Friulian fare steps into limelight: Northern Italian region gains recognition as specialty dishes show up on menus nationwide

Nation's Restaurant News, Oct 11, 2004 by Erica Duecy

Pasta courses at Trattoria Tre Venezie include a traditional gnocchi filled with prunes and served atop bitter sauteed greens and a chestnut tagliatelle with lobster and mushrooms in a duck reduction sauce, which uses flavors of the region in a new interpretation.

Locanda Veneta, a Los Angeles trattoria headed by chef Giovanni Vit, offers a rotating menu that has included rustic Northern Italian dishes, such as duck-and-chicken dumpling sauteed with onion confit marmalade, veal chop broiled with rosemary and garlic-scented white-wine sauce, and a country-style chicken, corn and potato soup.

Back in New York at Barbaluc, appetizers include octopus carpaccio with lemon and parsley dressing and beef carpaccio with the Friuli-style Montasio cheese and mushroom shavings. Among the pasta selections are rabbit ragu served over gnocchi stuffed with nettles; linguine with shrimp, scallops and zucchini in Tocai wine sauce; and sea-bass-stuffed ravioli in a saute of cherry tomatoes, asparagus and thyme.

Meat and fish courses at Barbaluc include sauteed salmon and asparagus in orange-pink peppercorn sauce, veal cutlet with San Daniele prosciutto and Montasio cheese served over steamed spinach and roasted potatoes, and grilled lamb chops served with mashed potatoes and artichokes. The restaurant's most popular dessert is vanilla panna cotta with asparagus foam.