In a corner of the world where menu rehashes are way too common, Corktown’s Alpino first scores a few points for conceptual originality with a menu of plates from the Alps region, including southern Germany, northern Italy, eastern France, and Austria.
See the risotto, a northern Italian classic, made with a carnaroli rice done in chicken stock that’s hit with a black kale pesto. The kale is heartier than basil and gives it a depth and an autumnal element, and is spread atop the risotto to give it some “visual texture” and variety in each bite, says executive chef Colin Campbell.
Instead of pine nuts and olive oil, Campbell turns to his Austrian pantry, using toasted pumpkin seeds and pumpkin oil, which deepens the dish even more than olive oil would. The risotto is capped with a patchwork of melted Grana Padano, a slightly soft and nutty cousin of Parmesan Reggiano, which adds even more depth. Excellent.
At this point, Alpino needs little introduction — it has quickly racked up local and national accolades, and is a vision from chef-owner Dave Richter. Like so many others to open shop in metro Detroit in recent years, he grew up here and returned with his family after cutting his teeth elsewhere.
Richter and Campbell developed the menu, and Campbell, who once helmed the kitchen at Steinhaus, a Marquette German-Austrian restaurant, seems like a natural fit.
The best bites, in my estimation, are in the diots au vin blanc, which includes two banging pork sausages in an onion and wine broth with a mustard rouille. The broth is what makes it, and is relatively simple. Alpino starts by sweating the onions, which serves to pull out their sweetness and soften them without caramelizing. Campbell adds a Savoie white wine and chicken stock, then simmers out the alcohol. I could drink it by the gallon.
The diot sausages are made in-house, and are slightly short pork boys driven by quartecase spice with fennel, clove, nutmeg, and pepper, along with wine. The mustard rouille, like a regular rouille, is made with olive oil and egg yolk, but Campbell adds a little soaked bread to generate some heft for the plate. It’s not too heavy of a dish and versatile enough to work in cold or warm weather.
The charcuterie is excellent — not a dud among the three meats or cheeses that came with our order. The mustard and cornichons were nice, but more pickled items to cut across the pig fat and provide textural contrast would have improved it.
Alpino’s wine list is deep and the cocktails thoughtful — I was hoping to discover a new Alpine amaro but the list was pretty standard. Both desserts we tried hit.
Also excellent is the goulash with spaetzle, which most know as a Hungarian plate but is also an Alpine staple. The big hunk of super tender, moist beef shank arrives in a pool of deep red, slightly sweet sauce driven by onions and paprika. The dish includes equal weight of onions and beef, and Campbell again sweats the former to pull out the sweetness and balance the savory paprika, which is lightly toasted to push its fragrance. The sauce is further enhanced with a deep, umami punch of a rare tomato vinegar, and it’s altogether a bright and exciting dish.
Another cold weather plate is the slightly sweet and mellow chestnut gnocchetti dumplings with wild boar sausage. It’s a choose-your-own adventure dish with each bite as all sorts of textural and flavor contrasts are found in the mix of sweet, crunchy apples; soft, funky Saint Saint Paulin cheese; crunchy fried sage; kale; and balls of boar sausage. The latter is from Broken Arrow Ranch in Texas, where the boar live natural, free range lives and are individually killed with a gun and butchered on the spot in the field.
The rösti, a Swiss potato pancake, came salty and crispy around the edges and adorned with smoked salmon, pickled shallots, creme fraiche, and mustard greens. The gurkensalat was crispy and refreshing with cucumbers in vinegar and creme fraiche with pickled shallots. Ditto for the tart rotkraut, both of which rounded out a fine meal.
