My Favorite Restaurant in the World!

I know it’s a bold claim! Let’s just say that we are going to Europe for 17 days this May and are literally taking an over night boat ride from Corsica to Genoa just so we can stay for one night, eat at this incredible restaurant once again, before flying off to London.

So, a small bit of me, so you can understand the true excitement I felt at this moment. I am chef/owner of a small pasta shop in Ohio. I sell my pastas out of my brick and mortar, and also have been working hard over the last 6 years slinging my pastas at local farmers markets and events. Pasta is my life to say the least. My culinary teacher joked that she thought I must be Italian that first day we made fresh pasta in class, and to say that I at least have a soul of one, sums me up pretty well.

Tucked away in an Alley, where one might miss it should they not looking hard enough is da Maria Osteria con Cucina.

 

Walking in, we found the downstairs packed wall to wall while waitresses seamlessly shuffled amongst the crowd and happy conversation filled the air. The smell, well, it was incredible, and my husband and I looked at each other a tad heartbroken as it seemed that there would be no room for us. Finally a charming woman walked up to us, and quickly discovering our Italian wasn’t that good, simply smiled and lead us to the upstairs. The kitchen is upstairs so to say the smell was incredible would be an understatement. The only other table was a group of fireman on their lunch break, and gathering as we were clearly tourists, they gave us a friendly welcome . By the time our lunch came, the upstairs was absolutely packed as tightly as it was downstairs.

My heart leapt out of my chest when we got the menus. Handwritten was the menu of the day, and I found myself studying the menu for a bit trying to gather what I could of understanding. Gnocchi d Pesto alla Genoese jumped out at me as well, if you haven’t heard, Genoa is worldwide famous for their pesto. (Yes, we tried it on other parts of our trip, and nothing compared to this pesto!)

Now, Gnocchi was one of the things I wanted to learn as soon as I moved to Northeast Ohio. Oddly enough, there are a ton of amazing Italian joints and nothing beats fresh Gnocchi. The plate came, and at first I was almost unimpressed. I know, totally shameful to admit now. I was a little disappointed in what I thought was a lack of sauce, and hesitantly took my first bite. My husband laughed at me as I grew silent, and my eyes grew bigger with every bite and my eyes got a little teary eyed. The pillowyness of the Gnocchi and the freshness of the multiple fresh flavor’s in the Pesto. It was heaven. I had never had anything like this. My husband, whom had gotten the beef ravioli which were delicious, was in shock when he tried my dish, and insisted we go back again just to get this dish. Sadly next time we went to go back at dinner time, we were unable to get a table.

Now when I say this is the best Pesto we had on our trip, I’m not joking. Even in other restaurants in the Genoa area, didn’t have a pesto to compare. There’s were over oiled, and bland. I tried again and again throughout Northern Italy to find something that compared but could not.

Like I said, we are going back to Europe for our 10 year wedding anniversary and are taking an overnight boat trip from Corsica simply to enjoy this place once more.