Food as Art – N/Naka

Restaurant: N/Naka [1, 2]

Location: 3455 S. Overland Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90034. 310.836.6252

Date: July 22, 2011

Rating: Awesome

N/Naka opened only three months ago. It’s the brainchild of chef/owner Niki Nakayama and is a rare entry (along with Urwasawa) in the Kaiseki category of Japanese. This is a traditional style of extended meal of small highly ornate dishes that is simultaneously traditional and modern. Originally it was a form of Imperial cuisine from Kyoto, but in the hands of Nakayama it’s received a bit of a modernist twist ala infusions of ideas and techniques from Ferran Adrià, the Spanish genius responsible for many modernist trends in cooking.

The unassuming frontage is on Overland just south of the 10 freeway.

Inside is minimalist, Japanese inspired, and very attractive.

Small attractive details are very Japanese.

Be warned, this restaurant has no ala carte menu at all (yay!). There are three options. A 10-13 course Modern Kaiseki, a nine course smaller Kaiseki (still long), and a ten course Vegetarian Tasting. All three options can be coupled with wine pairings. Below I will present the long Modern Kaiseki and the Vegetarian.

Modern Kaiseki (w/ wine pairings)

Graham beck sparkling, south africa. A nice dry champagne style pinot.

Saki Zuke

(A pairing of something common and something unique)

Cauliflower tofu, marinated salmon roe, uni butter, micro greens.

A wonderful blend of textures and flavors. The tufo was soft and gelatinous, the uni is… well uni-like, and the bits of Ikura (salmon roe) burst in the mouth as little flavor morsels. Delicious.

2008 — brooks riesling, williamette valley, oregon.

Zensai

(Main seasonal ingredient presented as an appetizer)

Soft shell crab, avocado sphere, scallop “dynamite”

Seared bluefin toro avocado rice, miso marinated black cod

Soft shell crab, avocado sphere, red pepper sorbet. The nicely friend crab and the sorbet played nicely off each other.

miso marinated black cod. Pretty much the Matsuhisa classic!

Seared bluefin toro avocado rice, caviar. Seared toro is always good, nice pairing.

scallop “dynamite.” This was pretty delicious. The soft, slightly chewy, bits of scallop played deliciously off the rich dynamite.

2009 — erbaluce di caluso, favar, piedmont, italy. Parker gives this 88 points. “The 2009 Erbaluce di Caluso is an unusual white that in many ways recalls Pinot vinified off the skins. Flowers, red berries and minerals come together nicely on a mid-weight yet generous frame. Clean, mineral notes reappear on the finish, giving the wine its sense of proportion. Anticipated maturity: 2010-2012.”

Modern zukuri

(modern interpretation of sashimi)

Tuna and escolar checkers, ponzu reduction, italian black truffles

A delicious blend of little sashimi cubes and a richer more European sauce, plus the truffles. Very nice.

2010-shesbro roussanne, carmel valley, ca.

Owan “Still Water”

Lobster “shinjo” mousseline, chef’s garden momotaro tomato broth

You break up that little lobster thing into the soup, and eat that way. The soup had a delicious and light tomato dill thing going on, and the lobster added just a touch of richness.

Sake-kimura junmai daiginjo, akita, japan. This was a spectacular sake, tasting strongly of anise. This is the kind of sake where they shave every rice kernel down before making it!

Otsukuri

(Traditional Sashimi )

Big eye otoro, shima aji , sea bream, santa barbara sweet shrimp,

Kumamoto oyster with uni

Some classic sashimi. The fish was all first rate, the wasabi hand ground.

Rw draft sake, suehiro syuzo, aizu japan. This was a fresher, younger sake.

Yakimono

Japan sazae butter yaki with maitake mushrooms

Japanese conch (like we had at Matsuhisa), but even more delicious as it was mixed with really yummy mushrooms and quail egg.

2007 — slumberger gewurstraminer prince abbes. Medium sweet.

Yakimono 2

Foie gras with eggplant, miso balsamic, shiitake mushroom

Double yum! Fois gras done up like BBQ eel (with some eggplant and mushroom).

2009 — elke chardonnay- anderson valley.

Shiizakana

(Not bound by tradition, the chef’s choice dish to be paired with wine)

Spaghetti with abalone, truffles, pickled cod roe, abalone liver sauce

This was a pretty amazing pasta dish, blending east and west. I’m not usually a huge abalone fan (although I have it often enough). It’s usually too chewy, but this wasn’t at all. There was a combined truffle and briny taste to this dish, not unlike a good spaghetti botarga, but also a truffle and butter/liver influenced richness.

2009 — evening land vineyards blue label pinot noir, eola amity hills, oregon. “Evening Land Vineyards is a group headed by movie magnate Mark Tarlov that also owns Pinot vineyards in the Sonoma Coast and Santa Rita Hills and is making wines in Burgundy. They gained control of one of the Willamette Valley’s prized properties, Seven Springs Vineyard, and created an immediate sensation by signing on Dominique Lafon of Comte Lafon in Burgundy as consulting winemaker. The Evening Land group is also making a major effort to restore the health and vitality of Seven Springs. The most recent development is the addition of renowned Master Sommelier Larry Stone as President and GM of the group in August 2010. Over the past 2-3 years there has been an awakening among some of the Willamette Valley’s most distinguished vignerons that their region is capable of producing world class Chardonnay. With Dominique Lafon and Larry Stone on board, there is no question that Evening Lands will be playing a starring role in this drama. There are now two serious Gamay producers in the Willamette Valley, Doug Tunnell of Brick House being the other.”

Niku

Snake river farms kobe beef kushiyaki skewers, baby corn

A small portion of yakaniku, ala Totoraku (see here). Delicious and rich. Not quite the beefy effect of the mega secret beef meal, but a nice note in this complex dinner.

Sunomono

Halibut fin ceviche

Yuzu omoi, yuzu blend sake

A tasty little intermezzo.

Sake- shichida, sago japan. This apparently is an ultra-ultra rare sake.

In the glass. It was darn good. Darn good. So were all the sakes, but I liked this one and the first one the best.

Housemade ginger.

Some traditional sushi. Jeju island hirame, o-toro

yellow tail belly, shima aji

live scallops, uni shinkomaki. Overall the sushi was good, but not quite at the level of the very top dedicated sushi places. Still, it was very very good sushi.

Shokuji

(Rice dish)

sea trout and roe chazuke

It’s traditional to end the savories in Japan with a “rice dish.” On the left we have a very traditional bit of salmon like fish, rice, and nori. Refreshing and stomach settling.

On the right were two pickles cut roll pieces. I loved these. I’m a huge Japanese pickles fan and really enjoy the crunchy vinegar thing.

Dessert

Black sesame crème brulee, fruits

A very nice crème brulee with a soft sesame flavor.

There was also a dessert wine, a light medium sweet late harvest wine, but I forgot to get a photo of it.

Dessert

ice cream on cornbread

Tasted of corn, and ice cream — big surprise. Light and yummy.

Vegetarian Tasting

Saki Zuke

(A pairing of something common and something unique)

Cauliflower Tofu with Truffles

Zensai

(Main seasonal ingredient presented as an appetizer)

Chilled chef’s garden kabocha soup, braised wakame seaweed with shiitake

Lotus root “kinpira”, grilled eggplant, shiso tempura with tofu & avocado

grilled eggplant

braised wakame seaweed with shiitake

shiso tempura with tofu & avocado

Chilled chef’s garden kabocha soup

Lotus root “kinpira”

Modern Zukuri

(Modern interpretation of sashimi)

Compressed watermelon, cucumbers, baby yellow squash, baby zucchini, yuzu

Kimchee air

Otsukuri

(Sashimi )

Arrowroot konyaku, whith konyaku, spinach, kabocha, baby taro

Nanohana ripini, carrots

Owan “Still Water”

Potatoe “shinjo”, chef’s garden momotaro tomato broth

Shiizakana

(Not bound by tradition, the chef’s choice dish)

Spaghetti wild mushrooms, truffles

Yakimono

Lotus root mochi, spinach teppanyaki

avocado, Sushi-eggplant & shiso

shiitake, grilled konyaku

Maitake roll, cucumber and plum

Shokuji

(Rice dish)

ocha zuke with wasabi nori

The desserts were the same as the Modern Kaiseki. Overall a pretty spectacular job of approximating the full range of proteins using only vegetable sources. Vegetarian (or otherwise protein restricted) foodies should delight in this.

I was extremely impressed with N/Naka, and you can bet I’ll be back soon. The food is highly elaborate and offers a full suite of flavors meticulously prepared. I very much enjoy even the fully traditional Kaiseki dinners, but this slightly modernist take was even better. Sometimes chefs with inferior pallets will introduce modernist techniques into traditional meals and create uncomfortable taste pairings. Niki Nakayama clearly has a very sure and confident palette, as I found every dish harmonious and balanced.

I just hope the somewhat adventurous and all-tasting format doesn’t make it difficult for the restaurant to thrive (and I wouldn’t change that at all for myself, but some might be intimidated). I have the feeling that the menu changes up frequently, and is very seasonal, and I hope that’s the case — because I’ll be back! (And I was, click here for a second meal)

Or here for other LA Japanese restaurants.

Eating Cinque Terre – Gianni Franzi

Jul28

Restaurant: Gianni Franzi

Location: Vernazza, Italy

Date: June 27, 2011

Cuisine: Ligurian

Rating: Solid local lunch

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We took a little train ride down to Cinque Terre, a very pretty region of five small towns clustered by the sea.

The second of these is Vernazza, which is accessible only by train or boat. Picturesque as you can see. In typical Italian fashion transport doesn’t really run during lunch so we were forced to stop and eat. I just chose a likely looking place by feel.

The menu.

The patio looks back on the harbor in the above establishing shot.

A caraffe of local white was totally drinkable.

This place puts the pesto on top, which is unusual. This is spaghetti genovese (known here as pesto).

Trofei Genovese.

Seafood ravioli. These were stuffed with fish and in a tomato based fish sauce. Very tasty actually, but not for the landlubber as it had a bit of a briny flavor.

This is minestrone Genovese. The waitress scolded me for ordering it with a pasta dish as there are technically pasta bits in here — but who cares. In any case, this is a very pesto minestrone, and pretty typical of the dish. Good though, as I LOVE pesto and could eat like 10 pastas in one meal.

Overall, a totally satisfying quick little lunch.

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Eating Santa Margherita – La Paranza

Jul27

Restaurant: La Paranza

Location: Santa Margherita, Italy

Date: June 26, 2011

Cuisine: Ligurian

Rating: Straightforward

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This restaurant was around the corner from the hotel, had a typical menu, and appeared very crowded at lunch. So we gave it a try for dinner.

Santa Margherita is really two towns joined at the hip. This is in the center of the western half of the town, which is far smaller than the eastern.

Normal enough inside.

A variety of breads. Some of these have cheese inside.

An amuse in the form of a sheet of fried cheese. Really, who can beat fried cheese?

The endless menu.

This was a very nice (and cheap) light local white. All local wines in Liguria fit the light, cheap, and white descriptors.

Salmone affumicato (smoked salmon). It’s always served with butter in Italy. Go figure.

Tagliata of tuna. I.e. seared tuna with some vegetables.

Antipasto di mare. Mixed seafood appetizer. Smoked salmon on toast. A bit of marinated white anchovies. Some other kind of marinated local fish and a mixed marinated salad of squid, octopus, and shrimps.

Spaghetti pomodoro.

Gnocchi Genovese. This is one of the 2-3 most typical pesto preparations. Pesto in Liguria (where it comes from) is fabulous, but a little different than in the states. It’s milder, but really emphasizes the basil and olive oil. These were nice fluffy gnocchi.

Troffie Genovese. This is THE most typical and traditional form of the dish. Little twists of fresh pasta in pesto with a few green beans and a little bit of sliced potato.

Fritto misto. Various lightly fried shrimps, squids, and mysterious shellfish.

The ubiquitous mixed salad.

Profiteroles. These were stuffed with custard.

Tiramisu.

A few “free” biscuits with the bill.

The bill. Here largely for the restaurant’s address etc.

Each lady got a rose as a parting gift. This kind of stuff is very Italian — if a little touristy.

La Paranza was a good place. Traditional, reasonable, and tasty. But it’s a little staid and straight up, so there are better restaurants in town as you will see in upcoming posts.

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Eating Santa Margherita – Miramare Breakfast

Jul26

Restaurant: Grand Hotel Miramare (Breakfast)

Location: Santa Margherita, Italy

Date: June 26-29, 2011

Cuisine: Ligurian

Rating: Mid level Italian breakfast

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As I’ve written about earlier, almost all hotels in Italy include buffet breakfast. The Grand Hotel Miramare is no exception.

This is the same dining terrace as we ate dinner at on the previous evening.

And the view still doesn’t suck.

The have cappuccino and juice as always.

Various sausages, sauteed mushrooms, tomatoes.

Italian bacon. Eggs.

Breads.

Juices.

Yogurt.

Cereals.

A few cakes and jams, although nothing compared to the cake selection at the Adriatic beach hotel.

Fruit and cheese.

And a closeup of the cheese. Missing here, oddly for Italy, were the cured meats like Prosciutto.

My plate. A bit of protein, a bit of cake.

This local cake was really interesting. Not only did it have various dried fruits inside (raisons and some other stuff), but it had fennel seeds!

Overall this breakfast, while totally fine, was a bit of a disappointment considering the level of the hotel. The more commercial Palace Hotel (here for breakfast) we stayed at earlier in the trip had a much more extensive buffet, with even a slightly higher ingredient level. Even the Real Fini (here for breakfast) may have had a few more options, although the breakfasts were fairly comparable.

Click here to see more Eating Italy posts.

Eating Santa Margherita – Hotel Miramare

Jul25

Restaurant: Grand Hotel Miramare (Dinner)

Location: Santa Margherita, Italy

Date: June 25, 2011

Cuisine: Ligurian

Rating: Old school

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Finally, we enter the final phase of our epic trip: Liguria. This is another seafood area, but quite different than Milano Martittima. Here we are on the Riveria, at the top of the Ligurian Sea instead of the adriatic. Near to France and home to Belle Epoque grandeur.

Our hotel — the white one — the Hotel Miramare, on the western end of this lovely town. We got lazy the first night and decided to try out the hotel restaurant.

And the view from the dining terrace. It sucks to be in the Italian Riveria.

The menu. A slightly unusual fixed price one at that.

An amuse. I can’t for the life of me remember what. The “spoons” are edible bread though.

A nice light white Ligurian wine. I liked the easy-drinking whites in the region. They go well with seafood and don’t last.

Grapefruit juice. Yes, this is a bonafied option for the anti-pasta!

Or instead you could choose these very nice local Morrone fish fillets, marinated with a small salad.

Borraggine herb rolls with egg-plants and buffalo mozzarella. Borraggine is a kind of nettle. The dish was, however, delicious!

Taglierini with local scampi. This is a classic pasta type. Very simple with fresh tomatoes and garlic. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

Baked sea-bass in herb flavors. Very nice fish, also local.

Glazed ribs of veal with rosemary. Duchesse potatoes and spinach coupole Mornay. Old school, but tasty.

They also have a full salad bar you can help yourself too. It was fairly extensive but I took it easy and got only simple greens. I’ve never actually seen a salad bar in Italy, and here it was at this five-star hotel! There were also some local cheeses at the salad bar you could grab.

Petite fors.

There was an extensive dessert cart. Sachertorte.

Grandmother’s torte (with pinenuts).

Tiramisu.

Creme Caramel. One of my favorites.

A kind of berries and cream torte.

This was a peculiar and slightly old school restaurant, but the food was tasty, and the view and terrace impeccable. No complaints.

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A Dance With Dragons

Jul24

Title: A Dance With Dragons

Author: George R. R. Martin

Genre: Epic Fantasy

Length: 959 pages, circa 400,000 words

Read: July 12-23, 2011

Summary: Awesome, but not without issues.

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My charge through book 5 of Martin’s epic fantasy series was a bit drawn out by my need to concentrate on the second draft of my new novel Untimed, but I finally finished. Before I launch in, it should be noted that this review is full of spoilers.

Dance is huge, weighing in at nearly 1,000 pages. This itself is actually a welcome and comforting fact because these books are something to savor. Overall, I would rate this volume as better than A Feast of Crows and slightly worse than the first three. Still, it’s a fantastic book. Prose-wise, Martin is still a master at both people, places, plotting and reversals. It’s just that this book suffers from a few pacing and structural issues.

Most of these stem from his controversial decision to pull out half the characters from the bloated manuscript of Feast and push them into Dance by themselves. So the first two thirds of the new book is everyone who didn’t get a turn in Feast. Now, for the most part, this saved the best for last. Dany, Jon, and Tyrion make up the bulk of the book, particularly this first two thirds, and they are some of my favorite characters. But overall this leaves both Feast and Dance feeling a little more threadbare than the first three books. Personally I think he would have been much better off winding out the story chronologically, trimming out some useless threads (Aeron Damphair, Victarion, and probably the Dornes), and rearranging the plot so as to have some kind of sub-climax at the end of each book.

As it is, Dance reads excellently for the first 2/3, feeling fairly focused on its three mains. But it’s weird to rewind in time and revisit certain happenings from Feast from the other side (for example Sam leaving the Wall). When we get to the cut off point, however, some of the characters from Feast start to weave back in. This mostly has the effect of slowing the narrative and making it more diffuse. At least until the set of cliffhangers and deaths that come in the final chapters.

I also think that Martin is letting his pacing slip a bit. It’s not that each chapter isn’t entertaining and well written — they are — but many threads there have multiple chapters where the happenings could’ve been collapsed without loss. If we hadn’t known a few of those details were there, we would never have missed them. Worse than the pacing issues, however, is a weirdly increasing fondness for skipping some of the big moments. Now Martin has always done that (the Red Wedding, the “death” of Bran & Rickon, etc) but it’s worse than ever. He has a real tendency to build slowly toward a big event, then skip the event itself, showing what happened to the characters obliquely through other eyes at a much later point.

I’m going to go through some of my opinions and analysis thread by thread.

Prologue

I don’t really understand why fantasy authors are obsessed with these. It was kind of interesting, but didn’t advance anything.

Jon

His thread is fine (until the end), but it does feel a bit static. While he’s certainly grown into command, he mostly sits back at the wall and fields interference between factions (Stannis, his queen, the Red Priestess, the Wildlings) etc. Then at the end, he mysteriously decides to rush off to Winterfell. This is a move that makes no sense as he has refused to enter into family entanglements about six times before, and while he is goaded, there is really less at stake for him. Then out of nowhere comes a reaction to this decision that leaves us in a bad cliffhanger. Boo.

Tyrion

The Imp is funny as always and now I can hear Peter Dinklage cracking each and every droll line. Still his thread is also a little dragged out, although it does involve some great sightseeing and is certainly entertaining all along. In the first part of the book it feels like he (and everyone else) is heading toward Dany, but then he gets within inches and turns back. Using him to introduce us to Griff and “Young Griff” is however an excellent device and works much better than an extra POV would have. It is mostly through Tyrion and Dany that we get a sense of the complex and old slave societies of the mainland. Unlike Westeros which feels like late Medieval England, these realms feel more like the ancient east (perhaps an updated Babylon vibe).

Dany

Her chapters are mostly political. She does feel a bit passive. I don’t really understand why she doesn’t try to get a handle on her dragons earlier, this is obviously a key move which could trump all of her political problems. Instead she dicks around (literally and figuratively) with various factions. This is all fairly entertaining, but feels like treading water. Then “a big event occurs” (at least this one is on screen) and she rides off on Drogon. That’s all great, but her narrative disappears until the last chapter. When it returns nothing is resolved at all, but a new out of the blue cliffhanger is introduced. I do really like the world of Meereen and the slave cities, although it feels like we are lingering here a bit long.

Barristan

The hero serves to replace Dany as the POV in Meereen. He’s actually a great POV character with all his lingering thoughts about events during and before Robert’s Rebellion. I really enjoyed his chapters. But they didn’t come to any resolution.

Theon

The hier to the seastone chair returns to us, a few bits worse for the wear. I hated Theon in books 2 & 3, but I enjoyed his chapters immensely here. His transformation into Reek and back again is very deftly handled, with a very proper (and sordid) period quality. It isn’t for no reason that Tarantino used the phrase “medieval on his ass” and that is exactly what the Bastard of Bolton has done to Theon. His pseudo redemption is good. Still, we have classic Martin avoidance of the action with the actual escape from Winterfell. In the cut between Theon jumping from the wall into the snows and his delivery to his sister is a big blank. Not that we needed the travel, but whatever battle happened at Winterfell needed some detailing.

Asha

I could have lived without her POV. It mostly serves to fill in some parts of Stannis’s story when he leaves the wall. The technique is sketchy and I ended up having no idea what really happened during his brutal snowy march and the seige of Winterfell. This I thought was the weakest part of the book structurally, as I’m basically confused.

Quentin and the Dornes

Cut! Dull for the most part, except for some info about the cultures they traveled through. I couldn’t have cared less for these characters. The attempt to steal a dragon was interesting, but was also vaguely described. I’m thinking that Martin, for all his brilliance as a character and world builder, isn’t actually the best at action scenes.

The Dorne chapter back in Dorne: It was okay, but we didn’t really need it.

Jaime

This sucked. I like Jaime’s POVs, but this single chapter had a bunch of crap, followed by one of those annoying Martin reveals that just serve to highlight the gap in information. Brienne returns and they ride off. You don’t find out how she escaped her predicament, what she knows, anything. It just kinda sucked. The effect of her cliffhanger was entirely spoiled.

Cersei

These were pretty good, and I enjoyed seeing her get hers. Martin certainly knows how to throw in the creepy little details so your mind fills in the rest.

Victarion

Cut! I could have lived without these, and they basically just told you he was heading off to Dany with a horn and a Red Priest. Although he’s better than his brother — I’d take any chapter over Aeron Damphair.

Arya

These were great. I have no idea where they’re going, but that’s fine. Arya has always been one of my favorites. Give us more. To be honest it felt like these were the chapters that should have gone in Feast and this the conclusion that book should have had for Arya’s thread. Probably that was Martin’s original plan.

Bran

His chapters were good, but so little, and it all felt dropped as his last chapter is about midway in the book.

Davos

I’ve never been a fan. I think we could have just had these told by raven.

Epilogue

This was actually very good, really being a Kevan in King’s Landing chapter in disguise. I loved the return of Varys at the end — particularly his dialog.

Some observations: There is more magic of sorts in this volume. Martin has a real thing for nubile slave girls — but then again, what self respecting fantasist doesn’t? The scope of this book, with it’s gigantic foreign cities reminiscent of the ancient world is going to make for some hard adapting should the TV series get this far. As I noted in my series reviews the show already has problems with handling large scale people scenes. These slave cities and the like will make that even harder. Likewise with the slave sex and slave violence. I’m all over it (in fiction) but some of it will undoubtedly have to be cut/changed. Sigh. I like that Martin at least highlights some of the sad reality of actually being a nubile slave girl.

Overall, Martin’s books are among my all-time favorite novels. I enjoyed the book immensely, and eagerly await the the next volume (and I’m sure I’ll be waiting for a long time), but I can’t help but think it could have been SO much better if Martin had taken all the material in both Feast and Dragons and reedited them together into two chronological and slightly leaned down volumes.

Also check out my reviews of each episode of Season 1 of Game of Thrones (the HBO series):

[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8,9, 10]

Eating Certaldo – Il Castello Certaldo

Jul23

Restaurant: Il Castello Certaldo

Location: Celtaldo, Italy

Date: June 24, 2011

Cuisine: Tuscan

Rating: Nice view, ok food

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Ah, the last meal in Tuscany! (except for breakfast) We took a couple hours to visit the cute little town of Certaldo. The old town is up on a hill and you ascend by funicular. The town was great, but there weren’t a lot of restaurant options. We chose the most likely looking.

At the end of the main drag.

And the dining terrace turned out to have this rather lovely view.

And pretty courtyard.

The menu.

Olive oil and vinegar.

House wine, white.

And red. Both decent, very cheap.

Local meats, including the big one which is a special local salami with saffron in it.

Bresaola with pecorino and arugula.

Marinated mushrooms and artichoke hearts.

The now familiar panzanella. Last time you’ll see it though as we’re leaving Tuscany.

A risotto with vegetables, peculiar in being slightly soupy, but supposedly decent.

A truffle risotto soup (haha, just a soupy risotto). Tasted good though.

Local pasta in pomodoro sauce.

Spaghetti alla carbonara. Not bad, although perhaps not as eggy cheesy as it could have been.

Ravioli with cheese, butter, and sage. Those that ate this felt the ravioli might have been packaged.

THe same ravioli, but with a truffle sauce. They were fine.

Roasted potatoes.

Pork fillet in balsamic sauce.

Saltimbocc alla romana. Veal with ham and sage. Pretty tasty actually, but salty.

And a bit of gelato to finish.

This was a decent meal. The patio location — which we had entirely to ourselves — was absolutely world class. The food was good. Not great by any meals, but decently executed. The company, though, was as good as the view, so all was good.

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Eating San Donato – Pizzeria Pretorio

Jul22

Restaurant: Pizzeria Pretorio

Location: San Donato, Italy

Date: June 22, 2011

Cuisine: Pizza

Rating: Best pizza we had on the trip

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The wine guide who took us to Montacino seemed to have very good taste in food, and so we’d asked him where the best pizza in Tuscany was. He was confident it was a place in the tiny town of San Donato called Pizzeria Pretorio. We trekked for 30 minutes each way just to find out.

San Donato is one of those pretty small stone towns. It wasn’t very big, so it didn’t take long to just stumble into the joint.

And they turned out to have such a terrible view.

And cramped unappealing terrace — not!

The menu.

One thing about this terrace — it was hot hot hot in the Tuscan sun. So I took an artsy water bottle shot.

And we felt that pizza called for beer, in this case the special premium “silly beer!”

Here is pizza margherita with mushrooms.

Calzone Napoli: Ricotta, prosciutto, cotto, salami piccante, mozzarella.

La fabrizino: small tomatoes, sausage, porcini, mozzarella and arugala.

Then the piece du ressistance: the four seasons. We don’t know exactly what was on this, but clearly the green pesto & zucchini part was spring, the sausage winter, the squash part fall, and the remaining one summer.

Overall Pretorio was some damn fine pizza in an impeccable location.

Then walking out we stumbled onto this: an artisan gelato place.

Oh the hardship. This turned out to be one of the three or so best gelatos I had in Italy too.

The didn’t have a lot of flavors, but those they did were really good.

Chocolate.

Lemon.

And my trio: Cassata di Siciliana (ricotta with candied fruits), chocolate with cherries!, and nutella. All three flavors were fabulous, but the nutella was hands down the best nutella gelato I’ve ever had (and I’ve had plenty). It was so thick I wondered if it just WAS nutella, but really I know better as even at fridge temperatures nutella becomes unspreadable.

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Eating Florence – Gelateria Santa Trinita

Jul21

Restaurant: Gelateria Santa Trinita

Location: Florence, Italy

Date: June 21, 2011

Cuisine: Gelato

Rating: Awesome!

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On our first day in Florence we had walked by this Gelateria with huge lines (not far from Nove IX). And then coincidently I was talking to our wine country guide who was a definitive foodie and a Florentine native and he recommended the very same place as the best in Florence.

So on our second day we had to try it.

I mentally think of gelato as falling in two broad flavor groups. These are the “non fruits” (i.e. chocolates and cream flavors).

Some more of them, and some hybrids like cherries and cream.

Then we have the fruits.

A couple more angles on this stuff.

Yum.

I went for “creamy” this time, with pannacotta and tiramisu type flavors.

Half the group going to town.

This was indeed one of the best Gelato places we ate at on the trip, although there were certainly lots of very good ones. I asked them for a sample of their pink grapefruit too and it was totally spectacular, making me want to get a whole second cup.

As a second opinion though, my wife thought Vivoli, was more to her taste because she loved the “chocolate mousse” fluffy style flavor. In 1986 I spent five days in Florence, and I went to Vivoli at least twice on each of those, as at that age, and not having much gelato it was mind blowing. It was certainly still good, but I thought Santa Trinita was a little better personally.

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Eating Florence – Caffe Pitti

Jul20

Restaurant: Caffe Pitti

Location: Florence, Italy

Date: June 21, 2011

Cuisine: Tuscan

Rating: Touristy location, very good food

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On our second day in Florence we came out of the Pitti Palace starved and thirsty.

One of our guide books directed us to a spot just across the street from this grand piazza, which is a location always fraught with peril for “over touristy” restaurants. This one surprised. Yeah they had an all English menu, but the food was very good. Plus there was a special truffle menu that had some delicious items (one of which, sadly, I forgot to photo /cry).