Jorge Meraz: Folks, today in "Crossing South" we're savoring Italian cuisine in the heart of Valle de Guadalupe at Tre Galline, where tradition meets culinary artistry, and it's coming to you right now.

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ Jorge: The Guadalupe Valley is an agricultural region just north of the city of Ensenada.

This area is the wine capital of the entire country, and according to some estimates, produces about 70% of all Mexican wine.

It has become a popular tourist destination for not only the wine but the entire cuisine experience.

Jorge: It's a lovely afternoon here in Valle de Guadalupe.

Beautiful terrace, right?

Open-air dining.

It's an Italian restaurant that's come highly recommended.

For a long time people have been telling us, "You got to go to this place, Tre Galline," which--you know, I'm rough on my Italian, but it seems like it means the three chickens.

And I'm going to get a confirmation right now from this guy right here; how are you doing, Ivan?

How are you doing?

Ivan Alfonsini?

Ivan Almici: Almici.

Jorge: Almici.

I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

Ivan Almici.

Ivan, very nice to meet you.

You are the chef here at Tre Galline?

Is that what it means, three chickens, three hens?

Ivan: Tre Galline, three hens, yeah.

Jorge: Three hens, okay.

Can you tell me why the name?

What's the--where is this--the story of the name.

Ivan: We have to go back in time about 20 years ago.

Angelo and Magda, the owner of the place, come from Italy as well.

Actually, we came from the same area.

Jorge: What's the name of the area?

Ivan: It's Salò in Garda lake, Lago di Garda.

It's in between Milan and Verona down the Dolomites.

Jorge: Oh, I love the Dolomites.

That's on my bucket list.

Ivan: It's one of the biggest lake of Europe.

It's unique.

It's beautiful.

Jorge: Lago di Garda.

Is that the name?

Ivan: Lago di Garda.

Jorge: Di Garda like the guard, or what is it?

Ivan: Garda is--no, it's just a name, doesn't have translation.

Jorge: So you guys came from that area.

Again the name, Salò?

Ivan: Salò.

Salò is the place, yeah.

Jorge: Salò is the--is that a city, a town?

Ivan: It's a town, yeah.

Jorge: It's a town, okay.

And is the food here at Tre Galline typical of Salò?

Ivan: Absolutely.

Jorge: Oh my God.

Ivan: From Salò, the northern Italia--the northern Italy, and also from other parts of Italy.

Jorge: You've included other parts as well?

Ivan: Yeah, basically it's a traditional kitchen.

We start from the roots--from our roots, then we put some new touches, modern touches, also some Mexican touches.

We are in Mexico, come on.

We have to do it, but never will--never forgetting the--our roots, the base of the tradition or the Italian flavors.

Jorge: Like any Italian restaurant worth its salt, Tre Galline makes its own pasta from scratch.

Ivan: We're going to make pappardelle relleno.

Jorge: Relleno, is that like stuffed, like in Spanish stuffed?

Okay, okay.

So what are we stuffing the pappardelle with?

Ivan: So we're going to stuff it with lamb ragu.

We prepare ragu.

Jorge: What does ragu mean?

Ivan: Ragu actually means--it's a term to define a preparation.

Like salsa bolognesa, that's a--that's called a ragu.

It's a ground meat, can be also fish.

It means preparation that goes for pretty much time--pretty long time.

Jorge: Okay, it's prepared over a period of time.

Ivan: Especially in the meats, goes for about 4 or 5 hour or even more.

Jorge: Whether it's the sauce or meat, ragu refers to the way it was prepared?

Oh, okay, got you.

Ivan: It's a kind of preparation.

I take out the pasta.

You know, from the sheet we can make pappardelle, tagliolini, tagliatelle, or can be pasta for ravioli.

So actually it's just a pasta sheet.

Jorge: Okay, this sheet of pasta is not just fresh, as you can see it coming out right now, but it's also dynamic.

It could be folded, it could be stuffed, it could be cut.

It will be the basis for the dish we're going to prepare.

Ivan: Here we have the pasta, we can cut it to make ravioli, tagliolini, pappardelle, tagliatelle.

For example, the pappardelle, the size of it is more or less like this.

Jorge: Okay.

Jorge: Like many cultures around the world, Italian cuisine has its origins in the family.

In any particular country, the family, the traditions, their heritage, that's where the cuisine begins.

Ivan: When I was younger, I always seen my dad making dinner for his friends when he got time, and I enjoyed the food, obviously, and they stay in the table.

So I always seen that, and I start to help my father in the house, yeah, you know.

Jorge: You started helping him.

Ivan: Yeah, and I like it.

I like it and I said, "Yeah, I may want to cook.

Yeah, it's a pretty good job."

I didn't realize that it was a job.

It was a--just a passion, yeah.

And so later on I started school--high school to study in that, and I wanted to work since when I was 14, and I found work with Angelo in a--in his restaurant, the owner of Tre Galline, and I start to work with them in the summer season.

Also when I was going to the school, I wanted to go work for a--just because I like it and I wanted to learn more.

Jorge: Was your dad happy that you went there?

Ivan: Yeah, yeah, they were so happy.

I was working all day long but doesn't matter.

I like it and yeah-- Jorge: You've stayed with the family ever since.

I mean, look at it, I mean, so much so that they brought you to another continent to work at their place, I mean.

I think it worked out, right, right?

Ivan: So everyone follow their path.

They came in Mexico.

I traveled a little bit.

I finished the school.

I worked in other restaurants.

And one day they called me and--"What are you doing?"

"Nothing."

"Can you come down to El Paz?"

"Yeah, absolutely.

Why not?"

And so I came.

It was the January 1, 2012.

Jorge: Really?

Ivan: Yeah.

Jorge: That's when you reached Todos Santos.

Ivan: I reached Todos Santos in about a week, 10 days.

I get in love with Todos Santos and I decide I will stay in Mexico.

Yeah, that's it.

Jorge: And how long after did they tell you, "Hey, we need your help up in Valle?"

Ivan: The next year.

The next year we came here and we started the--this new project.

Jorge: I always enjoy hearing stories about expats from around the world and their journey of how they made it to Baja California and made it their permanent home.

We normally hear of Americans and Canadians because of the proximity, but when you have people from countries so far away, it makes it a bit unique.

Jorge: So after boiling the pappardelle, I see they put it in, like, an oven, what's that?

Ivan: We can heat it like this, just boiling it in a-- Jorge: Are you cooling it or heating it more there?

Heating, you're heating more?

Ivan: We're going to get a little crunchy, so-- Jorge: Boiling can't do that, so you want to cinch it a little bit on the edges, oh, yeah.

Ivan: You know, it's not finished yet.

Jorge: For sure, like, after that's done and after you put it in the oven, what's the next process?

What happens to it?

Ivan: You'll see.

Jorge: Look at how Ivan first transfers the amazing pappardelle onto a dish, then he pours some of that delicious molten butter from the baking tray on top, adds some mint leaves, you know.

Just look at that delicious lamb meat and vegetable sauce.

And last but not least, we have our pecorino cheese sauce.

Jorge: So here you go, folks, Ivan's invention.

A twist on a classic, stuffed pappardelle, invention of Ivan here at Tre Galline.

It's "Crossing South."

Don't go anywhere.

We're going to try this, so don't go anywhere.

Thank you, Ivan, thank you so much, yes, yes.

Jorge: We've seen how it was made, we've seen how you were born, and now we have you here all to my lonesome.

So I'm just going to cut into it, folks.

If you want to get in there, you may want to see this because I'm going to cut into this pappardelle--the stuffed pappardelle.

Look at that.

Look at how juicy that looks.

♪♪♪ Jorge: Oh my goodness.

Why am I hearing Italian music?

[chicken crowing] Jorge: That's the tre galline.

The sauce, the consistency of the pasta, the chickens in the background.

[chuckling] I'm so glad we're here.

After all this time I finally made it to Tre Galline, the three hens.

Jorge: Eating Italian food with Italians, it's almost like an event.

Reminds me a lot of Mexican culture.

Eating here feels like being part of a family gathering, where every bite is a celebration of Italian hospitality and delicious food.

Jorge: This is incredibly tender, folks.

I mean, I don't know where to start.

Let me just show it to you.

Okay, so this, folks, is the roasted quail.

You know, it's got these roasted almonds right here.

That stew is made out of portobello mushroom.

It's got this fried kale, look at how crunchy that looks, and it's got--I think it's called a taleggio cheese sauce.

Very good dish, and believe me I would tell you if it wasn't.

Just a little subdued.

I think it didn't have as much, like, pop, you know, where it was just something that, whoa, you just knock your socks off or it's like a bold taste, it wasn't bold.

Serviceable dish, very good, mild for my particular taste.

That's just my opinion on it.

Let's move on to this bad boy.

Check it out.

This right here is a bottarga linguine.

Bottarga apparently is a--the fish comes with a pouch.

That's where it's got all the caviar.

So they salt it, they sun-dry it, and it actually becomes almost like a--kind of like an anchovy seasoning.

This pouch, the caviar, I guess, gets like petrified with the sun, with the salt, and it becomes like this hard, like, vine, almost as if it was a coffee vine, you know, this long pouch, and they actually grate it.

They grate it and it becomes like a seasoning.

That's the flavor you're looking for.

Oh, man, that is so good.

You're looking for a memorable dish, a dish that's a signature, that's distinctive, that's distinguished, and that's it.

This is for me, like, being in Italy all over again.

When I was there, a fellow traveler would ask me, "Hey, so what are you eating today?"

And I'm like, "What do you mean what am I eating today?

It's pasta."

That was in the morning.

In the afternoon, "Jorge, what are you eating now?"

"What do you mean what am I eating now?

It's pasta again."

Dinner would come, "Jorge, what are you eating today?"

"What do you mean what am I eating today?

It's pasta again."

Pasta in the morning, pasta in the afternoon, and pasta in the evening.

So Ivan is taking me back to Italy because he's bringing pasta after pasta.

This is tagliolini with zucchini, and he calls it a truffle oil.

The Italian folks, how's pasta from an Italian going to taste?

Amazing.

It's like you have a Mexican make you tacos.

Whether it be in Russia or wherever, a Mexican is going to make the tacos for you, you know they're going to be awesome.

Same thing is happening here.

Jorge: Tre Galline isn't just a restaurant.

It's a journey through Italian flavors crafted with passion and tradition, and it's been a welcome addition to the Valle de Guadalupe scene.

I was still wondering about the name, though.

Ivan: So Tre Galline, born in Todos Santos first, Baja California South in between Cabo and La Paz.

The owner, Angelo and Magda, they got a restaurant since a lot of time from Italy, from 1952, just a little bit.

Jorge: There was a Tre Galline in Italy?

Ivan: Was another name, the Campagnola.

And so they had this restaurant since 1952.

They was working there, and they were about to have another restaurant.

They rented a place, an old house.

So they opened this new restaurant, then came the earthquake.

Everything goes down.

So the restaurant couldn't be open anyway--anymore.

They were pretty sad about it.

They take a little time.

They had a vacation.

Actually, they came in Baja California South, and staying there, they said, "Why we don't open a restaurant here?

We change our life."

They were about 50, so pretty young still, so--and yeah, little by little they start to improve the idea and to settle in Mexico.

Jorge: So they did open a place in Todos Santos?

Ivan: They did, and looking about the place where to open the restaurant, they find a good one and--with a lot of chicken painting in there because, as you know, Todos Santos is a artist town.

So they decide to stay in this local.

"So how do we call the restaurant?"

In the main door, a hood door painting white with two chickens and a rooster, so Tre Galline.

Yeah, that's it.

Jorge: That--the artist that painted that had no idea that he was going to influence the name of a restaurant.

So Tre Galline started in Todos Santos?

Ivan: Absolutely started in Todos Santos.

Jorge: Is it still there?

Ivan: Still there, yeah.

Jorge: So this will be the second Tre Galline.

Oh, man.

Same menu, same--or varies?

Ivan: A little different, yeah.

Jorge: Little different, little different, okay, so-- Ivan: Many things that are the same and many others that are different because the regions, no?

Jorge: For sure.

Different produce, right?

Ivan: Yeah, different produce, you can find in a--different customer you got as well.

Jorge: Of course.

Of course.

Jorge: Ivan now surprises us with a parmigiano wheel the size of a car tire.

Apparently, he uses this to make his mac and cheese.

♪♪♪ Jorge: Every dish starts with the consistency of the pasta.

It starts there, and then everything else comes.

If you're not concocting your pasta at the right temperature at the right amount of time, you're not doing it right.

The sauce is like--it's gravy.

It's like an added bonus.

This is a spinach ricotta ravioli.

Check them out.

Now, I love raviolis because I love food that has, like, stuffed--you know, stuffed meat or stuffed something inside of it.

So raviolis.

But this--these aren't your Chef Boyardee raviolis.

Mmm.

You can taste the balance of the exterior.

Oh, man, okay, so this one right here, check it out.

This is a gnocchi al pesto.

You guys probably know it's a potato pasta--potato-based pasta.

The creaminess outside the pesto sauce is fantastic.

The potato pasta, not my favorite.

Your typical flour wheat pasta, I think I prefer that.

The sauce is amazing outside.

If you love gnocchi, you're going to love that dish because the sauce, the pesto, it's really good.

Okay, so this is a beef carpaccio, believe it or not, marinated with red wine.

It's got some arugula there, and you're not going to believe this.

This is a goat cheese cannoli.

Can you believe that?

Like I don't know what to try first, if--the carpaccio or the cannoli.

I've got to be professional, so let's try the carpaccio first.

Mmm, if I'm doing it right, you're probably hearing some Italian music right now.

This is so good.

Okay, so this is a burrata tower.

So this is, like, deep fried zucchini right here, deep fried zucchini.

It's got burrata cheese.

This is your burrata cheese.

It's got basil.

It's got olive oil.

It's got your cherry tomatoes.

This is an interesting dish.

I mean, I don't know if I should cut into all three layers or just one and then work your way down.

You can hear the crunchiness.

So let's get one layer.

Wow, what a good dish.

I was surprised.

I didn't expect zucchini to taste this good.

Okay, so this is an arugula salad, and these parme--parmesan cheese shavings.

After everything I had, I was reluctant to try the salad.

It is really good.

It actually has a sweet citrusy taste.

Jorge: Baja California is such an appropriate place to have an Italian restaurant.

The produce, the climate, the landscape, it's akin to many Italian regions.

So it's only fitting that a restaurant with this type of cuisine would thrive here.

Jorge: Oh my goodness, you've got pork.

So what are you doing with this little piglet?

What are--yeah, but what are you going to prepare with this?

Is it straight, you know, cuts and meats or are you making a dish with it?

Ivan: We make some compliments, but mainly is the pig.

We're going to eat a really tender pig.

Goes for about 8 hours in the spinning with just charcoals of wood and--yeah.

Jorge: Wow, what a cool technique.

There's orifices in there and they gradually butter--you butter up the pig.

You're buttering up the--stop buttering me up, dude.

Wow.

Oh, that's amazing.

Ivan: This box is produced just in Northern Italy.

In our region you cannot find even anywhere in Italy.

It's a--it's to make a traditional recipe from where we live.

We can make something like this or another recipe with another meat.

It is spiedo, spiedo Bresciano.

Jorge: Spiedo.

What does spiedo mean?

Ivan: Spiedo is kind of the spin.

Jorge: Oh, the spin.

Oh, got you, got you, got you.

Jorge: He said how this fancy pig machine can only be found in Northern Italy.

Italy's northern region has bigger cities, more wealth, and is more influential; while Southern Italy is known for its laid-back lifestyle, warmer weather, and beautiful beaches.

You can find similar contrasts here in Baja California.

Could we call Italy and Baja geographical twins?

I don't know.

Jorge: Okay, so this is a maxi tartufo.

That's the name of the dessert.

Check it out.

It's a ball of chocolate ice cream, and inside of that is a ball of vanilla ice cream, and inside of that it's like a marmalade of red fruits.

It's got, like, cereals, some red fruits.

You look at that, that's a reduction, a hibiscus reduction, check it out.

That's your chocolate layer, that's the earth's crust; then you've got your soft soil right in here, you've got your vanilla ice cream; then you got your red fruit, berries, marmalade, which is your magma.

Let's get some of the reduction in the--in a spoonful.

Let's get some of the ice cream.

So incredibly good.

So incredibly good, oh, boy.

Now, this right here is a limoncello panna cotta.

Check it, how it wiggles.

It's saying, "Jorge, eat me.

Jorge, get me.

Get me now."

Oh my God.

Let's do the tiramisu--classic tiramisu.

You see, like, the cacao powder.

You see the berries there.

You see some cereals.

It's less bready, it's more pudding creamy.

And that's a good thing.

I have to be honest with you.

I really don't care for tiramisus myself, but I care for this one.

Okay, we're going to close it out with a crème brûlée.

Okay, let's crack the crust.

It barely fits, you got to like... Let's choose the spot.

Let's dig in.

Mmm.

It tastes similar to some of the best--like a flan--like some of the best flan I've ever had.

That's the taste this crème brûlée has.

I had a lot of bad desserts in Baja, I've had a lot of good desserts in Baja, but the ratio of good desserts with--the largest ratio of good desserts have been in De Valle.

Fantastic.

Oh my goodness.

Jorge: After years of anticipation, experiencing Tre Galline was worth every moment.

Ivan has truly created a culinary gem and has been a wonderful host and ambassador for the three hens, AKA Tre Galline.

Jorge: I composed a song right now.

I don't know, I wanted to run it by you, see if you like it.

[singing in foreign language] [singing in foreign language] Ivan: At least if you go to Italy, you can eat something, yeah?

Jorge: I won't starve in Italy?

[singing in foreign language] [singing in foreign language] Jorge: It's the first time I've heard the actual lyrics.

I never know what that says.

Jorge: After singing a duet with Chef Ivan and enjoying a symphony of Italian flavors, we leave with happy hearts wondering what other adventures await us the next time we get to cross south.

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