It helps when the waiter is cute!

What do you get when you cross a small, cozy restaurant with excellent food and a cute-as-a-button flirt of a waiter?!?  A fabulous dining experience!

We decided to stay close to the apartment tonight, so we walked up a hill behind the place, saw a small restaurant right away, cute-as-a-button waiter came out, saw us, I held up seven fingers (I'm a pro at Italian sign language and gestures) and next thing I knew, we were being led into a great little restaurant - Trattoria Bordino.

And what a fun meal it turned out to be.

Our waiter had a great command of the English language and an even better command of how to work a table.  He was great.

And so was the food!

I had my first Bistecca alla Fiorentina. Beefsteak Florentine style consists of a T-bone or porterhouse steak (traditionally taken from either the Chianina or Maremmana breeds of cattle), grilled over a wood or charcoal fire, and seasoned with salt and, sometimes, black pepper, and (strictly after the steak is retired from the fire) olive oil.

firenze0197

It may be the best steak I have ever eaten.  It was so rare, so tender, so mouthwatering-good.  It was perfection on a plate.

Before the steak arrived, we had a few appetizers - smoked salmon bruschetta, and another absolutely fabulous chicken liver bruschetta.  This I have to figure out how to make.  it is stellar-good.  It is grainy, not smooth and pureed, and has virtually no chicken liver taste - but it is so rich and flavorful that a little goes a long way.

It's served warm and it's not at all greasy - so it's not the same as Uncle Rudy's with all the butter. I'm going to have to figure this one out.

There was a seafood spaghetti that was fantastic,  and a carpaccio, a farfalle with salmon, and a chicken breast that I never did get to taste - or photograph.

Mr. Cute-as-a-button was just that - as well as attentive and fun.  He asked how long we were in town, suggested we come back for another meal, said the restaurant was open 24 hours and the waiters were all strippers after hours.  Needless to say, we laughed and laughed - and fought over who would be first.  I won't even describe the swiping of the debit card - or the punching of the card code.

We were bad.

And then there was a table of desserts...  All made in-house.  Mr Cute-as-a-button had us all come out to look and choose - much easier than trying to describe the.

I had a chantilly cream cake topped with meringue - Zuppa Inglese!

It was made in a casserole dish, topped with the meringue, and then spooned out.

I told Mr Cute-as-a-button I wanted to make it at home, and he gave me the basics - a sponge cake thinly sliced, sprinkled with liquor, layered with lemon chantilly cream, layer upon layer, topped with the meringue and then popped into the oven to brown.

It rocked the Casbah.

So... Another fabulous meal, a really fun waiter, and a train ride to Venice in the morning.

Life is good.

For those taking notes... The restaurant is:

Trattoria Bordino
via Stracciatella, 9r
Firenze

We may stop back for our last night in Italy...  It was that much fun!


Food in Firenze

 

We have been eating well.  From simple salamis and cheeses along with a bruschetta I made,

to a fabulous ravioli with a pesto cream sauce my sister, Phoebe, made last night,

to street sandwiches, small cafes and trattorias, we're really eating well.  The food is just better.

One place that was on the top of my must-do list was the Mercato Centrale - the central market.  I want to live here so I can shop there every day!

Produce, meats, poultry, pastas, pane... I walked through the doors and immediately fell in love - and immediately felt at home.  I could shop here, regularly, become a local and grow old and happy.

We bought gifts for us and a few others.  I need to make one more trek before we leave...

I could literally spend hours here.  Everything one could possibly want is sitting here under one enormous roof.  It's like a Reading Terminal Market or Ferry Plaza Marketplace on steroids.  And clean.

I need to figure out why we're living in the nowhere Philadelphia suburbs.....

 


Antica Caciara Trasteverina

I found my dream-store - in the Trasteverina district of Rome.

Trasteverina - literally after (or across) the Teverina (Tiber) - is what many consider "old Rome."  It's not as touristy, it's a bit more run-down.  But for many things - less expensive and much more real. We had a great dinner there the other night and wanted to return to see the area in daylight.  I am so glad we did!

We found a meat and cheese shop that was just out of this world!  A salumi & formaggio store with so many meats and cheeses, I wanted to cry.  The cases were just filled to the brim with the most fabulous foods.  The owner saw the look on my face and broke into a grin.  He spoke no English at all, but we had the best conversation.

I asked if I could take pictures and he smiled and shook his head yes.  And then got out of the way.  He was a bit camera-shy, himself.  Or part of the witness protection program.  But, oh...  what a shop full of earthly delights!

He had every conceivable smoked or cured meat, from different prosciuttos and speck to a dozen salamis - spicy and not - along with lots of wines, dried pasta, and fresh-baked breads. It was the store I want right down the street from me!

And the cheeses!

The case went on and on...

Filled to overflowing with some of the most beautiful cheeses I have ever seen.  They weren't displayed as art - as they would be in a negozio di formaggi di Parigi.  But art, it all was.  Handmade cheeses from all over the country.

Besides the meats and cheeses, there were walls of wine and olive oil.

I wanted to just sit on the floor and start eating.  And eating.  And eating.  Savoring every new flavor, every new texture, every new aroma...

The owner let us know that they are online and they ship to the United States.

I see an order being placed when we get home...

Antica Caciara
Via San Francesco a Ripa, 140 a/b
00153 Roma - Italia

http://www.anticacaciara.it

 


The Food, The Food

It's non-stop eating.

From local mom-and-pop restaurants to the fast food at historic sites to the sandwiches in mobile trucks, the food is awesome.

I'm starting to sound like a broken record, but the Italians - and Europeans in general - respect food.  So unlike their American counterparts.

Yes, there is packaged sliced bread in the grocery store, but the folks are lined up buying the fresh-baked bread in back.

Lots of Coca-Cola - but it's made with sugar - and tastes so much better.  Even crappy McDonald's has what could be referred to as real food - not that we've been in one to prove it - but the outside menus show so many offerings other than the chemical-laden crap sold in the US.

Respect for food.

We were in Ostia Antica yesterday and had sandwiches at the small cafeteria at the site.  Simple salami and cheese on fresh rolls.  Yes, they were made in advance, but they were made in advance on-premise.  They were delicious.

I had a Saltimbocca alla Roma night before last.  Simple, yet so much flavor.  Fresh ingredients...

One of our real treats is having a pasticceria around the corner... One Euro pastries to die for!  Those, along with fresh melon, have been our standard breakfast.  Maybe some Italian yogurt... I should eat like this all the time.

Only thing I'm missing?  My American-brewed coffee.  I like my mug-o-coffee - sans milk.  We do have a coffee maker in the apartment, but the coffee has all been espresso-ground.  It makes for a bit of a murky brew.

But I think I'll survive...

 


Gastronomic Heaven

Food, glorious food...

I thought the best food I had ever had was in France.  I'm changing my mind...

Okay...  I know that so much of the dining experience is time and place.  But... so much of it is the quality ingredients, too.  Just wonderful.

Last night Phoebe and Nancy made Nancy's take on a classic putanesca.  Olives, tomatoes, garlic, crushed red pepper... On fresh pasta.  With fresh - fresh - crusty bread.

Okay...  so we're eating this in an apartment across the street from the Colosseum.  But... It still doesn't get any better.

The food seriously has been great.  From small sandwiches to multi-course dinners, the pride in the food is evident.  This is not American Fast Food.  Even the fast food isn't American fast food.  The people here demand quality - and they get it.

I've taken lots of pictures of lots of food, but right now I want to get out and eat some more of it...  So...

I'll be back.  In the meantime, here's Phoebe and Nancy dancing in the Piazza Navona...

 

 


Italian Food

A kitchen in Rome!  Am I a happy kid, or what?!?

Our first trek into Italian eating was yesterday lunch.  A sidewalk cafe down the street from us.  I thought I took pictures - evidently, I didn't.  Oh well.  I'll blame the excitement of lunching on the street in Roma and lack of proper sleep.

I had a great sandwich - filled with tomatoes, mozzarella, arugula - and a thin omelette.  OMG!  Good.  Gastronomic heaven.  Others were having risottos, pasta dishes, much more substantial foods.  I went simple.  I'm glad I did.  It's hot in Rome right now.  Light meals are much easier on my system...

We hit the grocery store around the corner for fresh pasta and a bunch of vegetables and I cooked up a papardelle with garlic, onions, Italian zucchini, sun-dried tomatoes, bell pepper... Who knows what else...  It was so much fun!

The store itself was fun.  We had a lot of fun in the back with the fresh bakery and butcher.  Very little English was spoken with the woman and man behind the counter.  I said "pane" and pointed to a large loaf on display.  She motioned cut in half and I sad no.  She moved to a quarter and I said "all."  She good-humoredly lectured me on how to say a "whole loaf."  I laughed, repeated it back, got an A for my Italian lesson - and promptly forgot the word.

We have a small kitchen but a great gas stove!  And lots of pots and pans.  We'll cook, again...

After touring the ruins, we headed to a pizzeria - and air conditioning.  My first Roma Caprese salad.  Fabulous, as one would expect.  It's just amazing how good simple ingredients can be - when they're grown right and without Monsanto being involved.

Victor ordered an "Assortment" of sandwiches - which turned out to be a singular Tuna sandwich.  Methinks the translation should have been "Assorted" - as in "we have assorted sandwiches for €3,00 each."  Since he also ordered a large salad and I had ordered a pizza, neither of us left hungry.

The tuna sandwich was awesome.  No mayo or binder...

The huge salad...

Just brimming with fresh produce...

And the Pizza...

 

Prosciutto and artichokes.  Oh, yeah!

And it was a thin - but substantial - crust.

It was also a combination I wouldn't have thought of, but damn!  It worked well!

We haven't even scratched the surface of Rome - sights or food - so there's plenty more exploring and excursioning to do.

This is a lot of fun!