Drew's Quick and Dirty Italy Restaurant Guide:
(Click on any card for a larger image)
Send me a postcard! 6565 Serengeti Cir Littleton CO 80124
Florence:
Via di Mezzo 24r (055 241 821)
Open 7.30-11.30pm Mon-Sat. Credit MC, V.
La Pentola Dell'Oro is a private dining club, but for about $10 anyone
can join. Try to get your hotel to call ahead as ours did, but don't be
afraid to just stop in. There is no sign or windows or anything to indicate
it is a restaurant. Just the address Via di Mezzo 24/Rosso (the rosso
means red address there are two colors of addresses in Florence, go figure.)
You practically walk into the kitchen and once you pay you get a membership
card (go early in your stay and you can eat there again!!). The menu is
a photocopy of a hand written daily menu all in Italian, so be ready to
break out the menu decoder. Our waitress was nice enough to translate
the entire menu for us. Everyone is very friendly and the food is some
of the best that we had in all of Italy. Don't miss it!
LA CANTINETTA DI RIGNANA
Closed on Tuesday Loc Rignana, Greve in Chianti(FI) - TEL: +39 055 852601
Cantinetta di Rignana, which is outside Florence (near the Badia a Passingano about 15 km south of the city). It is, essentially, a farm house with glorious views, and no other houses within close distance, and only reachable by a car that can traverse some rugged dirt roads. Here is more information about this farmhouse hotel/restaurant
Other Great Florence stops:
Fiaschetteria da "Il Latini" - Trattoria
Via dei Palchetti, 6/r (zona Piazza di S. Maria Novella)
Il Latini
(another
review) is as touristy as La Pentala is local, but it is still a blast. This place
has two seatings early (7pm?) and late (9:30). Sit at big long tables
with people you don't know, swill house wine and eat what they bring you.
The food was wonderful! Tuscan bean and bread soup (called ribolita) and
roast rack of veal! We had a great time here. I would get the hotel to
call for you here as well as it is very popular. I don't think they really
take reservations, you just wait in line, but they called out our hotel
name and pulled us to the front of the line so....
La
Cantinetta Antinori
Palazzo Antinori 3 Tel. (055) 292-234, closed Saturdays & Sundays
(you'll want to make reservations in the summer).
A great restaurant if you want to break out of the "House wine"
This is associated with the Wine manufacturer Antinori. The tradition
of great estates opening for the public to sample their wares dates back
to something very old I am sure. Expensive but good.
We also stayed at a very nice and centrally
located hotel, the
Hotel Pendini in Florence. The manager called all these
restaurants for us. I highly reccommend it!
Via Strozzi, 2 - 50123
Florence, Italy
Tel: ++39 055 211.170
Fax:++39 055 281.807
E-Mail: pendini@dada.it
Enoteca
i Terzi
Via Dei Termini 7, Siena, Tel 0577 44329
We had a five course dinner here with a different wine for each course. Both the food and the wine were incredible. The restaurant has beautiful brick ceiling (is this new? Pretty new, only 200 years old...). Don't miss it!
Venice:
Santa Croce 1395 - Salizada de Cą Zusto
30121 Venezia
fermata Riva De Biasio (linea 1 ACTV)
Tel./Fax +39-41-721687
We had two wonderful meals at Antica
Besseta, both times the waiter did
all the ordering. I love that. Reasonably priced and delicious. I recommend
some Prosecco (Venetian Sparkling Wine) while dining in Venice.