Carter and I were in Italy on a YPO Super Car trip touring the Grand Lakes – Garda, Como, Iseo, and Maggiore. Sean decided to join us for a few days on Lake Maggiore to celebrate his 60th birthday. Given this was a significant birthday, Carter and I decided to treat him and ourselves to an epic birthday celebration. As you may know by now, Carter and I are seriously into food – whether cooking, hosting dinner parties, dining at street stalls, or Michelin-starred restaurants. Carter consulted his handy Michelin Guide app and selected Villa Crispi, a three-Michelin-starred restaurant, for the dinner.
Our day started early in the town of Stressa, which in 1935 hosted a conference where the leaders of Italy, France, and the United Kingdom formed the Stresa Front to oppose Nazi Germany’s rearmament and guarantee Austrian independence, and consisted of touring three small islands located in Lago Maggiore.
Now back to dinner. Villa Crespi is a 19th-century Moorish Revival-style rural mansion built for a wealthy cotton merchant Cristoforo Benigno Crespi, who commissioned its construction to architect Angelo Colla in 1879 as his family holiday home and wanted it to remind him of the buildings he had seen during his working trips to the Middle East. It took over 30 years to complete the construction. Driving up to the villa felt like starring in a James Bond film. There was an impressive assortment of supercars in the plaza facing the villa.
https://villacrespi.it/en/restaurant
Dinner was fantastic as one would expect from a three-star Michelin affair, and unexpectedly, unlike many three-star meals, we were all able to order à la carte and select our dishes. As amazing as this meal was, I had plate envy of Carter for every entree I ordered. He has these amazing frog leg lollipops, and I ordered the meat cube. The meat cube looks great in photos, but I sure wish I had also ordered the frog legs. We all shared at least.
Early Bites…
Mains…
Which would you choose, the frog leg lollipops or the meat cube? At least the meat cube photographed well and looks good in photos.
The wines…
Deserts…
After a truly amazing and memorable meal, we set off from The Grand Hotel des Iles de Borromees for Milan to put a final cap for Sean’s birthday.
Milano here we come!
We toured Milan for a couple of days. We enjoyed a proper Veal Milanese at Il Salumaio di Montenapoleone, an intimate restaurant set in a courtyard in the heart of the city. Sadly, they had no tables for lunch; however, the bar had room!
Another global tour in the books. Goodbye Milano for now!
