.langolodiabruzzo.it/">L’Angolo
d’Abruzzo</a>

Piazza
Aldo Moro 8

67061
Carsoli, Italy

+39
0863 997429

Food:

White Truffle Menu

Sunnyside up eggs with white
truffles

Poached egg with sheep ricotta
and white truffles 

Beef carpaccio, salt, pepper
and white truffles

Stone ground Durum hand cut
wheat flour tagliolini with white truffles

Char broiled cow’s milk
scamorza with white truffles

Pan roasted saddle of rabbit
with white truffles 

Wines:


<table>
 <tbody><tr>
 <td>
 <a target="_blank" href="http://vinousmedia.com/wines?utf8=%E2%9C%93&amp;search-filter=reviews&amp;q=1991+Valentini+Trebbiano+d%E2%80%99Abruzzo">1991
 Valentini Trebbiano d’Abruzzo</a>
 </td>
 <td>
 90
 </td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>
 <a target="_blank" href="http://vinousmedia.com/wines?utf8=%E2%9C%93&amp;search-filter=reviews&amp;q=1999+Bruno+Giacosa+Barolo+Le+Rocche+del+Falletto">1999
 Bruno Giacosa Barolo Le Rocche del Falletto</a> &nbsp;&nbsp;
 </td>
 <td>
 93?
 </td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>
 <a target="_blank" href="http://vinousmedia.com/wines?utf8=%E2%9C%93&amp;search-filter=reviews&amp;q=1999+Castello+di+Ama+Vin+Santo">1999
 Castello di Ama Vin Santo Toscana</a>
 </td>
 <td>
 92
 </td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>
 <a target="_blank" href="http://vinousmedia.com/wines?utf8=%E2%9C%93&amp;search-filter=reviews&amp;q=2009+Cantine+Viola+Moscato">2009 Cantine Viola Moscato Passito</a>
 </td>
 <td>
 92</td></tr></tbody></table>

I have recently stated here at
Vinous that I am a big fan of Michelin’s guide to Italy’s restaurants, as for
the most part, it does an admirable job of telling it like it is. Of course,
there are glaring exceptions to this rule, and the relatively low score
attributed to the L’Angolo d’Abruzzo restaurant in Carsoli in Italy’s Abruzzo
region is a case in point. One star would not be out of place, so the guide’s
rating is nonsensical at best.

You might say, given that you
can reach Carsoli via a zippy 35 minute highway drive from Rome, that l’Angolo
d’Abruzzo is actually one of the Eternal City’s best restaurants. I’m not
kidding: given the capital’s almost “I want to slit my veins” thought-inducing
traffic, you’ll make better time driving out to the Lazio-Abruzzo border than
you will trying to reach one of the city’s downtown trendy spots. 

<img alt="" src="https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1420835131556-scamorza+al+tartufo2.JPG"> Char broiled cow’s milk scamorza with white truffles

But the food and the wines are
why I really come here. Owner Lanfranco Centofanti is an artist of the grill,
and charbroiled meats are like a second skin to him. Son Valerio is the chef
(and exceptionally gifted with desserts) while daughter Valentina is an extremely
competent, sunny presence in the dining room. Should you only want to eat two
things once here (fools you!) then you must
try the mixed salumi and artisanal cheeses, personally sourced by Lanfranco
from local sheepherders and craftsmen. Even better is the char-broiled cow’s
milk mozzarella, called scamorza, that is melt-in-your-mouth delicious and of
noteworthy, truly rare aromatic intensity and flavor complexity. On this day, I
had the scamorza with truffles, but it’s so good it really doesn’t need them at
all. To be blunt, you really haven’t eaten lonza or scamorza until you’ve
tasted them&nbsp; at l’Angolo d’Abruzzo.

<img alt="" src="https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1420819639043-wines+1.JPG"> The wine list is also one of
the best in central Italy, with very good depth of vintages especially, and not
surprisingly, in the Italian wines section. That said, November is the season
of white truffles, and as Abruzzo is loaded with the darling little tuber, I naturally
picked a menu specifically devoted to highlighting it. Matching it with it two
wines that seem to have been just made for good ‘ol Tuber magnatum pico was even easier. 

<img alt="" src="https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1420834985823-white+truffles2.JPG"> Valentini’s 1991 Trebbiano d’Abruzzo is still in
very fine shape and though you can tell it’s no spring chicken, it’s still
remarkably lively and bright. Dark golden in color, almost amber, it explodes
from the glass with notes of almond paste, faded flowers and ripe orchard
fruit. Though I think the 1992, 1994, 1995, 1996 and 1998 were all more
successful in the 1990s, this is nonetheless a memorable white wine of uncommon
complexity. In fact, its rather bracing acidity was just what the doctor
ordered to cut through the luxurious richness of the egg and tagliolini dishes,
though ultimately the wine overpowered the carpaccio. 

<img alt="" src="https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1420835018194-ricotta+e+tartufo2.JPG"> Poached egg with sheep ricotta and white truffles

I absolutely adore Bruno
Giacosa’s 1999 Barolo Le Rocche del
Falletto, a simply outstanding “white label” wine that should really have
been bottled with the more prestigious, Riserva-level red label. I have no
doubt that Barolo loving Vinous readers are all too aware that Giacosa himself
readily admits this wine was deserving of red label status, but as he needed
cash for investment purposes at the time, holding on to the wine in his cellar
for another year or so prior to release was not in the cards. Therefore, savvy
wine lovers know to specifically look for this wine, as it is often available
at a much lower price than the quality in the bottle demands.&nbsp; That said, and even though it paired
beautifully with both my tagliolini and rabbit, I had so-so luck with this
bottle, seemingly prematurely evolved. Oh well, can’t win them all!

<img alt="" src="https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1420834950910-pasta2.JPG"> I rarely pass on a good sweet
wine, and on this day I was glad to retry two real beauties. Castello di Ama’s 1999 Vinsanto Toscana is one of their
most successful efforts in memory, quite sweet, smooth as silk and ripely
concentrated, but impeccably balanced. Very different, but just as good, is
Cantine Viola’s 2009 Moscato Passito,
a blend of local varieties in which the local Moscato Bianco variant plays top
dog. It’s a sweet, balanced, lively wine from Calabria that will remind you of
figs macerated in alcohol, dried raisins and arbutus honey, and that deserves
to be better known. 

-&nbsp;Ian D’Agata

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