La Baia in Lake Como, Italy
Recently, thanks to a generous invitation from a close British friend of mine and his family, I had the absolute pleasure of traveling to the glorious Lake Como in Italy, staying at the iconic Villa La Gaeta, where James Bond was filmed. This was my first time visiting such a wonderful country and I had an absolute blast. Lots of delicious food, beautiful scenery, good company, and what I would consider to be a life-changing experience.
While I certainly had my fair share of pizza and other local classics, there was one stunning restaurant in particular that stood out to me and that was the wonderful La Baia, a restaurant located close to La Gaeta towards the small lake town of Cremia and had one of the most incredible dining experiences that I’ve ever had.
Today, I would like to share that experience with you, my readers, in the hope it gets you to understand just how awe-inspiring of an experience it was.
What is La Baia?
It wouldn’t feel right to talk about the delicious food at La Baia without discussing a bit of it’s history. La Baia literally translates to The Bay in Italian and was opened in 1994 by the Castelnovo family, and offers a mix of a stunning view of Lake Como, especially on their patio, along with a wide range of fresh seafood dishes that put a modern spin on some classic Italian fare for a dining experience that is pretty hard to find anywhere else near the lake.
In April 2010, Chef Ilario Castelnovo received the 2010 best dish and wine pairing Heinz Beck Trophy, an award that recognizes some of the best dishes in Italy, for his Risotto with Bitto Stravecchio all'Elisir di Sfurzat (Bitto stravecchio is a type of cheese and Elisir is a wine made in Italy’s Valtellina region)
In 2015, Ilario’s son, Emanule, won the same prize for his Pizzoccheri, a type of ribbon pasta made with buckwheat flour that is often served with potatoes, cabbage, and cheese; both dishes are now a proud feature on La Baia’s menu today.
Alright, with that bit of history under my belt, let’s move on to my experience.
Aperol Spritz
Given where I was, it was only fitting that I wash down all of the incredible food that I tasted with one of Italy’s most well known cocktails, the Aperol Spritz.
Your standard Spritz will be made with Brute Prosecco, sparkling water, an orange wedge for garnish, and of course Aperol. Aperol is a bright red orange-flavored aperitif, a category of liquor that is meant to be drunk before the meal as it wakes up your stomach and allows you to enjoy the meal more, not to be confused with Campari, which is a bit darker and more bitter as opposed to Aperol’s sweeter taste.
Some classics, you can’t improve on and the Aperol Spritz is proof of that, no pun intended, as the bittersweetness of the Aperol blended with the bubbles from the Prosecco and soda water makes for a very light and refreshing drink. However, the Aperol Spritz at La Baia puts a bit of a twist with the garnishes as, while it still has the orange slice, it also has some blueberries threaded onto a skewer.
I found that the tartness of those blueberries paired really nicely with the sweetness of the spritz. There was also plenty of fresh baked bread and dipping oil to go around.
By the way, if you’re planning on travelling to Italy soon, you should know that most restaurants will offer either still (naturale) or sparkling (frizzante) water.
Best Seller Risotto
Before I go on, I wanted to state that, prior to dining at La Baia, I did not know that they had won an award for risotto, so the fact that I ended up ordering risotto as my appetizer was coincidental. This particular risotto was swirled with a flavorful Ligurian pesto and stracciatella cheese from Andira and was topped with raw sliced red prawns plus some little balls of melon.
This risotto might have ruined all other risottos for me as the combination of the classic creamy texture with perfectly plump rice studded throughout pleased my palate in seconds, then a bit of sweetness comes in from the melon and the prawns, and finished with a light herbal note from the pesto.
As I was tasting this risotto, I literally said to everyone else, “That’s it, I’m not going back to America.” it was that good.
Some of the other appetizers at La Baia include carbonara with truffles, oysters, and of course the award-winning Pizzoccheri.
Angus Beef with Green Peppercorn
Moving onto my entree, of course there was a nice variety of seafood dishes that La Baia offered, but that night I was more in the mood for something from the land, so my entree of choice was La Baia’s grilled Angus sirloin steak with a green peppercorn-mustard sauce, served over a fried potato cake and grilled vegetable medley.
By the way, green peppercorns are essentially unripe black pepper, they have a similar pungency to black pepper along with a slight herbal flavor.
I thought that my steak was nicely cooked and seasoned. The green peppercorn sauce was very flavorful but did not overpower the natural flavors of the beef, and if I am going to have a sauce with my steak, then I want it not to overpower the beef. For the vegetables, there was a nice blend of bok choy, eggplant, tomatoes, and zucchini, all of which were nicely charred but still retained their natural texture.
However, what made this dish for me was the crispy fried potato cake underneath the steak. Crispy, fluffy, and seasoned perfectly, it’s a potato cake that would make the hash brown cakes at any fast food restaurant cry.
Ok, before moving onto the dessert course, I have to talk about one of the most stunning moments that I experienced at La Baia, that being their ice cream…or, I should say, the way they prepared their ice cream. Unlike many restaurants that would scoop their ice cream from a tub, the ice cream at La Baia is prepared table-side and utilizes the almighty liquid nitrogen.
Liquid nitrogen is incredibly cold, around -196 degrees Celsius, and has the power to freeze any liquid it goes into instantly while letting off steam that feels like stepping outside on a cold winter’s night. The result is an ice cream that goes from liquid to solid in less than 5 minutes. The resulting ice cream had a very soft gelato-like consistency that was quite pleasing.
Tiramisu
As stunning as that liquid nitrogen was, one classic Italian dessert was calling my name, one that I could not see myself leaving Italy without tasting at least once, and that being the ever-decadent tiramisu.
As I said with the Aperol Spritz, there are some classics you simply can’t improve upon, and tiramisu is one of them. There’s simply something about those soft coffee-soaked ladyfingers, that tangy and rich mascarpone cream and that hint of cocoa on the top that puts a smile on my face with every single bite.
Timoncello
All of the food I tasted at La Baia was on another level, but as a bit of a post-dinner treat, we decided to spring for a bit of a La Baia specialty, Timoncello, a type of limoncello that has fresh thyme steeped into it, making for a unique sweet and floral flavor profile that serves as a perfect digestif, that being a type of liquor that you drink after a meal that helps aid with digestion.
Overall, my experience at La Baia was one to remember for years to come, and who knows? Maybe someday I will get a chance to return.
