Potenza, The Old World is New Again

Chef Walter Potenza specializes in old world Italian cuisine.  His restaurant, Potenza, in Providence, Rhode Island is both a gastronomical and educational experience.  You won't find the typical things smothered in red sauce and melted cheese.  The menu, or menus, each featuring regional Italian fare, are elaborate and many of the more interesting dishes require 48 hours notice to order.  The food is rustic, but elevated; it's heartwarming.  To me, this is the heart of Italian cooking.  Delicious food of course, but also food as a vehicle for a whole experience, at the center of which is family.  

Chef Potenza began researching Italian regional food after his father died.  Through a connection, he was able to see his father's classified military records and learned that his paternal grandmother was Jewish and that his father had protected 219 Jews from persecution during World War II.  Now, Chef Walter's menus feature many Sephardic Jewish Italian dishes and he hopes to show through his food that much of what we consider traditional Italian cuisine draws heavily from roots in Jewish food traditions.  

We ordered five dishes that required advanced notice as well as two desserts of the chef's choice: PIzza Rustica, a light quiche of egg and mozzarella with pork sausage; lamb, lean and tender and cooked in a terra cotta pot and flavored with lemons and oregano; a dozen tiny quails, their meat falling off the bone; rich, buttery and earthy mushroom ravioli in a cream sauce topped with shredded duck; and Basilicata, braised artichokes with potatoes, tomatoes, onions and fava beans.  To finish the meal we had Scodelline, a house-made almond pudding with walnuts and Pan di Spagna alla Nocciole, a toasted hazelnut sponge cake, which can also be made without leavening for Passover.  Both were light and nutty and not overly sweet.  

Reading Chef Walter's menus is a treat in itself and you can check out his website at http://www.chefwalter.com/index.html.  Anyone who happens to be in Providence with at least two days notice should call the restaurant and try one of his many offerings.  The dishes are all meant for two, but I recommend eating Chef Walter's food in the company of many.