TRATTORIA DA BENVENUTO, FLORENCE ITALY
Dining at Trattoria da Benvenuto is like being invited over
to an Italian chef's house for dinner -- with the seating right in his kitchen.
We opened with the world's best and simple crostini of
cheese, tomato and a single black olive on some small pieces of wonderful
Tuscan bread.
It was our first full day in Florence and we had been
thoroughly warned about the tourist traps right on the lovely Piazza della
Signoria, many of which serve over priced mediocre food to visitors exhausted
from a visit to the art treasures in the Uffizi.
Benvenuto is very close to the Piazza, but just far enough
away to feel like a friendly diner where the locals gather for straightforward
Italian home cooking.
We opened with a primi of spaghetti with hot pepper flakes
-- perfectly al dente and with just a little hint of fire to separate it from
typical red sauce.
Secondi was a whole sea bass -- grilled and served with
broth, potatoes, zucchini and onion. The no-nonsense server expertly pried skin
and bone off the wonderful fish like and made sure the every drop of savory
broth made it onto the plate.
Our other secondi was
a soothing plate of rigatoni with eggplant. Like everything at Benvenuto, it
was super unpretentious while being perfectly cooked, spiced and portioned.
The house red blended well with our self-selected
mini-grazing menu. Everything on the menu, including the wine, is amazingly
affordable considering the quality and love that goes into each dish.
The kindly owner, using his limited English, surprised us
with a delightful mascarpone cheese cake with fresh berries. We really didn't have room to split one, let
alone two generous slices.
But hey, it was vacation, so we sinned with the rich
mascarpone, trying to convince ourselves that the healthy fresh berries would
balance out our indulgence.
One side note of interest to people with disabilities. My
wife uses a wheelchair and the kind folks at Benvenuto helped her through the
accessible entrance and seated her with no problems. The restroom is not perfect, but that is often
the case in centuries-old buildings in a city whose very well-intended
preservation rules make it difficult to remodel even for wheelchair access.
Address: Via della Mosca 16/r, Florence, Italy
Comparison: less expensive than average
Directions: Not far from Piazza della Signoria
Phone: 055/214833
Price: US$11-20
Rating: 5
Theme: Italian
Website: http://www.trattoriabenvenuto.it/
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