With the exception of last year’s Winter Olympics, Torino (aka Turin) doesn’t get much attention despite the fact its only 90 mins. from Milan. While frequently overlooked, this refined Northern Italian city can dish up some of the best of Piedmontese cuisine. Here are some very affordable, very good restaurants if you find your way to Turin…
> Mood Libri & CaffèA design-minded café with a bookstore. In the shadow of a monumental palazzo, try the tiny roasted potatoes, focaccia with artichokes, prosciutto, mortadella, mozzarella, and a farfalle salad tangy with capers. The bill? Niente. That’s right: zip, zero, zilch—provided you order a drink. Welcome to the aperitivo hour: a cherished tradition in the food-obsessed Piedmontese capital, home of vermouth, grissini breadsticks, and gratis hors d’oeuvres. Why go home after work? locals seem to say. Why not linger at an ornate bar or café over a Punt e Mes or Negroni and some free stuzzichini? Why not, indeed! Tramezzine, mini-pizzete, baby panini—the parade of dainty edibles will have your heads spinning at the burnished cafés on baroque Piazza San Carlo.
> Caffè San Carlo Laid out under a vast chandelier, the spread is as rococo as the florid 1822 interior. So civilized is the mood, you don’t dare refill your plates yet again with the lush half-moons of eggplant parmigiana or the canapés dressed with cream-cheese curlicues and folds of bresaola.
> Pizzeria da Cristina, an oasis of Neapolitan warmth and tomato sauce just outside the center. try the blistery wild-greens-and-sausage pie. Cantina, a bunker-like bar which harbors such improbable treats as a wooden board of meaty pancetta, beautiful roasted vegetables, and a fluffy rice, pea, and frittata salad I want to eat every day.
> Vinicola Al Sorij, a short walk away near the Po River. At this enoteca con cucina, we share soft chickpea farinata, triangles of airy pesto quiche, crudités, and first-rate salumi.
>Le Vitel Étonné (a play on vitello tonnato). For the adventurous, savior the soft slices of tongue in a sharp salsa verde, and a creamy insalata russa. Turin’s most famous dish: pink slices of veal baked over salt at low temperature come cloaked in a divine tuna mayonnaise with just the right doses of anchovy, capers, and mustard. During aperitivo hour you can taste the vitello—and other favorites—in small portions.
>Ristorante Sotto La Mole, with its arched brick ceiling, housed in a former horse stable by the National Cinema Museum. Prices are reasonable, but you’ll gladly pay double for chef Simone Ferrero’s inspired treatments of Piedmontese pastas. Thin strands of eggy saffron tajarin are freshened with raw tomato and herbed oil. Rugged hand-shaped agnolotti bulge with roasted meat filling. And for dessert, that sine qua non of Piedmontese sweets: baked peach stuffed with a wicked almondy mousse of cocoa and crushed amaretti biscuits.
> Eataly. Crammed with Slow Food–sanctioned comestibles and various dining counters, this massive food bazaar in nearby Lingotto makes Whole Foods look like a 7-Eleven. Hustle past all the prosciuttos and cheeses and pastas and vinegars, to find counter fare. First, focaccia di Recco, an oozy Ligurian beauty filled with pungent Stracchino cheese, then a carpaccio of Piedmontese beef, followed by a perfect seafood grigliata — at three different dining stalls. Dishes at most Eataly counters average about 13 bucks—including a bottle of mineral water, gratis. (source: Travel & Leisure)
