Gold Dig #41

Officine Brera specializes in northern Italian cuisine. It is one of the many downtown restaurants on Jonathan Gold’s 101 Best Restaurants list.

It is an awesome, high-ceilinged space with a long wine bar on one end, and a wall of windows opposite a view into the wood-grilling and roasting magic. You’ll even pass by a giant stack of wood on your way to the bathroom.

The Dish

Their menu has a section of slow braised, spit roasted, and wood grilled options – a dream come true for me. They’re also widely known for their risotto, which every table seemed to have at least one of. I found myself regretting that we didn’t get a risotto as I watched plate after plate delivered to the parties around us, and I will definitely be trying one on my next visit to Officine Brera.

Frisceu

The Frisceu are vegetable sage fritters, which sounded compelling and were also in Jonathan Gold’s list of recommended dishes. In the course of my Gold Digging adventures, I’ve not often disagreed with the great J Gold, but this was one of those rare instances. The fritters had a wonderful texture – surprisingly light, crisp on the outside, and tender in the middle. The first bite into them hinted at a deep savory sage flavor, that somehow never quite managed to materialize as I continued to chew. It was as though all of the flavor was on the outside, but it was quickly overwhelmed by the blandness of the center.

Riso Farcito

The Riso Farcito are octopus ragu stuffed fried risotto balls. These were incredible. Perfectly golden and crisp on the outside, incredible risotto flavor and texture inside. This little taste of Officine Brera’s risotto confirmed for me why their rice dishes are so popular. I wouldn’t have known the ragu inside was octopus, but it was delicious.

Polpo e Fagioli

This is charred octopus on a layer of cured pork and beans. It tasted as good as it looks. The octopus wasn’t overly chewy, and had a perfect amount of the salty grilled flavor that I love. The beans were also incredible – big chunks of tasty pork in a bean sauce that had just a hint of sweetness. I actually found that I enjoyed eating the octopus separate from the beans, as both components of the dish were good enough to stand alone.

Pollastro

The Pollastro is the chicken you can see roasting on the spit at one end of the restaurant. It looks so tempting slowly rotating there before your eyes, but we were sadly a little disappointed. It was your basic roast chicken, which is never a bad thing, but nothing to write home about. The salad turned out to be my favorite thing on the plate – spicy arugula with nice tomatoes and fantastic roasted beets.

Pistachio Gelato

The pistachio gelato was wonderful – densely creamy, with some of the boldest pistachio flavor I’ve ever had in a gelato. I hate when pistachio gelato seems like it might just be vanilla with some green food coloring, so I was a big fan of how strong the taste of pistachios came through in this gelato. The accompanying wafer was also tasty.

Biscotti

The cookies were a great accompaniment to the gelato. There was a pistachio biscotti, an almond cookie, a hazelnut biscuit, and the big winner for me… the Baci di Alassio, which is a hazelnut chocolate sandwich that has a texture something like a macaron, but perhaps a bit heavier. So good.