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re: Eating my way through Italy
Posted on 6/28/26 at 12:42 pm to DonJuanDaMiles
Posted on 6/28/26 at 12:42 pm to DonJuanDaMiles
Padua is a great food and beverage city in the Veneto region. There is a lot of seasonal variation in dishes. Rice is grown nearby so risotto competes with pasta. It's also a good base for day trips into Venice. There are several "tasting" tour operators there, but my experiences are too outdated to make a recommendation. A tip I got there is always buy the house wines. Most restaurants pride themselves in stocking the best local wines, often in bulk rather than bottled.
Best meal in Milan, LuBar next to Modern Art Gallery in public garden.
The best steaks in Florence should be cut from Tuscan Chianina cattle. A big T-bone or Porterhouse can feed several people. The waiter carves it at the table so you can compare the shell and tenderloin portions.
Best meal in Milan, LuBar next to Modern Art Gallery in public garden.
The best steaks in Florence should be cut from Tuscan Chianina cattle. A big T-bone or Porterhouse can feed several people. The waiter carves it at the table so you can compare the shell and tenderloin portions.
1
Posted on 6/28/26 at 2:41 pm to Tree_Fall
quote:
The best steaks in Florence should be cut from Tuscan Chianina cattle. A big T-bone or Porterhouse can feed several people. The waiter carves it at the table so you can compare the shell and tenderloin portions.
Yeah, at the osteria where we ate it, the minimum t-bone cut was 1.2 kg (42 ounces). Florentine steak is meant to be shared.
Posted on 6/28/26 at 3:14 pm to DonJuanDaMiles
You DO NOT want to drive in Rome. I was there a week ago and our cab driver from the airport was doing like 85mph on the shoulder. Those people are nuts.
I agree on what the previous poster said. Pretty much the same food everywhere we went. It was all good, hot and fresh but the same dishes.
I agree on what the previous poster said. Pretty much the same food everywhere we went. It was all good, hot and fresh but the same dishes.
Posted on 6/28/26 at 3:40 pm to Big Scrub TX
Did you travel to different regions? The coast, northern Italy, the south, etc. It varies a good bit.
Posted on 6/28/26 at 4:52 pm to kciDAtaE
quote:My travels in the south have been limited to date. It's been many years since I've been south of Rome - and have never been to Sicily.
Did you travel to different regions? The coast, northern Italy, the south, etc. It varies a good bit.
Posted on 6/28/26 at 7:40 pm to eitek1
quote:
Pretty much the same food everywhere we went. It was all good, hot and fresh but the same dishes.
Do y'all understand why this is? It's because of what tourists expect. There wasn't even a single restaurant in Venice serving pizza until a century ago. But today, almost every Venetian restaurant serves pizza, because it's the "Italian food" that tourists expect.
On my trip this past month, I even saw a number of restaurants serving pasta with Alfredo sauce. Y'all, Alfredo sauce was invented in one restaurant in Rome in 1950 and was completely unknown in Italy until the sauce became so popular in America that all the American tourists began asking for it in restaurants in Italy, and then these restaurants learned how to cook it. Very few ordinary Italians know what it is, but it's getting common in touristy restaurants.
You can still get plenty of unique dishes in different parts of Italy, but you have to be aware that touristy restaurants are going to offer the dishes that tourists expect.
Posted on 6/28/26 at 7:45 pm to Big Scrub TX
quote:
Rather, the restaurants basically compete to make THE BEST version of a narrow set of dishes.
To the point that I find it repetitive and undifferentiated.
Very well said. I am guessing Americans get amazed by the experience part of eating in Italy, and not actually the food itself.
Posted on 6/29/26 at 7:29 am to LemmyLives
Had a unique for me pasta dish last night (our last night in Napoli). Place was jam packed with locals. The sauge had datterino tomatos which had a sweetish flavor, along with chilis and parmesano reggiano.
The octopus ragu bruschetta appetizer was otherworldly flavorful.
The octopus ragu bruschetta appetizer was otherworldly flavorful.
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