Giorno sette

Not too much to share today.

While the epicenter of the Italian renaissance is dotted with historical landmarks, Florence has thus far proven to be equally dotted with tourist traps. Food takes a back seat to art and fashion in this city and the strong tourist presence lends itself to 19€ Ceasar salads, 55€ Steaks and in the oldest cafe in Florence, 12€ for an espresso and a cappuccino. All this being said, it was nice to walk around to soak in the historical landmarks…

Tonight we have dinner at Tratorria Cibreo so I will report back later.

…Just returned and like so many times before, I am eating my words.

Cibreo was what everything else in Florence was not. Thoughtful, quality driven and well executed. Ricotta flan with meat ragu, a salty but very readily replaced polenta, a simple and delicious pumpkin soup, a very gamey quail (Ryan liked it, I thought it tasted like liver), chicken meatball with tomato sauce, cold veal cutlet with cold tomato sauce (which the son of the founding chef, Julio, said was traditionally a Jewish Florentine recipe from the Jewish side of his family (he’s 1/2) and an eggplant dish for vegetarians. Did I mention tomato aspic, tripe crudo (AMAZING) and a few other side dishes. Service, hospitality and great, simple, traditional food, Cibreo deserves its reputation and I would gladly continue to eat my words if it means dining like that.

PS – We now have the name of our future Italian restaurant.

Bona Forchetta (Good Fork) which is slang for one that chases the fork.

Happy eating…