Cortemilia's Celebrity Chef

The town of Cortemilia in the Italian Piemonte is not a quaint, picture-postcard place.

There is no grand architecture like Rome or Venice, no great wine estates like in Barolo, no famous villas like in the hills outside Florence.

The town of Cortemilia grows and processes nocciola (hazel nuts).

Tucked in along the main street is a small family hotel...the Villa San Carlo.

It's a three star hotel, comfortable and very welcoming, but not elegant.

courtesy: Villa San Carlo

It's not a place where you would expect to find one of the most famous chefs in Italy.

The chef is Carlo Zarri.

His family have been gourmet cooks for four generations.  He credits his grandmother and his father for inspiring his interest in cooking.

Carlo has been the chef for the Italian Olympic teams at the Salt Lake City and Torino Olympic games...the chef the American Pavillion sought out for Milan Expo 2015 (world's fair).

courtesy: Villa San Carlo

While touring North America, promoting Piedmontese cuisine, he cooked for First Lady Michelle Obama.

courtesy: Villa San Carlo

He's won recognition from Italy's most famous chef (and former movie star) and the "golden truffle award"...where this photo was taken.







Carlo's wife Paola (not the former movie star shown in the photo above) is the hotel's sommelier.  Just tell her what you ordered for dinner and she'll select the perfect wine to match.  Roger and Carol know because she did it for them...more than once.

But Carlo didn't earn his celebrity hobnobbing with the famous.

He earned it in the kitchen...where he rustled up three of the best dinners Carol and Roger have ever eaten.





Now for the food porn....

This veal plate is one of his creations.

On the left: Raw ground veal, with a dash of olive oil and shaved white truffles.  His grandmother taught him to make it.  He dressed it up a bit.

On the right: lightly braised veal, sliced thin and topped with a home-made nocciola mayonnaise.

A main dish...salmon perfectly cooked on a bed of riced potatoes with herbs.

And then Carlo's signature dish:  Vitello Sophia Loren...


Veal steak, pan fried in with a barolo reduction sauce, caramelized peppers and hazel nuts.


Roger told Chef Carlo the gourmet tasting dinner they had their last night at the hotel was not the best he'd ever eaten...only because the Vitello Sophia Loren they'd had two nights before was.