DEI FRESCOBALDI RISTORANTE & WINE BAR -- FLORENCE ITALY -- PART 3

EXQUISITELY PREPARED TUSCAN FOOD WORTHY

OF BEING PAIRED WITH THE FRUIT FROM 

SEVEN CENTURIES OF WINEMAKING

Twice we indulged in the excellent Italian tradition of slow food at dei Frescobaldi.

Sitting in an elegant dining room and attended to by very professional multilingual waiters, we forgot about the bustle of the tour groups outside and lost ourselves in food and wine.

We almost always have a rule on the road -- my wife Heidi and I cannot order the same thing as a starter, main or even dessert.

We want to be able to explore the menu more deeply, so one might go stick with the classics while the other orders more adventurously.

But after each of us had settled on something from the sea for our main dish, we both chose a flavorful puree for our starter.

Fresh green peas and fava bean soup with crouton came to our luxuriously-appointed table in the formal dining room.

This was far from your uncle Joe's pea soup from a can at Mabel's corner diner.

Fresh legumes and vegetables are as much or more a staple of the Tuscan diet than are the various styles of pasta that every unpolished American expects to eat twice daily even the finer restaurants of Italy.

 FRESCOBALDI FOOD AND WINE REVIEW 

CONTINUES TOMORROW -- AUGUST 13