Lecco, November 2021.
This is also a return, as I visited Lecco several times.
I will briefly entertain you with some historical notes, with the perspective of a Como native as I am. Como and Lecco are cousin cities, Como is located at the base of the western branch of the lake, Lecco at the base of the eastern one.
Como, an imperial city, has always been an important city. Lecco, gateway to Valtellina, has known its development during the Austrian domination.
Como had a very large provincial territory, which included the current provinces of Varese and precisely Lecco, which became province itself in relatively recent times (1992). Cousinship points out the similarities and, perhaps even more, the differences. As a native of Como, I am aware of Lecco's effort to free itself from similarities (with Como, with Monza, with Milan, with Bergamo... which are the most relevant cities close by) and to affirm its own identity.
I was in Lecco for work and had little time to wander around. I think I'll come back, for fun, and first I'll tell you about the lakeside (which is very nice). Next time.
Today I will tell you about a restaurant.
(Lecco, Italy. The bar of the restaurant Autentico. All photographs are by Susanna Pagani ©).
As I was saying, today's visit to Lecco is a return.
For some reason, which is still not clear to me, in the restaurants that overlook the lake and in those that are located just behind, in the central area of the city, people do not eat "well". They eat "quite well" or "fairly well" or "not well", but unfortunately not "well".
This fact constitutes a successful element of the local McDonald's restaurant, for one thing. Hint: I'm being provocative, but not overly so.
However, I do have some good news, fresh off the bat. The discovery of today is that I have found a place, in the centre, in Lecco, where you can eat well: the restaurant Autentico (do you need a translation of the name?).
(Lecco, Italy. Ristorante Autentico. Interior).
I was in the company of another person.
I publish the photos of the dishes first, and then I resume the considerations about the food and the place.
(Lecco, Italy. Ristorante Autentico. The lunchtime menu).
(Lecco, Italy. Ristorante Autentico. The spaghetti cacio e pepe. I asked for the addition of guanciale).
(Lecco, Italy. Ristorante Autentico. The ravioli stuffed with Grana Padano cheese with basil cream and pecorino fondue).
(Lecco, Italy. Ristorante Autentico. The Big Caesar).
(Lecco, Italy. Ristorante Autentico. Beef tagliata with sun-dried tomato pesto and baked potatoes).
(Lecco, Italy. Ristorante Autentico. The coffee).
I begin by sharing a curiosity. "Autentico" is a restaurant and also a pasta factory. The pasta factory is a short distance from the restaurant and we did not go there.
As I mentioned, there were two of us in downtown Lecco for work. After finishing our business (it was about 1:50pm) we called the restaurant to see if they had room for us and if the kitchen would wait for us. Yes they had room, yes they would wait for us.
It took us an extra couple of minutes to find it, because the restaurant is almost hidden from view for those arriving from the main street (Via Roma / Piazza XX Settembre, which are just one continuous walk away: as the square (Piazza) is long and narrow). In fact, while I was fiddling with the map on my mobile phone, the person who was with me asked a passerby for information, who kindly gave us the necessary directions.
This restaurant has chosen the color scheme, the lights, the decor, in a functional way to create an elegant and sophisticated atmosphere. Everything is modern, there is no doubt about it. Yet, I experienced modernist, rationalist, art deco suggestions. It feels like a place from the 1930s. If a jazz orchestra was playing, I would have thought I had gone back in time.
We were in the company of a few customers, so we experienced quiet and silence.
I noticed that the staff is present in adequate numbers. In other restaurants you get the impression that someone is missing in the dining room and the service suffers. Here we were treated very well, the service was courteous and quick.
We ate very well.
As a first course, we ordered, respectively, ravioli filled with Grana Padano cheese with basil cream and pecorino fondue and spaghetti cacio (salty cheese) e pepe (pepper), to which I had guanciale (bacon) added. The dishes were well served, as you can see in the photographs. The food was really good. If I may make an observation, perhaps I would have liked a somewhat larger quantity.
As a second course we ordered the sliced beef with sun-dried tomato pesto and baked potatoes and the Big Caesar, which is a salad, a reinterpretation of the more famous Caesar salad. All very good and tasty. In particular, the cut, well cooked, well presented and with an unusual combination of flavors, almost melted in your mouth.
We closed with a good coffee. Should we also talk about coffee? I think so, because by now even in Italy, certainly one of the homelands of good coffee, bars and restaurants serve poor quality blends, awkwardly concealed by the high serving temperature and of course for many by sugar. Many are getting used to it, for me it is getting more and more difficult to find a good coffee at a bar or restaurant. This coffee was good.
I also describe the restrooms. They are well appointed and clean. They are spacious, this is a hard feature to find in places on Lake Como, which rise up tight between the lake and the steeply rising mountains, because spaces are generally tight. Unlike many other restaurants, which I have visited, these toilets are also suitable for people in wheelchairs.
The bill is to be considered appropriate assuming the place, the food and the service.