Guests were treated to octopus carpaccio, baked veal with tuna sauce and panna cotta with a raspberry topping.
Instead of spotting and turning, lifting and pointing, I plucked chicken and scaled fish, baked numberless cakes and cheerfully witnessed octopuses beaten to death on some Tuscan beaches.
THE BILL Entrees, $19 to $37. WHAT WE LIKE Pork souvlaki, grilled octopus, petit veal osso buco, baked shrimp saganaki, mushroom-leek soup, dolmades; shredded cabbage salad, arugula salad with halloumi cheese; loup de mer, pink snapper, bouillabaisse, lamb chops, scallops with lentils; Greek yogurt with cherries, pastries, chocolate mousse, a shredded wheat pastry with vanilla custard.
When you see the charred carrots, avocado hummus with fresh za'atar, charred octopus with preserved lemon, and meatballs baked with tomato and ricotta on the menu, you know that things like squid with romesco, hot-chicken sandwiches and tempura cauliflower with fish sauce vinaigrette will not be far behind.
By the time you realize that it serves charred Brussels sprouts with a bacon-maple gastrique, roasted carrots with hazelnuts and meatballs baked with tomato and ricotta, the scallop crudo, charred octopus with preserved lemon and tempura cauliflower with fish sauce vinaigrette seem all but inevitable.
There's no road to the lodge (the staff collect you), so there's no light pollution or noise; everything is run off-grid – even the bread is baked in a solar oven; and local fishermen will show you how to land crayfish and octopus by hand.
Grilled baby octopus with white beans and tapenade sauce achieves a surprising level of blandness, as does a thick veal chop baked in a cocotte with pan juices and a few vegetables.
