It's About the Cheese - Part 2 - Lugano Swiss Bistro Reviewed by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

  

It’s About the Cheese – Part 2 – Lugano Swiss Bistro Reviewed by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Raclette’s history evokes Switzerland’s pastoral heritage.  As snow melts in the spring, cow herder’s can take cattle higher up on the mountain slopes until they reach the lushest pastures at the foot of the glaciers.

The herders stay on these high pastures all summer and make rich cheese.  Villagers go up to the pastures where they heat half wheels of the new cheese over branch fires.

The villagers scrape melted cheese over steamed new potatoes, making raclette.

Lugano’s raclette lived up to my foodie musings.  Generous amounts of Swiss cheese covered the potatoes I ordered.  Sour-sweet cornichon pickles added crunchiness and a sour taste to the rich cheese dish I had before me.

My friend took advantage of the weekly savings to order roast rack of lamb with a demi-glaze and seasonal vegetables.  The tender lamb was juicy with a slight crust.  It takes decades of roasting to achieve that finish at home and make it look simple.

My friend’s dish came with Swiss Roesti potatoes as a side dish.  Roesti roughly translates as “potato pancake.”  The Swiss eat them for breakfast along with milky coffee.

To make roesti potatoes, the cook boils waxy potatoes, peels them, and, then, rubs them through a ricer.  Finally, the potatoes are fried in lard with a little bacon until they form a sturdier version of hash browns.

Lugano offers several interesting beers.  We drank Späten Oktoberfest and a Czech lager.  The Oktoberfest is a smooth beer while the Czech beer had more bite to it.

We ate chocolate fondue for dessert.  We dunked musk melon balls, banana slices, and strawberry halves in the chocolate.

I felt like a kid and still do when I eat fondue.

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France


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