Sagra of the potato in Lazzate

Click - Zap! - reservation confirmed. Five years ago if someone had predicted the day would come when reservations for a sagra would be as easy as the click of a mouse, I'd probably have shook my head in disbelief. But at Lazzate's Sagra della Patata, skeptics are the ones waiting in line. This is the first local food festival we've been to that uses the web to their advantage other than putting info on a homepage, but as with all things new, it may take some time to convince those who feel that queuing is what these events are all about.

The sagra also hosted a small market which made it even more fun to discover artisan food items, farm produce and other businesses selling everything from potatoes to prosciutto. It was incredible! Knowing that our reservations would be held for up to one hour(!) made it so much easier to check out the vendors without rushing around.

About 3 dozen or so names were on the reservation list and we were seated right away. Fill out the menu, place it on a numbered hook that's secured at the table, and someone comes to check it. They had guys running around with touch pad systems like they do in restaurants which really surprised me, and as soon as our order was sent, along comes a server with the bread basket, another with the drinks, and a cashier to collect payment.

The menu wasn't anything fancy - pasta with potato filling or gnocchi in mushroom or meat ragu - and I appreciated the use of biodegradable utensils. We didn't stay long after our meal but did manage to pick up a few more goodies to take home, like one of these beautiful organic flour, naturally-leavened loaves that were baked in a wood-burning oven. Only 5€! I took lots of photos which are up at my Sagra della Patata album on Flickr.