Our exceptional last dinner at the Borgo Pignano

Tuesday, May 09, 2017 - An exceptional dinner at the Borgo Pignano

A most beautiful work of art!

Vernaccia Riserva from Sanice Cesani

After a nice few hours in San Gimignano in the morning, in the afternoon, Mike went out running, biking and swimming and I took a nap.  We had reservations for dinner tonight at the Borgo Pignano's restaurant.  In contrast to Sunday night, when we were the only diners, there were 4 tables for dinner tonight.

Amuse bouche - take a guess and read below to find out what it was...

We started with our Vernaccia Riserva and an amuse bouche of thinly sliced veal tongue, garnished with sweet and sour onions on a layer of crème of asparagus – delicious.  The tongue was thinly sliced and tender and the tartness of the onions and freshness of the asparagus really shined.

A most beautifully arranged starter - the red beets are actually balls of goat cheese, covered in red aspic, with rhubarb compote, fresh garden miniature greens and herbs, and hazelnut crumbles

 We each ordered starters – mine (above) was goat cheese, encased in a raspberry aspic casing that made it look like miniature beets, with rhubarb compote and fresh herbs.  One of the most beautiful and delicate presentations I’ve ever seen.  Mike had smoked tuna from Isola di Elba (below), with thinly sliced radishes and cubes of veal nerve – also with a most careful presentation.

Mike's starter - smoked tuna from Elba Island  with miniature herbs, greens and radishes

 We had a “first course” for our main meal -  not too much, but such impressive presentations and flavors.  Michael had a ravioli with cheese, two kinds of pepper corns, olives and cocoa powder.

Mike's ravioli with olives, cheese, pink peppercorns and cocoa powder

My main dish was absolutely indescribable – a tortelli of venison (from the estate), cream of carrot, currents and finocchio.  The sweetness of the carrots, combined with the tart burst of current and the licorice flavor of the fennel was out of this world. The maître d’ served me a glass of sangiovese red wine (something del Diavolo – and it truly was from the devil!) to accompany the venison ragu.

Tortellini with venison ragu, cream of carrots, and currents - amazing!

A big Tuscan sangiovese to handle the venison.  Notice all the Volterran alabaster serving items for the bread, wine & oil.

I had a dessert of fennel crème brulee, with raspberry sorbet and carmelized artichokes (no kidding!), which was also out of these world.  And as a surprise, our waiter served some local Vin Santo, which was extremely tasty with the dessert.

Can you believe it?  Fennel creme brûlée, with carmelized artichokes and raspberry sorbet. Yum and smiles.

A lovely local Vin Santo was a complementary part of our dessert...

 As before, we finished with a complementary sampling of the final sweets – this time there was pistachio macaroons, hazelnut puffs, micro pear tartlets and white chocolate truffles covered in dark chocolate aspic made to look like baby bosc pears. Michael was off to bed by 9 PM, after all his exercise today.  I stayed to sign our bill (il conto), finish my Vin Santo and made it up to the room after 2 hours of sheer dining and drinking  pleasure.

We leave il Borgo Pignono tomorrow and head to the Villa Cicolina in Montepulciano.  I’ll be sad to say goodbye to this location.  With over 60 workers on site, this is the most pampered place we have ever stayed.  What a delightful treat it has been!