The Battle of the Pear Pastas

Pear Pasta at La Giostra

Students who come to Italy are frequently told by past students and even faculty of two amazing restaurants that have a specialty dish in common: Pear Pasta. A foreign taste of a savory cheese melted together inside freshly made pasta with a sweet slice of pear is a dish that 4 Leoni and La Giostra have mastered. But which is better? To decide I took myself, two of my friends, my notepad, and my camera to each of the restaurants and try each of their pear pastas while keeping an eye out for the quality of their service, the ambiance of each restaurant, the presentation of each dish, and of course, most importantly, the taste!

 

On a Saturday evening two of my friends and I sat down at 4 Leoni under one of the white umbrellas that litter the piazza that the restaurant spills out onto from its turquoise interior.  Immediately bringing a basket of freshly baked bread and glasses prosecco, the waiter began to speak to us in Italian until he realized that we could not understand him when he spoke so quickly and switched to excellent English. The fact that he assumed we were Italian made the place feel more authentic than I had thought previously but his, and all of the waiters, easy transition to English was very helpful. As we sat on the piazza, splitting an appetizer of mixed pecorino cheese with honey (12 euro) and a carafe of house red wine (12 euro) , we talked and laughed and watched the people who moved in and out of the piazza with their children leaping around at their legs or arm and arm with their lover. The waiter gave us the perfect amount of time to finish our appetizer without swooping in the second we had finished to take our order for a entrée. For our entrée we ordered three “Fiocchetti di pera in salsa di taleggio e asparagi”, essentially large tortellini stuffed with pear in a taleggio (a white, creamy, mild cheese) and asparagus sauce. The pasta came out quickly, all at once, and we sat in silence, overwhelmed with the delicate presentation and sweet aroma wafting up to our noses before we carefully cut a small bite, trying to get a little bit of every taste, the pasta, the pear inside, the small slices of asparagus, and the tallegio sauce onto one forkful. The blend of the tastes was exceptional, light, sweet yet savory, and incredibly satisfying. I cut each piece of pasta into four pieces in attempt to savor each bite. By the end, the small portion of pasta had not filled us up so we ordered their famous cheesecake topped with fresh berries, which was almost more delectable than the pasta dish. We were given time to talk and enjoy our meal and our conversation with the waiter appearing only when needed and leaving us to our night the rest of the time. The atmosphere in the Piazza was quaint and authentically Italian but still had an air of fine dining with a touch of rusticity.  The pasta itself was 10 euros, a bargain for the taste, and the entire meal including a 1.50 coperto, a liter of red wine split three ways, a mixed pecorino and honey and two pieces of cheesecake split three ways at 6 euro each cost me an alarmingly small amount of 23 euros for a mélange of wonderful tastes, the perfect amount of service, and a beautiful backdrop for a dinner with friends.

        

On Thursday evening I walked the short distance from my apartment to La Giostra to meet my two friends for their farewell dinner. We were welcomed by a warm atmosphere in a long cave-like room sparkling with twinkle lights and candles. Despite the Italian wine-celleresque atmosphere, one of the first things that I noticed were that the waiters spoke to us automatically in English, and everyone in the restaurant was American, mostly families I assumed because of how expensive I had heard the place was. We were greeted in English by our waiter and brought large glasses of prosecco that we were told were a welcoming gift from the princes who owned the restaurant. The waiter was very helpful with the menu and we asked for bread after we ordered since we had not been brought any. Instead of bread we were pleasantly surprised with an assortment of appetizers on the house, three of everything, one for each of us. We ordered the cheapest bottle of red wine at 28 euro, which they made a show of pouring into three different glasses, them emptying, and pouring into a special carafe, we were not sure why and they did not explain. The wine was exceptional though. Then our pastas came out, I had ordered the “Ravioli di Pecorino toscano e pere William's” (pear and pecorino ravioli), and my friends had ordered a gorgonzola, pear, and pistachio pennete, and an asparagus and zucchini risotto. There were four large ravioli, coated in a light sauce in the dish. The pasta was very good, but heavier than the pasta at 4 Leoni. The actual pasta at 4 Leoni had been a lot thinner and lighter, the pasta that surrounded the pecorino and pear here was much thicker and made it more difficult to taste the delicate flavors of the pear and cheese inside. The taste of the pecorino was also a lot stronger than the pear taste, which was also not the case at 4 Leoni. My friend who had ordered the pennete with gorgonzola, pears, and pisacchio could not even find the pears in her dish and it was far too salty for her to finish. The asparagus and zucchini risotto was good but nothing out of this world for the 14 euro we paid per plate. We decided against dessert because dinner had been expensive enough and we were asked if we would like some limoncello, tequila, vodka etc on the house. We said yes to limoncello thinking they would bring out the traditional shot per person to sip as an after-dinner drink but after 20 minutes had passed and we were wondering if we should leave or not we were brought an entire half liter of limoncello! We were shocked because we usually have a hard time finishing one small glass worths and do it more out of Italian tradition than an affinity for limoncello, but the waiter kept coming back and filling up our drinks while another waiter kept giving us looks like it was time to leave because people were waiting for our table. A lot of mixed messages. Even with all the free prosecco, appetizers, and limoncello, the 3 euro each coperto, bottle of their cheapest wine, and pasta dishes wound up costing us 28 euro each.

        

 If you could not tell already, I much preferred 4 Leoni to La Giostra. The atmosphere was much nicer on the piazza than in the sparkling cave and the service at 4 Leoni was authentic, without waiters trying to make you feel special by bringing you a large amount of things on the house, but doing it for everyone. And the fact that La Giostra brought us such large amount of limoncello and then insisted on making us drink it made me think that, 1. It is sad that they think that American girls our age will like their restaurant more by helping/forcing us get drunk for free and 2. That they are catering to Americans in the first place. Besides the superiority of the ambiance, service, cost, and dining experience, the pear pasta at 4 Leone was just plain better.

  Pear Pasta at 4 Leoni

Il Gelato di Filo

Upon arriving in Florence eager to soak up everything Italian, my days were governed by the driving quest for what Americans think of as Italian cuisine: pizza, pasta, paninos and gelato. It did not take me long to figure out that even in Italy, just like everywhere else in the world, quality food was not as easy to find as one would think. Most of the pizza slices sunbathing in the shop windows tasted more like cardboard than the cheesy, doughy heaven I had imagined and the paninos were inescapably bland, though the store keepers insisted that they were just semplice (simple). Temporarily giving up on my savory cravings, I turned to the sweet. Luckily, I learned quickly to avoid the gelaterias where the gelato was piled foot-high, sculpted into perfect towers, and adorned with fruit and chocolate drizzles. Although visually alluring, the gelato that looked perfectly untouched was a sign that the locals knew not to eat it because it was it was actually a low quality tourist trap. Instead, I was instructed by those more experienced than I to challenge my sweet-craving tastebuds and stray off the well traveled roads to find places where the Italians got their fix.

             

I discovered Il Gelato Di Filo on Via San Miniato tucked into the side of a building right before passing under the old city wall on the trek up to the view from Piazza Michelangelo. In fact, I debated publishing this because one of my favorite things about Il Gelato di Filo is its lack of notoriety and its local friendliness. The little shop only fits about five customers comfortably but the squeeze is well worth the decadent, smooth, perfectly creamy flavors being offered to you by their small, friendly staff. In my eight months of being in Florence, I have encountered only three staff members; one who speaks perfect English but will encouragingly speak Italian to you if you try, and the other two who speak broken English but seem to enjoy bantering in mixed dialects to figure out what I would like to have. I have come here more times than I could count to the point where the woman behind the counter knows exactly what I am having. As a chocolate enthusiast, I have not discovered a Cioccolata Fondente (dark chocolate) this satisfying anywhere else in the entire city. Not even the places the tour books rave about (I'm talking about you, Grom). Each time I am handed over my rich brown, almost black in decadence, piccolo copeta it is as if it is my first taste all over again and I walk out into the sunshine in a happy daze of delighted taste buds. Now that the summer has turned sweltering, even my chocoholic self cant always handle the richness of the Cioccolata Fondente so I've been opting for the light, creamy, and incredibly tangy Limone flavor (as pictured).

             

Il Gelato Di Filo opened two years ago in 2009 when Filipino Lorenzo (hence the name of the gelateria) backed Edmir Prenga to open the gelateria, design the flavors, and make them. Edmir, who quickly introduced himself as Eddy, attended Carpigiani University where he found his passion for the process of making ice cream. Every morning he makes at least twelve flavors from scratch. After showing my interest in the process of making gelato, he invited my friend and I to come in one morning before they opened to watch him make it. In broken yet enthusiastic English, we communicated back and forth about how the gelato is made, how the shop was opened, and the history of gelato. Listening to the history of gelato was like listening to an Italian folklore. The origins of ice cream are debated. Some say it originated in China, some in Arabia, but this far back in time ice cream was more of a sorbet being made up of ice, fruit, and honey. Arabians inhabited Sicily and brought sorbet making it Italy. It was in Florence though that the first creamy based gelato was created by an architect named Buontalenti who had an underground passion for cooking. Buontalenti combined eggs, milk, and honey to create the first La Crema (cream). Over time, ingredient experimentation, and industrial inventions, gelato as we know it was made individual to each country who adapted gelato making.

             

 Eddy began his morning with Fior di Latte, whose ingredients make up the base of all their gelato. In the batch he mixed mostly whole milk, a bit of cream, a bit of powdered milk for thickening, and five different kinds of sugar that each play a different part in the process. Because of the milk to cream ratio, gelato has much less fat that the ice cream in the United States. Even though he noted this, Eddy insisted that fat is healthy and a key part of a nutritious diet in moderation. He was quite convincing when he claimed that despite everyone wanting to be thin these days, gelato is actually great for the feminine figure. A promising thought!

The ingredients are then thoroughly whisked together, then put in the first machine to heat up until the mixture is pasteurized. Once pasteurized, the liquid filters into the cooling, rotating machine to make the ice cream. Finally the ice cream is put into tubs and then placed into an incredibly cold freezer and thermally shocked to reach negative -13º C very quickly, making it hold its form. Then the tubs are put into the glass case, which is kept somewhere between -12 and-13 degrees, ready to serve. I have tasted almost all of the flavors and you really cannot go wrong. Il Gelato Di Filo has something for every taste and craving weather it be Limone cone to keep you refreshed for the hike up to the Piazzale or a decadent Cioccolata Fondente to reward you on the way down. Find this gem before the tourists do and you will be rewarded.

Back in Florence

I arrived back in Florence late last night after a layover in Paris and one of the things that I am quickly reminded of as I put away my freshly-cleaned-by-mom laundry into my new cedar drawers is the absence of dryers and the acting up of washing machines. The washing machine in my old apartment was located under the sink in the kitchen...I suppose that's convenient if you spill something on yourself while your cooking?

The dryer makes a little more sense being located in a closet but the great thing is that this new apartment has drying ropes hanging outside the windows. In my old apartment my roommates and I would scramble to find a flat/clean space to dry our clothes and would usually have to leave our clothes hanging on all sorts of furniture inside for days until the clothes started to smell a bit like mildew. So the good news is that not only do my clothes get to smell like fresh air but I'll get to participate in the quaintness of the laundry-hanging-out-of-the-window look.

A Lack of Color

a response to the question of "greenery in Florence"

Cream, yellow, burnt-orange, off-white, brown. Where is the green? I can’t find the green. Where are the trees? There are no trees. There are no lawns. There are no parks. I’ve heard of some parks. But I can’t find them. They must exist. Somewhere. I just want a place to sit and read my book or bring a sandwich or rest during a run that isn’t concrete or pavement or a bench looking out on nothing but cream, yellow, burnt-orange, off-white, and brown.

           

I only know of once place where there is certain to be green but you have to pay to see it. We wanted to bring a picnic to the Boboli Gardens and finally enjoy an afternoon surrounded by greenery. No food was allowed, we ate our pizza on the sloping pavement outside. Why is there all this pavement with people laying, and eating, and kissing, and drinking on it like it is a rolling lawn? That can’t be comfortable. Tried to go in again, no wine allowed. We drank our wine on the pavement. Why are there so many rules surrounding the one bit of green in the entire city? I just wanted a nice picnic. At least we got to play chess in the grass. Little pink and purple flowers were sprouting up from the lawn. Finally, a sense of spring.

Trattoria 4 Leone

I've found my favorite restaurant. Nestled into a piazza in the Oltrano, 4 Leone has spilled out its doors in an array of white umbrellas and manicured green bushes to celebrate the arrival of warm weather. I went my second night in Florence and ate on a budget. I went when my parents were here and ate everything. I went when my friend's family was here and reminded myself of what a wonderful place it is.

This ambiance is cozy and Italian with its low arched, stucco ceiling, yet modern with its turquoise walls and fancy dish presentation. The food is phenomenal. The salads, the Ribolita (traditional Tuscan vegetable and bread soup), the pastas, the meats, the fishes, and last but far from least, the desserts, everything I have tried has been outstanding. The menu is only in Italian but the wait staff speaks pretty good English so they are helpful in translating. Or, you can just learn Italian.

I recommend trying...

• Pecorino cheese selection with honey ("Pecorini misti"),

• The 4 Leone salad which has arugula, pine nuts, swiss cheese, avocado, and a pesto dressing ( "Insalata 4 Leoni: avocado, rucola, emmenthal, pinoli e pesto di rucola"),
• Large tortellini with pears and cheese inside and a light cream sauce with asparagus ("Fiocchetti di pera in salsa di taleggio e asparagi"),
• Cheesecake with wildberries ("Cheese cake di Maurino ai frutti di bosco")

Carnevale

As I mentioned in my previous post, Carnevale takes place annually in Venice beginning forty days before Easter and ending the day before Easter which is called Shrove Tuesday or  Mardi Gras. Carnival originally began as a celebration and means of expression throughout the social classes,  as wearing masks and the traditional elaborate costumes hid any form of identity.  Though the celebration was forgotten for a period in history, during the 1970s the Italian government decided to bring back the history and culture of Venice and used the traditional Carnival as the centerpiece of their efforts. Today, about 30,000 visitors come to Venice each day for the festivities that go on for weeks in February and March making the city a chaotic splendor of elaborate costumes and tourists from all over the world.

As I learned from the Carnevale-themed chocolate festival in Piazza Santa Croce, festivities are not limited to the watery canals of Venice. Carnevale celebrations spread throughout Italy and to other European countries. In Florence, the city gives out bags of confetti to all the children and it's the children's job to go about the city throwing tiny handfuls of confetti wherever they see fit, so essentially everywhere.

 

Walking down the street on the way to class, the sidewalk is randomly littered with firework-like splashes of colorful confetti . One can picture a child trouncing down the street, hand in hand with a parent, and stopping every whenever they feel the urge to toss a handful into the air and spin around laughing as it drifts to the ground. Street cleaners sweep most of it away in the early hours of the morning but evidence of the children's Carnevale celebrations tuck themselves away into crevices and gutters, reminding passersby of the Carnevale celebration weeks after Easter has passed.

Chocolate Festival

Need I say more? This is the 6th year that Florence has held its annual Chocolate Festival in Piazza Santa Croce in the weeks leading up to Carnevale which is held in Venice beginning the two weeks before Ash Wednesday and goes until Shrove Tuesday (better known as Mardi Gras). The chocolate festival began on February 4th and although the website says it ends on the 7th, I took this chocolate fountain picture today, the 9th. Maybe it will go on forever…wishful thinking.

At the Festival, dozens of chocolateers are gathered under the circus-like white tents in the Piazza selling their sweets. You can ask for an “assagio”, or a taste of a chocolate before you buy it…or just continue asking for assagios at every station. My favorite were these chocolate fountains where you could pick a type of skewer (banana, strawberry, grape, or a marshmellowy-looking Italian candy) to be drowned in white, milk, or dark chocolate. I picked a dark chocolate drenched strawberry skewer and munched away in bliss as I wandered the Piazza.

A pleasant surprise appeared to my over-sweetened taste buds when I came across a focaccia station serving up freshly baked rosemary and olive oil, mozzarella and tomato, and pesto and pecorino focaccias. What a great idea! After all the chocolate assagios a savory, warm, cheesy, pesto focaccia was exactly what I needed. Needless to say, it was phenomenal.

The memory of this focaccia melting in my mouth reminds me of a discovery I have made about what most people consider pizza crust in the United States. All the best pizza and foccacia I have had here is soft and doughy, never crisp or thin like they serve in the states. But although I’ve always been a supporter of crispy, bubbly crust, the soft doughy Italian way may change my perspective forever.

Go Faux.

Being known for its abundance of high quality gold and leather, Florence is a destination for students looking for fine souvenirs of their time in Europe. Young women come to Florence wanting to buy a leather coat and young men can find quality belts and shoes. Already in possession of a leather coat, which I bought as a 'congratulations on getting a job' present for myself last summer, I came to Florence in search of a fur vest.

Fur is everywhere. It seems as though every woman is in possession of a fur coat and the older the woman is the longer the fur gets until the frailest little old Italian ladies seem to be drowning in a sea of fur. The shop windows are packed with fur and leather coats and the San Lorenzo market is teeming with racks of them.

But it was not even a week until my dreams of owning a Florence-made fur vest were shattered by the unbelievable yet widely agreed upon rumor: puppy fur. Yes that's right, rumor has it that the majority of the fur in Florence is imported from China where the fur is taken from puppies who have been bred for the sole purpose of becoming a fur coat. Unfortunately, this is not just gossip. A teacher warned my friend's class of this the first day, I asked my native Florentine photography assistant and she confirmed the rumor, and another friend unknowingly bought a fur hat, heard this rumor, took it to an expert and the expert confirmed: puppy fur.

So please, do the puppies of the world a favor, and go faux.

Or unless you have Cruella De Vil aspirations, at least don't buy the fur in Florence.

Like my friend, Calli Nicoletti, photographed by Alev Takıl, who studied in Florence last semester.

Art Bar

This is my first of many restaurant and bar reviews. If I wind up going somewhere I don’t like I am not going to bash it here, instead I’m going to glorify the deliciousness that I do find, starting with the maker if this elaborate thirst quencher...

Formally known as “Antico Caffe del Moro”, Art Bar is located on Via del Moro, 4. Firenze.

It won’t take you long to figure out how this small, cozy bar got its name, the cocktails are works of art. The glasses are adorned with fresh fruit that tastes as sweet as it looks even though it must be out of season. The Mojitos and the Daiquiries are the bar’s specialty. If you like Mojito’s, Art Bar’s are packed with mint leaves and they offer them in flavors that vary daily like mixed berry. The flavor additions are no crummy syrup but pounds of fresh berries piled so high in the glass that they give you a miniature spoon to eat them with. The Daiquiries are offered in banana, strawberry, and strawberry banana. Try them all. 

Friends tried the pina colada which was also reported to be fantastic. Beware of the Mixed Fruit Cocktail if your day has left you needing a little liquid relaxation, it is served without alcohol unless specified otherwise. On the plus side, this fruity concoction would be a great alternative for a visiting younger sibling. You must be patient while waiting for your drink because there is usually only one bartender creating these works of art. But fear not, the bar serves an unlimited amount of perfectly salted and buttered popcorn and whole peanuts that you have to crack open yourself as aperitivos (free appetizers/snacks that come with the purchase of one drink). Drinks are 9 euro every day except for Monday and Wednesday when their happy hour offers drinks for 6 euro, a bargain price for the tropical paradise you receive in your glass. Make friends with the bartender, a friendly, middle-aged gentleman who speaks good english, and he may offer you a free drink if you can guess the answer to one of his pop questions. He asked my friend, Alex, and me what the capital of Wisconsin was and being geographically challenged I had no idea. Alex got it right (answer is Madison) and got a free drink, that lucky girl.

Benvenuti a Firenze!

This picture was taken from Piazzale Michelangelo, a slight climb up the south east hills of Florence. Though the stone stairs can be treacherous, the view is well worth the sore legs. Don't forget to turn around every so often as you make your way up the stairs as the city-scape of Florence emerges over the treeline.

              looking up from the bottom of the stairs... It's really not as bad as it looks I promise.