But for the love of truffle

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It has been much, much too long since I saw enjoyed Belo's company... and for that matter, the Baller, too.  So a plan was concocted for us to gather and enjoy a few bottles together.  When I was given the task of choosing the restaurant, it didn't take me long to settle on 8½ Otto e Mezzo Bombana.  It was among my favorite and frequently-visited restaurants when it first opened, although I haven't been there much in recent years.  I figured it was time to go, and the fact that white truffle season has started also worked well.

We decided to order à la carte, and I was pretty ambitious... which prompted the Baller to follow suit so that I wouldn't be having one of the courses all by myself.

Our amuse bouche tonight was made with mushroom soup, sautéed chanterelles, mushroom foam, and shaved white truffle.  A proper start to our dinner.

Langoustine, langoustine tarragon sauce, roasted mushrooms - so this was supposed to be a "langoustine sabayon"... Those shrooms - which kinda looked like porcini - were very nice.

The execution was just about perfectly mi cuit.

Homemade tagliolini, butter, Parmesan and Alba white truffle - coming here during white truffle season without ordering this would be, in the words of Vizzini, "INCONCEIVABLE!"

Three of us had ordered the same dish, so Chef Bombana came to shave us generous portions of the fragrant tuber.  I've always loved the fact that he chooses to serve shavings from different pieces of truffle, knowing that each provides a slightly different fragrance so it's best to perform "assemblage".  And yes, there actually was a nice amount of pasta hidden beneath all the white truffle shavings...

Need I say that this was incredibly delicious?  I especially loved the Barolo-accented sauce for the rich Parmigiano flavors as well as the slightly grainy texture.  One of these days I may just come and order two portions of this with nothing else.  Maybe three.

Roe deer, porcini crust, chestnut gnocchi and natural jus, Alba white truffle - I actually ordered this for the deer and not the white truffle, but of course one does not say "No" when the white diamonds are on offer.

The roe was well-executed, and honestly not that gamey.  We've also got slices of chestnuts as well as chestnut gnocchi which were not much bigger than fregola.  So, so tasty.

For dessert I had wanted to see if we could get an off-menu treat I had the pleasure of trying last year, but unfortunately we were told that the kitchen would not be able to accommodate my request for white truffle sgroppino.  I guess I'll have to come back with VIPs like Little Rabbit for that.

Melon, melon pearls, soup, sorbet - very, very refreshing.  Exactly what I would have wanted in place of that sgroppino.

We had some petits fours...

... and I picked out a dark chocolate with hazelnut along with some chocolate covered citrus peel.

We were limited to bringing three bottles of wine, but I suppose that was good enough for tonight.

2008 Louis Roederer Cristal - very fragrant and floral, with a little toast.  Acidity was pretty high despite the palate being kinda round.

2006 Sine Qua Non The Hoodoo Man - 39% Roussanne, 31% Viognier, 30% Chardonnay.  Served 45 minutes after opening.  Really sweet nose of bubblegum, cotton candy, and vanilla, with some acetone.  Also sweet and butter notes.  After 2 hours a little metallic.  Still some acidity on the palate and even a little grippy, and later slightly bitter.  So exotic and interesting!

2003 Sine Qua Non Papa - 97% Syrah, 2% Mourvedre, 1% Grenache.  Served after 1½ hours in decanter.  Still very ripe and jammy, a little metallic on the nose, with fragrant leather notes.  Very sweet on the palate with nice spices.

A very happy evening.  We wondered why it took us so long to meet up again, and hope to plan another happy trip together soon.