I arrived at my luxurious hotel in Milan (the Starhotel Rosa Grand) a bit dizzed out from my voyages from Paris to Baltimore to San Fran to DC, and did exactly what I tell folks on the internet never to do - ask the beautiful blond 28-year-old concierge where to go for lunch. Excuses are legion: it was pouring, I was not computing, my Slow Food Guide/Gambera Rossa/L'Express/Michelin/internet stuff was buried in my overstuffed suitcase, and I just wanted to get on with it. So she asks - essentially - "fast food or slow?" "Slow."
"There's this place, Giacomo Arengario, very well-respected, there are two others in town and it's in a museum on the 3rd floor overlooking the Duomo." "Hoo boy, 3 strikes already - chain, museum, view. But hey, it was walking distance and the Ethiopians were charging 5 E (down to 3) for umbrellas and, and, and...
The menu was fetching and I was most fetched by the linguine with clams (a traditional first dish for me when I hit Italian soil) but also described as having sea urchins - hummmm.
When it arrived I counna see the urchins but it became clear that they were in the rich, intriguing sauce, quite different from the linguine with clams, say in Palermo. Delicious and the flat bread was, while too salty, incredible as well.
With some wine, bottled water (4 E), coperto (5 E) and coffee (3 E) my bill was 52 E.
