Day 19: Modena Part 2

Thursday was a little more laid back than the previous days. We slept in, went for a run and did some laundry. It's good to implement some down time because you can easily tire yourself out with all the travelling and sightseeing. We worked up a good appetite by the time we walked in the historical Giusti deli shop. Like we mentioned before, the store has remained relatively the same all these years. Locals come in to purchase cold cuts, cheese, fresh pasta and veggies. They also sell Italian staples such as vinegar, olive oil, baked goods and dried pasta. Our server led us in a back hallway into a secret dining room of four tables.

This is where we had our first gnocco fritto, a hollow dough fried in lard. It sounds heavy but actually it's the opposite...very light, not oily one bit. Each of the soft "pillows" were topped with a different thin slice of meat like mortadella or prosciutto. The other appetizer we enjoyed was vegetable fritters. It was very hard to tell which veggies were in the mash however, this is a good example that you can pretty much fry anything to make it taste good. Put a few drops of aged balsamic vinegar on top and you got yourself a great starter.

The first course was a cod, tomato and olive pasta, which had a strong fish taste that we didn't mind. We forgot to ask the name of cod but we believed it was the European favorite fish, bacalao. The other dish was a tagliatelle in ragu sauce with thinly sliced red onions on top. It was easily one of the best pastas we have eaten thus far. What we didn't expect to be so tasty was the guinea fowl with balsamic reduction. The bird's taste had a strong resemblance to a thanksgiving turkey. It was seasoned very well and worked harmoniously with the slightly pickled slices of bell peppers. To end the meal, we had a cherry tart, so full of bursting flavor that it almost made us jump out of our seats. There was no denying the fact that you were truly eating real cherries. This was one of the most impressive meals we had in on this trip. We will certainly have difficulty narrowing down our 10 top favorite restaurants this year with Hosteria Giusti in the mix.

Lately we have been following the European style of eating large lunches, as the main meal of the day and much smaller dinners. At Bottega 39, we had a very strange hummus and guacamole dip in a jar. It was hard to make out the exact herbs and seasonings in this odd combo but what really threw us off was the incorporation of some kind of mint, possibly spearmint. Normally the chickpea puree is mixed with cumin, sesame paste, garlic, salt and lemon juice. As for the guacamole, you typically have smashed avocadoes, tomatoes, salt, lime juice, jalapeno peppers if you want spice and cilantro and cumin for something extra. The only thing that was dominating our taste buds was a weird minty flavor that almost seem completely wrong. If you ever stop at Bottega 39 in Modena, just stick to their drinks.

Friday is our last day in Modena before we fly to Porto, Portugal, our last destination of this European trip. It has gone by so quick and it's hard to believe we have just a little over half a week left before we return to reality. A recap of Day 20 will be up soon.