The website of this small restaurant isn’t fully functional yet, but it does link to a Facebook page.
Last Saturday was cold and wet in this part of Lombardy, so the best option seemed to be to find a nice restaurant in order to while away the hours before settling down to watch some TV and snooze the afternoon away. The small town of Pizzighetone, in the Province of Cremona sits on the banks of the Adda river, which rises in the Swiss Alps before flowing through Lake Como and then on through the Lombardy Plain into the river Po. It was the scene of a major battle in the 18thC War of the Polish Succession but is today a quiet little back water with a collection of old buildings, a pretty crossing over the river as well as a pretty Church.
Opposite the Church of San Bassiano is the restaurant da Giacomo. A brief wander around the town in the drizzle wasn’t quite long enough to prevent an arrival at the restaurant 15 minutes ahead of the reservation time of 1pm. The restaurant was empty, so a choice of tables was offered. The choice made was of one with a view into the kitchen where a husband a wife time worked in silence to finish their preparations for service. The maitre d’ (owner? Giacomo?) was friendly and welcoming and a nice glass of fizz from Franciacorta was offered and accepted together with a plate of salumi, consisting of Culatello di Zibello and a cooked pancetta which was unlike anything I’d experienced before. It was gossamer thin with creamy sweet fat and a very pleasing smoked taste; the perfect partner to the Culatello with its notes of the farmyard! We were also given a spoonful of quinoa with provolone, a bruschetta and a deep-fried savoury foam!
The menu offered a good choice, with two different tasting menus, one consisting of a meat selection ‘proposta di terra’ and the other more fishy, ‘proposta di aqua’ and also an interesting alla carte section, with a focus on the likes of quail, duck and guinea fowl.
For me, the choice for the first course was Tortelli al “Grana Antico” e caffe ripieni di melanzane violette, e ricotta stagionata (Coffee pasta stuffed with aubergine and aged ricotta and finished with “Grana Antico” cheese and deep fried slivers of aubergine peel). It was delicious, even though I couldn’t detect the coffee element. It’s always good to see something a bit different on an Italian menu. I followed this, not with Faraona (guinea Fowl), as I was seriously tempted to do, but with Veal Kidneys with mashed potatoes. Wow! It hard to imagine how it would be possible to make kidneys taste as yummy and certainly nothing like the overcooked pigs version of school days. They were gently flavoured, succulent and perfectly seasoned. The accompanying sage sauce was well balanced and the buttery mash was as smooth as silk.
I don’t always eat puddings but when the first and main have been so good, its difficult not to follow-on with something sweet.
A saffron poached pear washed down with a glass of Passito was the ideal choice!
Oh and just a nibble of cheese, to taste.
My Kind of Food 
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