What is there to say about a region that has given us rich Barolo wines, heady white truffles, crunchy bread sticks, luscious gianduja, and Enzo Fargione, the young and talented chef of Barolo in Washington, D.C.? Grazie mille just doesn't cut it. Piedmont (Piemonte in Italian) can be an idyllic place, and the cooking is at once sophisticated and real. For food lovers throughout Italy, Christmas is a special time; in Piemonte it is proof there is a God.

This month at the Beard House, Torino-native Fargione will show us what a modern celebration in Piedmont is like. Fargione learned to cook by his mother's side, and later enrolled in Torino's hotel school. After graduation he worked in the capital's best restaurants, including Turin Palace, under chef Giuseppe Zuccaro, and Antica Zecca, under chef Bruno Libralon.

But in 1986, at age 17, Fargione was scouted for a chef position in a restaurant in San Diego, and suddenly his life changed. He worked at the Little Italian Gourmet, and his taste of the United States proved addictive. Less than a year later, he was tapped by another Torino native, Roberto Donna, to work as sous-chef in his flagship restaurant, Galileo, in Washington, D.C. From there, he branched out on his own to become chef of Donna Adele, also in D.C. While under Fargione's direction, the restaurant was awarded two stars from Washingtonian magazine.

At Barolo, Fargione has again teamed up with Donna, who serves not as chef but as co-owner. The restaurant is a showcase for an interpretation of the food of their native region, food that Where magazine described as verging on poetry. Merry Christmas.