erba brusca {milano}

Perhaps the biggest incentive for me to write my most recent app, Eat Milan, was the fact that Expo2015 is currently taking place in that city. I figured that even if a small percentage of the food focussed crowds that are expected to descend on the fair bought my app, I’d be in good shape. I’m telling you this in complete transparency, because while I write because I enjoy writing, and I write about food because I enjoy eating, when I write something like an app, it’s because I hope to make some sort of profit from these combined passions.

As it turns out I was right. A lot of people are going to Milan and many of them are turning to my app for advice about eating. So, Eat Milan buyers, if you are reading this, I’d just like to say grazie!

And, if you are reading this, and you are going to Milan to visit Expo, this post is especially for you today. No, it’s not about the Expo itself, but more or less an anti-expo. Or the Expo-antidote. Not that you need a medicine to recover from Expo, but….well, actually, I felt as if I did.

The Expo2015 is a very large and complicated event. The theme is how to feed the world, but  even though it is about food, agriculture and the environment, the impression I left with was one of of crowds, some interesting design and more cement that I’ve walked over in a long time. After my visit there I knew exactly where I wanted to head.

Erba Brusca is about as far away – both literally  and figuratively – from the Expo as you can get in Milan. Located south of the Navigli area, just outside the city limits, I’d been wanting to go there for years, but just couldn’t get my act together to get out there. It’s not that far, but either a taxi ride or long walk (or someone with a car?) is part of the equation.

But in May, after my Expo experience, a day in the country was what I was aching for.

Erba Brusca opened about 5 years ago, and bills itself as ‘orto + cucina’ : vegetable garden + kitchen. And in fact the possibility of dining in the midst of a cabbage patch was what I was hungry for. The two story building is located along the Alzaia Naviglio Pavese and once through the book lined front room (which must be very cozy all winter long) the building opens out onto a covered pergola which gives way to a riotous garden full of herbs, flowers, birds and vegetables.

The menu, over seen by Alice Delcourt, is rigorously seasonal, and the tastes and colors are directly influenced by the herbs and tones directly outside her kitchen window.

The day we visited was tinged pinkish purple, in the garden and on the plate. I started with a beet risotto – whose bright color was flecked with parsley, chives and coriander from the garden, offset by a swirl of tangy yogurt. Even our chicken liver crostini were topped with a riot of purple cabbage salad.

Freshly harvested greens were the main attraction in our  second courses. Domenico’s eggs came to the table in a portion sized cast iron skillet, with smoked trout and covered with barely wilted spinach leaves. My peppery arugula greens were paired with barely grilled zucchini and topped with dollops of herb-flecked sheep milk ricotta.

All the dishes were straightforward and – seemingly – straight from the garden.

It was hard to get up to leave this idyllic place, so after we finished out coffee we headed out to the orto, enjoying the sounds of the creek nearby as the bees buzzed all around us, before heading back into town, which seemed much further away than it actually was.

Erba Brusca
Alzaia Naviglio Pavese, 286
Milan
+39 02 8738 0711

For more information on dining in Rome and Italy download my app, EAT ITALY. EAT ITALY is a free app, and contains guides to Milan, Rome, Florence and Venice (and an ever. expanding list of regions and cities) available as in-app purchases for both iPhone and iPad