Trattoria la Burrasca, Florence
(Vacation day four, continued and last.) By the end of the day, my brain was overstuffed with the great art and architecture of San Marco, Santa Maria Novella, and the Accademia, but my belly was perilously empty, having been fed just a handful of olives and a wedge of cheese. So I was quite eager to return to the Mercato Centrale and to make my way to the nearby Via Panicale for a hearty dinner at Trattoria la Burrasca.
Ericka had recommended the restaurant to me, and it's also a favorite in Rick Steve's guidebook--sure enough, shortly after I sat down, a half-dozen of the blue-book Moonies sauntered in. It's a good thing, though, because this family-run joint has homey, delicious food at reasonable prices, and if the tourists keep it in business, bravo! You certainly don't come for the decor, which is rustic and random, as if they nailed up photos and tacky tchotchkes whenever they didn't want to bother taking them to the flea market. Pat Kuleto would weep. But that's OK, too--chic is fun, but you want to pay for the food and not the interior decoration, right?
I started with cappellini in brodo (photo), a rich chicken stock with tortellini-like dumplings, one of the better bowls of chicken soup I've had and good medicine for the weary traveler. My main course was maialino nostrato al forno (I think I'm spelling that correctly), slices of roast pork (juicy and flavorful), and I added a side of spinaci alla crema, creamed spinach so light it was almost mousse-y. I'd be a happy camper eating those greens on a regular basis.
Trattoria la Burrasca doesn't have a Web site, but it's open Friday through Wednesday for dinner.
There was no music on my program that evening. However, on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, you can catch English-language films (no dubbing) at the Odeon Original Sound. That night the movie was Borat, which was just as pants-wettingly funny the second time around, and possibly even funnier with the respectable Italian couple behind me, discreetly asking each other for explanations of "sexy time" and words in fake Kazakh. Talk about spanning the brows in one day, from high to low, sacred to profane, David to Borat. Well hell, good is good, no matter what the altitude of the brow.
