L’Argine against mediocrity

The village is called Dolegna del Collio, in the province of Gorizia, 387 inhabitants. Yet Antonia Klugmann and Romano De Feo’s L’Argine , tel. +39.0481.1999882, is in the hamlet of Vencò, a total of 15 inhabitants, in the opposite direction to the border with Slovenia. The restaurant is named after the riverbank [argine] of the Judrio creek, flowing a few dozens metres away, an important stream for many reasons. Over time it’s been the border between Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, then between Italy and Yugoslavia, and finally Slovenia. But it’s also the border between the provinces of Udine and Gorizia, and, thinking about the local great wines, between Colli Orientali and Collio.

One hundred and one year ago, a bridge over the Judrio was also the setting, in nearby Cormons, of the very first Italian military action in World War I. That night in May there were no wounded. As of the following day, one million and 240 thousand dead just in our country. Today, sitting outside, it’s hard to think about all the bad things that happened here over the centuries. Antonia, thanks to Romano, built here a restaurant that perfectly fits her current means.

Talent is not enough. You need to come to terms with reality, so it seats 15 people. They are few, yet in the dining room Romano can only count on one person and so does she, in the kitchen, on top of the kitchen hand. A total of five people. If you have a lightweight physique, you don’t enrol in the heavyweight championship, nor in the medium weight one.

The building in which Argine is located, a mix of renovated countryside home and new spaces dominated by large windows, forms one whole structure together with the Santa Rita bed and breakfast, owned by the Giorgini family, tel. +39.340.0753210. Should the rooms under one roof all be booked, you can stay under the other one. It’s a good thing because if in the evening you know you can dine without the need to drive to your bed, food and wine acquire even greater importance in your mind. You won’t say no to some more food or drink.

This is what happened to me on Saturday 6th August. My expectations were high, so high I exposed myself to a disappointment. Not that chefs like Klugmann can move from trot to gallop and make a disaster. I mean an unsuccessful recipe, an insignificant, banal dish or one that goes down the wrong way because it’s absurd.

Fifteen tastings, fourteen perfect ones for me and as many for my wife Luisa. Except I wouldn’t have cooked the rabbit in the steam oven and she would have liked the beef liver cooked differently. Small things. Something you must patiently try to remember.

And in the morning a precise order, after leaving the Giorgini’s very nice place: breakfast at L’Argine. The best for years now, since the one curated by Paolo Lopriore when he was still shining over Certosa di Maggiano in Siena. Almost an early lunch: natural yogurt and cheese from the Zoff farm in Cormons, fresh fruit salad, three different cakes (apples, cherries and chocolate), different kinds of breads, butter and jam, ham and lardo from D’Osvaldo, another jewel from Cormons, as well as the cooked pancetta from nearby Slovenia, scrambled eggs «following Gualtiero Marchesi’s recipe, that is to say cooked in a Bain-marie», a salad of tomatoes from the vegetable garden… The more time went by, the more we looked like happy children left free to enjoy ourselves on Pleasure Island.

A final small note: the village of Dolegna del Collio, full of history, though it still has less than 400 inhabitants, with mayor Diego Bernardis, had the good idea of including a Tourism section in the official website. Excellent. When you click, you immediately notice it only has a subsection Where to dine. Indeed, where? What with agritourism, hotels, restaurants and inns, there’s a total of some fifteen places including l’Aquila d’oro, a historic Michelin star in the hamlet of Ruttars. Too bad they ignore the other starred restaurant in Dolegna, the one in Vencò…