Stamp Your Passaporto at Il Fornaio

I confess, when I was invited to a media dinner at Il Fornaio (Il Fornaio is Italian for “the Baker” – appropriate, since they make their hand-formed bread in-house and daily), I was skeptical.

Why, you ask? Because it’s a California-heavy restaurant and catering chain of some 20-odd restaurants and your Hedonista is typically not a chain gang fan, but rather a supporter of local, artisan fare: they use all local purveyors for their fresh ingredients – all meat, fish, produce, etc. are delivered fresh between 5 and 6 days a week – as well as import various ingredients directly from Italy to Seattle.

Yet Il Fornaio still surprised me – it’s creative, at a good price point, and actually pretty darn good. Highlights include:

Apparently the Tuscans put bread in everything – literally – so we sampled both the Pappa al Pomodoro (cup: $4.99, bowl: $5.99 – tomato and bread soup enhanced with fresh basil, sage, onion, and Tuscan extra-virgin olive oil) and the Panzanella ($8.99 – Il Fornaio hand-formed filone bread and heirloom tomato salad complete with cukes, red onion, celery, fresh basil, red wine vinegar, and Tuscan extra-virgin olive oil). These antipasti e zuppe dishes were nicely paired with a 2009 Vernaccia di San Gimignano, Teruzzi e Puthod – one of the first DOCG white wines, this organic wine, made with Savignon Blanc and Pinot Grigio varietals from the slopes of San Gimignano, is light and crisp, with floral notes and an almond finish.

For pasta – all their fresh pasta is made in-house, with their dried pasta imported from Italy – we sampled small plated versions of the rich and creamy – yet vegetarian – Mezzelune Cacio e Pere (half-moon favioli stuffed with grilled pears, mozza and parmesan cheeses, and topped with an asparagus crescenza cream sauce and sprinkled with toasted walnuts (full plated serving: $18.99). And my absolute fav: their Pappardelle di Castagna (full plated serving: $18.59 – a fresh pasta made with chestnuts and tossed with Italian sausage, porcini mushrooms, tomatoes, crushed red peppers, and Trebbiano wine). This chestnut pasta is delightfully unique – they should really have it on the menu year-round. The wine pairing – chosen by Il Fornaio Manager (and acting sommelier) Mike Neumann from a pre-set wine menu designed for the Toscana menu – was a 2009 Bolgheri Rosato, Scalabrone, Guado al Tasso the (balanced) acidity cut the creamy cheesiness of the sauce for the ravioli, while the red fruit flavors of strawberry and raspberry complemented the nuttiness of the chestnut pasta.

For the secondi, we once again sampled small plates of their Pollo al Mattone alla Diavola (full plate: $19.99 – a partially de-boned marinated and grilled half chicken, served with their Tuscan salad and roasted Yukon Gold spuds) and their Merluzzo alla Livornese (full plate: $24.99 – baked wild ling cod filet, with a filone breadcrumb and basil coating, and accompanied by olives, capers and tomato sauce, served with fresh sautéed vegetables and those Yukon Gold spuds. Paired with the “Big Rediness” of the 2007 Super Tuscan Mazzoni, this was pure flesh ‘n’ potato heaven.

Finally, for dessert – or dolci – we tucked into their Bongo Gelato ($8.59 – their housemade profiteroles filled with vanilla ice cream and served atop a bed of crème l’anglaise with warm chocolate sauce) with a surprising pairing: a bottle of 2006 Chianti Rufina, Frescobaldi Nipozzano. Made with a Sangiovese varietal grown just north of Florence in the Rufina zone, the spicy vanilla and dark red fruit notes of sweet plum and raspberry made this the perfect mate to a very sensual dessert. (It’s tough to beat wine and chocolate.)

What’s more, they have a promotion they run called the Festa Regionale (Regional Festival) – an education and palate-pleasing trip through the numerous culinary (not to mention cultural) regions of Italy. As a result of this program, every month they feature a new dinner menu from one of the 20 unique regions they have identified. A “Passaporto” is provided to each patron for each six-month period, with a different region to be featured each month, as well as a take-home gift with every meal. The current regions (and gifts, which are subject to substitutions) of this period, which began this month and runs through to December 19th, is as follows:

Toscana: July 5-18 (Gift: Cannellini Beans)
Veneto: August 2-15 (Gift: Prosecco Stopper)
Sicilia: September 6-19 (Gift: Lemon Olive Oil)
Umbria: October 4-17 (Gift: Calendar)
Piemonte: November 1-14 (Gift: White Truffle Olive Oil)
Sicilia: December 6-19 (Gift: “Finitio!” Translation: Haven’t you got enough already?)
(Note that you can sign-up to get emails of these monthly menus, as well as your very own passaporto.)

You get a stamp in your Passaporto and the gift when you dine within these monthly time periods and purchase an item from the regional menu. Get all six regions stamped and Il Fornaio promises to give you one “hand-painted, imported Italian ceramic plate” a $20 gift card invite to next year’s Festa Regionale and enter you to win a trip for two to Italy (just give the Passaporto to the manager).

I’ll try to taste my way through … stay tuned, dear hedonists. Might even visit Veneto this week….

Note: In order to comply with FTC Act 16 C.F.R. 255, Heed the Hedonist would like to disclose that it does receive media “comps” and/or media discounts – but not in exchange for favorable coverage, or for withholding unfavorable coverage, of the given venue/meal/performance/product/service.