TRATTORIA PALLOTTINO - PART 4

TRATTORIA PALLOTTINO -- FLORENCE, ITALY

Here comes another tirade.

Though I listened to Popeye and ate plenty of spinach growing up in the Rust Belt, I came to dread all pastas allegedly done Florentine style.

Even in big city restaurants in the Midwest, Manhattan and Miami, the Florentine stuff had an overpowering bitter spinach taste.

Often, it also included unappetizing green pasta -- allegedly infused with spinach, but most likely food dyed in the de-flavorizing machine.

Not so with Pallottino's lasagne fatte in casa alla vecchia maniera (homemade lasagna done the old way.)

Very mild spinach noodles caressed the finest ricotta in these meatless baked dish.

Crispy on top, dense and creamy inside, it was the best lasagna I have ever tasted.

IF YOU GO:

Address: Via Isola delle Stinche 1 r

Tel:  055/289573

http://www.trattoriapallottino.com

trattoriapallottino@yahoo.it

Pallatino has outstanding wheelchair access at its outside seating area.

Inside, things are a little tight, but the owner treated us like family -- bringing three different kinds of chairs until Heidi felt comfortable sitting in one to get a break from her manual wheelchair.

TRATTORIA PALLOTTINO - PART 3

TRATTORIA PALLOTTINO -- FLORENCE, ITALY

Speaking of roast potatoes, what is it about the Tuscan roast spud?

Why is it so superior to the American version?

I can't tell you how many times I've ordered "redskin" or "new" potatoes -- even at a top drawer seafood or steak house -- only to be sorely disappointed in the bland little cubes of flavorless starch sitting next to an otherwise top-drawer entree prepared by a skilled chef?

Is it the source tater itself?

Is it the generous use of olive oil? 

Do they know to toss a little garlic on the spuds to give 'em some life?

I've gotta ask somebody who knows, because Tuscan roast potatoes -- especially those prepared by the owner's wife at the helm in Pallottino's kitchen, are as savory as the best hash brown from a greasy spoon diner.

Somehow, in his limited English, Pallottino's owner convinced me to order lasagna with spinach.

PART 4 POSTS TOMORROW -- JUNE 10 

TRATTORIA PALLOTTINO - PART 2

TRATTORIA PALLOTTINO -- FLORENCE, ITALY

In Florence, local flavor means an Pallottino appetizer of crostini di polenta fritta ai funghi porcini -- ie, little toasts made of lightly fired polenta and topped with porcini mushrooms to die for.

Because lunch is often the biggest meal of the day, next comes ribollita alla contadina, the famed bread and tomato-based Tuscan soup thick as stew.

Starving, we also ordered Pallottino's signature cannellini beans in tomato sauce, though it might have been wiser to go with the more traditional olive oil base since the hearty ribollita also was tomato-based.

No matter how good the primi was, the best -- by far -- was yet to come in the secondi.

My bride of a quarter century Heidi went for the blackboard special of porchetta with outstanding roasted potatoes.

Porchetta is Italian for suckling pig that is heavily salted on the outside, deboned, stuffed with garlic, rosemary, fennel seeds, and other herbs, then rolled up and slowly roasted.

The result is a stunning piece of pork with the perfect amount of buttery fat and crispy skin on the plate to add to the flavor.

Porchetta usually is served room temperature or cold.

Pallottino serves it chilly.

Here's a little hint for those of you who perhaps are children of the Great Lakes who grew up thinking everything out of mom's kitchen should be nice and warm -- put the hot out of the oven taters on top of the porchetta and you've got warmed pork without offending the kitchen.

We certainly didn't stoop to such devices, we're just saying...

PART 3 POSTS TOMORROW -- JUNE 9 

TRATTORIA PALLOTTINO - 1

TRATTORIA PALLOTTINO -- FLORENCE, ITALY

Thanks to Trattoria Pallottino, the upscale Italian restaurants seem average, the dependable red table cloth joints have become barely mediocre and my homemade pasta just plain lousy.

Maybe it comes off as backhanded, but that's about the highest compliment I could pay to a family-run trattoria in the heart of historic Florence.

Family is key, as the owner cradles a sleeping infant against his shoulder as he hands you the menu.

He returns, little one in stroller this time, to tell you the day's specials and to help steer you toward the menu items that are most representative of Tuscan cuisine.

Tuscans are proud of the olive oil, white beans, wild boar, beef, tomatoes, mushrooms and other items that come from their region.

They want patrons to know that no matter what the 100-plus item Italian restaurant back on Mainstreet USA tells you, there IS NOT ONE ITALY.

The nation has barely been unified for a century and a half and unlike the globalization that kills individuality in the states, Italy takes pride in its unique regional flavors.

PART 2 POSTS TOMORROW -- JUNE 8

FLORENCE RESTAURANT GUIDE

FLORENCE EATS FROM THE VIEWPOINT OF STUDENTS

Restaurants in Florence is a straightforward guide to Tuscan Cuisine.  In the website's own words:

"Before coming in Florence perhaps your main thinking weren't only directed toward the world famous masterpieces such as the paintings of Leonardo, the sculptures of Michelangelo, or the projects of Brunelleschi....

Restaurantsinflorence.com the best selection of Italian and International restaurants, pubs, bars, pizzerias, ice cream shops, all with direct links to their official websites and to their social networks (where available). 

We at restaurantsinflorence.com know that your interests toward the Italian cuisine masterpieces competes with your interests toward the Florentine art...and we understand you!!

The pleasure of a good dinner in an excellent pizzeria can, without doubts, challenge the intellectual satisfaction of visiting the main masterpieces of the town: a good Chianti can give you the same joy of the view of a beautiful Leonardo da Vinci painting, the famous "bistecca alla fiorentina" can surely compete with all the sculptures of Michelangelo and the view of a real Italian tiramisu can give to you no less interior happiness than the view of a beautiful Tuscan landscape.

In Florence you can find very good place where you can spend little money...the very important thing is to go off the tourist main beaten road!!!

We'll indicate to you the places where the real Florentines prefer to go, places where you can find the best quality for a fair price.

We've even inserted some of the very best restaurants They can cost a lot of money but, once in a life, you should do this experience.

www.restaurantsinflorence.com