Fiamma
206 Spring Street
(212) 653-0100
www.brguestrestaurants.com

ÎTis the season of white truffles and restaurants across the city are now serving up this gourmet fungus. Often called the “white diamond,” this expensive, rare delicacy cannot be cultivated and is renowned for its unique and intoxicating aroma.

“My first smell of white truffle kind of leads me to convince myself that I was in a good business,” says executive chef Fabio Trabocchi at Steve Hanson's Fiamma in SoHo.

Trabocchi says he likes to prepare dishes that respect the purity of the white truffle.

“Simple preparations the key on making white truffles stand out, because it’s all about this one ingredient,” says Trabocchi. “It’s not about whatever surrounding ingredient. The most traditional way to serve truffle is sunny side up eggs like this with parmesan cheese and maybe few slices of pork guanciale or panchetta."

White truffles are best used as soon as they're picked. With each day that passes they lose about five percent of their weight and flavor.

The day we visited Fiamma, Paramount Caviar, a distributor of gourmet goods, had just delivered a box of white truffles from Alba, Italy. There, trained dogs sniff out the prized food at the foot of oak trees. This year Massimo Vidoni of Paramount says white truffle season has been tragic.

“Very few rain through the summer and a lot of rain at the end of the season and the beginning of fall reduced the spores of truffle that is in the ground, therefore we have a very, very bad harvest,” says Massimo Vidoni of Paramount Caviar. “I mean the quality is very good. It’s that we find very, very few truffles in respect to other years. We're talking about 60 to 70 percent less truffles, which drove the price astronomically high.”

Just how high? White truffles can cost more than $3,000 per pound wholesale.

Fiamma offers a $75 and a $100 prix fixe menu and typically charges an $80 supplement for a dish featuring white truffles.

Out of a possible 30, Fiamma scores a 25 for food and a 23 for both dŽcor and service in the Zagat Restaurant guide. But Zagat notes a recent renovation and the arrival of Chef Trabocchi means the ratings could change.

— Shazia Khan