Dinner at Villa Roncalli in Foligno is a special “off the beaten path” dining experience that is often overlooked by American visitors to central Umbria. This is a shame because Villa Roncalli is a restaurant of old world class and charm with a chef whose attention to detail and abilities in the kitchen have few equals in central Italy.
To best experience Villa Roncalli, you need to remember that when you turned up the tree-lined drive you’ve exited the “real” world of highways, appointments, computers and such. You’ve turned back the clock and entered the world of Maria Luisa Scolastra. An Umbrian chef with a talent for getting the most out of the region’s bounty as well as interpreting the traditional foods of other regions. For me, this world is paradise – just be sure to leave your blackberry, cell phone and wristwatch at home because you’re in for a long, luxurious night of fine dining.
In this world, the patrons come to dine, converse between courses and the great chefs don’t boil the food in vacuum sealed bags or play the foam and essence game. The plates are simple, straightforward and full of flavor. The ingredients are of the highest quality, often come from the garden outside or local suppliers and most importantly go well together.
Dinner opened with a fried zucchini flower resting on a pillow of softly scrambled eggs laced with more flowers and strips of zucchini. The fried flower was enveloped in a delicate batter and presented simply without an anchovy or cheese inside as you often find on Italian menus. The eggs were a soft scramble of intensely yellowish orange yolks with the welcome addition of chopped wild mint.
We last ate dinner here in August and on our way to Roncalli, I had mentioned to Gabriella that at about this time of year, I start to miss eating fish. Umbria is landlocked and restaurant cuisine rarely ventures beyond its borders. Tonight would be a break from the norm. First, Luisa presented a plate of lentils with hand rolled pasta and baby squid. The lentils were slow cooked with fish stock and scented with rosemary. The pasta was perfectly cooked and tossed with the baby squid and just a touch of diced tomato. The flavors were deep and earthy – a “mare e monte” (ocean and mountain) combination that was rich and intense yet soft on the palate.
Next she brought us to Liguria where seafood and basil pesto are staples of the diet. A pan seared scallop complete with its half-moon shaped pouch of roe rested on delicate dumplings tossed in a loose basil pesto. The pesto in Liguria is almost always of a looser viscosity than what you find in the states. If there was garlic in the pesto it was only a hint. The star of this plate was the fresh basil from the garden outside the kitchen.
Leaving the seaside but staying in Northern Italy, Luisa crafted an incredibly rich vegetable risotto with sage and a slice of tender, free-range chicken breast. The risotto was creamy but held firm. I’ve eaten Luisa’s risottos many times and am always impressed with the intensity of flavor she gets out the rice. I assume she achieves this through a rigorous concentration of the cooking broth and a generous handful of parmesan cheese. The risk can be that Luisa’s risottos tend to push the limits of saltiness but tonight she nailed it.
The meat course was a braised veal shank served with roast onions and tomato. The meat was fork tender and accented with rosemary.
Maria Luisa started her career in the kitchen as a pastry chef, so dessert rarely disappoints at Villa Roncalli. The peach and apple tart was served warm and melted in the mouth. It rested on a pool or pudding that brought back childhood memories of butterscotch.
Dinner at Villa Roncalli is typically a long affair (although I feel as though Luisa has tightened up her timing lately) and while the pace of our meal was leisurely, I didn’t feel as though we were waiting for courses. The service is very professional but relaxed. The menu is handwritten and difficult, if not impossible, to read so I suggest just asking for the tasting menu. The bill will probably surprise you (in a good way) given the number of courses and the quality of the wines. If you are in Umbria and looking for something beyond the trattoria, “off the beaten path”, and where the locals go for a special occasion, then Villa Roncalli is an excellent fine dining choice.
