Risotto at Piemont Restaurant in Kirchheimbolanden, Germany, is served with octopus, orange peels, basil and lemon foam. The meal costs 16.90 euros. (Matt Wagner/Stars and Stripes)

I was floundering in my seat at the Piemont Restaurant in Kirchheimbolanden, Germany.

Sure, I had selected the beef filet made as my main dish, but I wanted to try something outside of the box as well. The swordfish medallions fit the bill.

Just one problem: The waitress returned and said it wasn’t available.

No matter, a scallop and shrimp dish with a pistachio crust and avocado sauce seemed like a good replacement. The words barely had left my lips before she nixed that option. Then my third. And my fourth.

I found a homemade tagliatelle dish listed as a chef’s recommendation. Without looking past the first two words, I ordered it as an appetizer, and it got the OK.

Little did I know that snap choice was going to be the best part of the meal.

On a mid-March Tuesday, I took a colleague to Kirchheimbolanden, nearly 25 miles northeast of Kaiserslautern along the A63.

The Italian restaurant had caught my eye due to its seafood and delicacies from the Piedmont region, the land that borders France and Switzerland in northwest Italy.

The homemade tagliatelle consists of noodles, venison ragu, porcini mushrooms and Parmesan cheese. It can be served as an appetizer or main dish. (Matt Wagner/Stars and Stripes)

I tried my best to avoid typical Italian fare and taste these items, yet here I was getting the tagliatelle.

Nothing was typical about it, as seems to be the case at Piemont.

My companion’s mushroom soup was heavy on the mushroom as well as croutons. She described the soup as creamy, hearty and well-seasoned, and the croutons soaked up the soup’s flavoring well.

The tagliatelle, though, blew my mind.

It came with porcini mushrooms, Parmesan cheese and a venison ragu. The dish was topped off with a blue foam that contrasted with the meal’s red hue.

I tried the foam, which tasted somewhat lemony, before I mixed it with the rest of the ingredients.

That first bite had me hooked. While the noodles were light, the meatiness of the mushrooms and venison were so filling that I realized I should have eaten this as the main dish.

I scarfed it down and was disappointed when it was gone.

This meat slicer sits in the dining room of the Piemont Restaurant in Kirchheimbolanden, Germany. During a mid-March evening, a chef sliced the ham for the bruschetta on this machine right before serving it to customers. (Matt Wagner/Stars and Stripes)

The restaurant takes its time making the dishes — the menu has a warning on the opening page about it.

When the main meals arrived, both the octopus risotto my companion had ordered and my steak came with the same blue foam.

The lemon flavor fits with the seafood vibe of the risotto, which had plenty of octopus. My colleague mentioned the tentacles were meaty instead of rubbery, and after tasting it myself, I concurred.

For my steak, the beef came from Piedmontese cattle. The breed is known for very lean meat, which I appreciate when it’s tender, as this steak was.

The Piedmontese beef filet at Piemont Restaurant in Kirchheimbolanden, Germany, features a filet topped with Parma ham and served with avocado sauce and a medley of vegetables. (Matt Wagner/Stars and Stripes)

The Piemont Restaurant in Kirchheimbolanden, Germany, serves a mushroom soup with Parmigiano Reggiano and croutons for 9.90 euros. The soup is one of 11 appetizers on the menu. (Matt Wagner/Stars and Stripes)

What threw me for a loop was the Parma ham coating, which just didn’t need to be on the steak. The two meats were great when separated, though.

The steak also came with a medley of vegetables — carrots, broccoli, zucchini, green beans and potatoes. The vegetables didn’t have much seasoning, but the avocado sauce that lined the dish added to the vegetables’ natural flavors.

Overall, the effort put into the dishes from preparation to cooking to presentation was evident, and the food was excellent. The atmosphere wasn’t too fancy, although it seemed more like a place for date night or for a family gathering than just a typical night out.

If my experience is a testament, you won’t go wrong with the food — even when you take a stab in the dark.

The Piemont Restaurant can be found in the city of Kirchheimbolanden, Germany, about 25 miles to the northeast of Kaiserslautern, Germany. The restaurant is named after the Piedmont region of Italy that’s east of France and south of Switzerland. (Matt Wagner/Stars and Stripes)

The bar area at the Piemont Restaurant in Kirchheimbolanden, Germany, offers a wide variety of beverages. (Matt Wagner/Stars and Stripes)

The dining area inside the Piemont Restaurant in Kirchheimbolanden, Germany, can fit nearly 50 people. There’s also an outdoor space open during the summer. (Matt Wagner/Stars and Stripes)

Piemont Restaurant

Address: Marnheimer Str. 74, 67292 Kirchheimbolanden, Germany

Hours: 5:45 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. Monday and Saturday, 11:45 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 5:45 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday.

Prices: Appetizers range from 6.50 to 18 euros, pizza starts at 8.90 euros and goes up to 19 euros, and main dishes range from 14 euros to 65 euros for a T-bone steak.

Information: Phone: +49 6352 7896979; Online: piemont-restaurant.de