Roscoe’s Blog

A lot of us are at this airport when flying to Europe, so I gotta let you know about this.  We had a three hour layover here, and Wendy remembered years ago that she had seen a white tablecloth restaurant at the airport, probably French that served Champagne.  So we drag ourselves and our luggage through customs and walk a solid mile to the central terminal and start scouring the place.  We’re not having any luck and are running out of time when we spot a “Cafe” sign in the corner.  It’s not French, but there’re tablecloths and we’re hungry and running out of time, so we go in.  It’s an airport restaurant, no doubt, but they’ve got beer on tap, ten German wines by the glass, and Champagne!!

The menu’s in German, so we don’t understand what we’re ordering, but we think I’m having saurbraten, Rodrigo’s having some kind of sausages with saurkraut, and Wendy’s having blood sausage.  All the dishes come with the best saurkraut known to man and mashed potatoes.  Oh man, what a find!  Except for the train stations in Paris, this is the best transpo depot dine and dash I’ve ever had.

Such is the end of the eating portion of our trip, unless you count the curry chicken on the plane and please don’t make me count that!  What a trip, what food.  Look forward to some new takes on our current dishes, some new things and or course more whole pigs and lambs coming into Corso!

Italy, Restaurant Reviews

Well, we were going to go to Da Ruggiero, a place Wendy went to last year, a menu of which is hanging on the wall at Corso, but we got a wild hare up our butts: you see, our lunch today, which we enjoyed immensely, was filling, what with all the lardo and stuff, so we had to pass on secondi, except for that roasted bass, which was not very satisfying.  Meanwhile, we’re seeing these businessguys chowing down on bad-ass looking bistecca all Fiorentina.  And then we realized, oh my god, we forgot to eat bistecca!  We had it our first dinner at Sostanza, but hadn’t had it since.  And while it’s good at Sostanza, very typical, the stuff we saw for lunch was really different.  Cut very thick, cooked very rare.  And these guys were meat masters.

So we’re seriously thinking about heading back to Marione, but started looking in our trusty Food Lovers Guide to Florence, and found a place that specializes in bistecca!  The author doesn’t have a lot of good to say about the food in general, but says people just come for the bistecca anyway.  So we truck it over to Osteria Ristoro Cambio.

Looks good.  Salumi everywhere, bare wooden tables, paper napkins, brick vaulted ceilings, packed on a Monday night.  We head for our table and I hit my head on a leg of prosciutto.  Gotta be a sign.

We start with some Prosecco, and move into a bottle of Vecchie Terre di Montefili Chianti Classico 2005, a producer I hadn’t heard of.  Not one of my favorites, a little too acidic.

We start with salumi, duh, and it’s glorious.  The BEST prosciutto, thicker cut than usual, with a peppery flavor and great texture.  Prosciutto shouldn’t be cut this thick, because it’s too stringy and tough.  But the texture of this stuff is so silky and soft, it’s killing us.  How can we make this?  And of course, some head cheese.  And this stuff rocks, really peppery and heady, more flavor than any head cheese I’d ever had.  And believe it or not, this is all we have for appetizers.

For main courses, Wendy has rabbit, as we wanted to try a little while we’re here: here they batter and fry it, in kind of a tempura batter, and serve it alongside amazing artichokes battered and fried the same way.  But the two items are so delicious you don’t get a sense of repeating flavors.  Hard to believe a big plate of fried things can taste so good, so fresh and so different from each other.

Then bistecca, glorious bistecca.  I’ve attached a pic, because you can’t believe how thick a cut it is, and how rare it’s cooked.   I mean, I swear I saw it move.  It’s got to be dry aged, as its texture is silky, mellow, even a bit livery. They cut it off the bone in chunks, on both sides.   Rodrigo and I went nuts on this bad boy.  To accompany it, we had some roasted potatoes.  These were amazing, the potatoes roasted and then tossed roughly in olive oil, causing some of the potatoes to mash up.  We also had a great sauteed spinach, cooked to death, but with lots of flavor.

And then as a cast off, we also had tripa Fiorentina, the best of the trip, with lots of tomato and garlic and parsley.

We passed on dessert and coffee, as I wanted to have a little gelato on the way home.

As many great meals as we had here in Florence, and I’m speaking only for myself, I’d have to say this was the best meal of the trip.  It wasn’t innovative in the usual sense, and clearly this is a place that cranks out food, but still these dishes were very satisfying, well thought out, traditional and seamless.

We were truly lucky to have found this restaurant and to have had such a great meal on our last night.  Wow, what a trip, what a town, O bella Italia !

Italy, Restaurant Reviews

Well, we were hanging out around the Piazza del Republico a few days ago, where we found a great knife shop where Rodrigo bought not one, not two but three knives with these one (or three) of a kind red handles.  Across the street, we saw this Trattoria Marione with the thickest. lardo. ever. sitting in the window, along with what had to be house made salumi.  We thought about this place for days but it wasn’t in any of the books we had and we’d never heard of so we were reluctant.  But after the so-so meal at Da Delfina we decided to try something new, trust our instincts and just go for it!

We go in the place, it’s a little earlyish for lunch and there’s only a few people there, but they still don’t have a place for us unless we eat in the small room downstairs.  It’s cool, we sit next to six businessmen regulars who are served platters of crostini and prosciutto and are about to partake in what was the best-looking bistecca all Fiorentina we’ve ever seen.  But at this point we’re just ordering and like I said, the salumi looked good, but who knows about the rest.

We order a plate of the assorted salumi and some crostini.  So so good.  Salumi  came with lardo, fennochio, salame and prosciutto.  We ordered another plate of the lardo: it wasn’t too herbaceous, but layers of it were pressed together to create a very wide cut that included a layer of some kind of meat.  Awsome.  Great prosciutto and salumi too.  A real find, kind of reminds me of the first time we came upon Sostanza lo these many years ago.

At the same time, we had pecorino e mostarda, which was mostarda, honey and bits of blood orange spooned on the plate.  Mostarda is a toxic substance derived from the mustard plant and in its most extreme form is the basis for mustard gas.  Our first exposure to this stuff was in ‘03 when we had duck breast roasted with mostarda at Dal Pescatore, a famous restaurant in the Veneto.  Nadia told us where we could buy it, in a small pharmacy 20 miles away.  We went there and they almost didn’t want to sell it to us, it came with a skull and crossbone and much verbal warnings about it.  We heard that someone had taken a jar of it on a plane and opened it in-flight.  The pilots detected a toxic substance and had to make an emergency landing.  So we bought it and brought it on the plane, but of course didn’t open it until we got it back to the States.  But we were too frightened of it by that point and didn’t use it.  So we’re going to see if we can find a source for this stuff and use it with a nice pecorino.

We were full by this point, but realized we hadn’t had any fish in a trattoria, only at Four d’Acqua, so we ordered the Orata al Forno and a salad.  The orata was a kind of bass roasted whole in the oven.  Not bad, but not really.  When I was at Volapaia, Giovanna and I were talking about the Florentine fish situation.  She was raised here but also in Milan.  Milan, farther from the sea, always had great fish restaurants, but fish was just never a priority in Florence.  We wouldn’t really see much of it on the menus, and we NEVER saw fish on a table.  What can I say?  Must be the culture.

The waitress brought us some nice chewy biscotti and Vin Santo to end up, and we had coffee.  A note on coffee: for many years, the best coffee I ever had was in Italy.  But the U.S. has come a long way, and while we’ve  had good coffee everywhere (except at Da Delfina), great coffee was only found occasionally, most surprisingly at the small bar in Volpaia.

All in all, a great find and we’ll be going back.

Check out the pics, the front of the restaurant, the menu, and LARDO!

Italy, Restaurant Reviews

Da Delfina.  I can’t believe I’ve never taken the time to go to this place.  It’s famous in all foodie circles and of course Craig and Annie Stoller named their excellent restaurant in the City after Da Delfina, as Craig worked there in his yout.   The reason it’s a bit of a trek, about an hour west of town in the Carmignano area, a wine region that’s a little unusual, in that while they grow sangiovese like every where else around here, they’ve always added cabernet sauvignon to the blend, adding a bit of tannin to the acidic base of the sangiovese, a good notion for mouthfeel and ageing.  They speak their own dialect and the owner claimed not to know any Italian, only Artimino.

The place is on the top of the hill with a great view of surrounding vineyards, olive trees and cypress nestled on the hills and valleys of what could only be Tuscany.  All I needed was Diane Lane.

You walk in and are sucked into the kitchen, as the wood fired spit is RIGHT THERE, and you just want to eat anything that’s coming off that thing.  Plates come right out there too, and it’s hard to negotiate your way to the table as you’re staring at the cooks and fire and the plates.  I was so excited to be there.  We sit and they immediately come around with a bottle of Prosecco and pour into these small champagne flutes waiting at the table.  Then a small plate of polpetini: meat balls with beef, chicken and potatoes, breaded and then fried.  Kind of like little fried gnocchi.  Oh.  My.  God.

We start with a local white wine made from trebbiano, chardonnay and riesling (!?), the first 2008 wine I’ve had, from Villa Artimino called “Artumes.”  Can’t imagine you could get it here, but crisp, dry, just a little mid-palate, no oak of course.

Antipasti: a sformatino made from rape, a vivid green on a puree of dried cannellini beans.  Good.  Then, cured fish, laid out on the plate with olive oil, pickled onions, cannellini beans and lardo toasts.  Having everything together with every bite was a great juxtaposition, savory, saline, acid, creamy, crunchy.  Great.  Then a crostini platter: the chicken liver was creamy and luscious; roast tiny tomatoes with garlic; then one with a lot of mayonnaise on it.  Couldn’t really figure out this one.  Also on the plate, polenta baked with a bit of cheese on it, not really tasting of anything, and a bit of their famous ribollita: annoying because had we known it was going to be on the plate, we wouldn’t have ordered it for our next course.

Secondi: the ribollita.  Delfina is known everywhere for this dish, and rightly so: we’ve usually had this dish beans, kale, bread, onions and celery as a sort of soup.  We usually had it on this trip as more of a thick stew.  But at Delfina, they reduce it down and then pan sear it in a pan that is fired in that spit we saw, as it was very smokey, crispy on the outside, with very intense flavors.  The waiter drizzled a little olive oil on it table side.  While we liked the ribollita at Omero better, the technique at Delfina was unique.  Rodrigo thought this would be a great brunch dish if you add a little spicy tripe over the top: perfect hangover food.  I think he read about hangovers somewhere, not that he’s ever had one.

Along with this, we had Macheroni with a wild boar sauce (the pasta we would have called pappardelle).  It was savory and warm with lots of wine in it, but the pasta was pretty chewy.  We also had a farro risotto with artichoke, which I really liked but was a cult of one.  And I did notice that I liked it less after a few bites, as it was kind of heavy and didn’t have a lot of charm.  One thing we found on the trip: the Florentines like their paste and risotti very toothsome.  I liked this style, Wendy and Rodrigo less so.  They also felt that our customers wouldn’t either.

Then we popped a local wine, a Carmignano from a blend of mostly sangiovese with just a dollop of cabernet, from La Poggiorolle 2005.  Not too much oak, just what I was hoping for, with just enough tannins from the cabernet to keep the acids of the sangiovese in line.

Then the main courses:  spit-roasted goat.  Oh my god, this was so good, with kind of a caramelized skin with just a little burn from the spit.  This was served with some roasted fennel.  Great.

Fried baby lamb chops with fried asparagus and sage.  We had had the grilled baby lamb chops at Omero and loved them, the grilling bringing out the qualities of the meat.  The frying preparation unfortunately was just the opposite: it could have been any meat.  It was still good, but for the magical dishes, you look for that singular inspiraition where the preparation and the ingredient together are greater than the sum of its parts.  In this case, the preparation actually detracted from the ingredient.

Lastly, the worst dish: cubes of pork neck loin skewered with rectangles of Tuscan bread spit roasted with a piping of polenta.  I think the intent was that the fat of the pork would moisten the grilled bread.  It didn’t work: the pork was chewy, the bread was half burned and not in a good way.  Eaten together it was dry and chewy.  The polenta didn’t add anything, and the piping technique seemed out of place with such rustic food.  I liked the smoky quality on the meat, but the whole dish was either poorly executed or more probably just not a great idea.

For dessert, we ordered a hazelnut torte, which was probably typical, but just wasn’t much of a pleasure.  And they sent everybody out some fried rice balls as well, dusted with sugar.  Really good.

We ended with some moscato from Coppo, the same we offer at Corso and it was SO GOOD.  Coppo is the unqualified master of this style of wine.

After, espresso made on a Faema Ambassador.  Really not good.

So, it might have been the expection of the place, it’s reputation, or maybe just what a pain in the ass it was to get there, but Da Delfina was a major disappointment.  I thought it would be the best meal of the trip, but it wasn’t even as good as some of the casual places in our neighborhood.  While it was beautiful to be out in the Tuscan countryside on a day such as this, and if you’re going to be west of Florence, it’s a good place to eat, but as a destination, I’d have to say not worth it.

Italy, Restaurant Reviews

After my (mis) adventures in Classico, I kind of wanted to stick close to home, so we read about this place in the neighborhood, and, like the Fuori place, it was literally steps from our door.  Man, in my neighborhood, the only places this close are McDonalds and Chili Burrito.

As I sit here remembering it, I’m struck by how the doors all swing in, rather than out, in town.  You walk in, and there’s a room downstairs, but we grab a corner table on the right.  This is a very casual place, with a big wine list, but they’re all on the walls up high: it’s a little toasty, so I decide we’re not going to pop for the higher end bottles.  We start with a Rosso from the Maremma, mostly sangiovese, from the excellent 04 vintage.

We start with crostini: chicken liver and lardo, the latter sporting some of the meat, something we hadn’t seen before, not too herbaceous either.  Then, a great, simple pasta of fettucine, artichoke, olive oil, butter and parsley.  As simple as could be, and not even like you’re crying over the beauty of the new artichokes of the season.  Could we even offer a pasta this simple at Corso?  Can I see a show of hands?

Then, a three soup dish, ribollita (the worst of the trip, but still good), pappa al pomodoro (a garlicky tomato and bread soup) and the best, a chick pea and porcini stew.

Then, we go all out and order the Lampredotto, spleen stewed with porcini, tomato, carrot, onion, celery and parsley.  Really great, texturally kind of like tripe, a little more savory and buttery on the palate.  Can I see a show of hands on the Lamp?

Then, we tried rabbit for the first time, half a rabbit cut up, braised in olive oil and bay.  So luscious, didn’t taste a bit like chicken.

We’ve been trying dessert at every meal.  Our overall impression, reinforced on this trip, is that dessert is not a priority anywhere, even the more high end places.  They don’t like really sweet things in general, and desserts tend to be textural rather than silky.  Vin Santo and biscotti is everywhere, sometimes we’d see fresh fruit (pineapple twice), lots of times store bought things with some whipped cream.  Having said all that, skip dessert at Antica Mescita.

We also tried a Lamole di Lamole Chianti Classico, 06, loving this vintage, even the poorer wines are balanced and fruity, but this producer used too much oak and it lacked grace.  But it was only 18 euros ($25), so what, I’m complaining?  Still, don’t want to blow my own horn, well, yeah, yeah I do, you can do better at Corso for that kind of bank.

Anyway.  Spleen.  It’s what’s for breakfast.

Italy, Restaurant Reviews