Today, for my vegetarian cooking class, we went on a food tour! My professor took us to local florentine restaurants/cafes that are especially delicious for a veggie-diet. It was incredible.
The first place we went was called Usci e bottega. As soon as we walked into the cozy, 15 foot, brick restaurant and heard soft accordion music playing, I knew it was going to be amazing. The restaurant is known by locals for light lunches and its aperitivo. Aperitivo is an Italian tradition that takes place in the early evening. Many restaurants and cafes charge the price of one drink, and with the drink you get to enjoy a delicious open-counter buffet. These buffets consist of delicious hors d'oeuvres, fresh vegetables, breads, sample size meats, etc. The Italians refer to this as an "opening of the stomach," a way to prepare themselves for dinner, and for socializing. This place is apparently one of THE places to go for aperitivo. Here, we sampled sweet gorgonzola cheese-stuffed grapes, tuscan flatbread with different oils, fresh figs, pears and peconia cheese, and an amazing toasted tuscan bread with melted sheep cheese, drizzled honey, chopped almonds, confectioners' sugar and cocoa. While there, my professor explained that the owner of the restaurant travels to small distributors all around Tuscany to get the products for his store, and chooses only from the smallest, freshest distributors. The store is completely seasonal, with no menu at all. They make fresh food everyday and locals order from the selection that is available in the store, changing on a daily basis. Amazing.
Next, we went to a chocolate and gelateria to sample homemade chocolate and gelato. I thought I might keel over and die from the sheer smell of the place when I entered. It was heaven! I got hazelnut and milk chocolate gelato. There is a way that the gelato melts in your mouth here that you just can't find in the ice cream at home. I don't know what it is but it is to die for.
For the last stop, we ventured into a truffle cafe. Truffles are a branch of mushroom that have a very strong, intense flavor and smell. They are amazingly flavorful and make most bland things taste SO GOOD. At this cafe, they only serve truffles. Truffle paste, truffle oil, truffle panini, truffle sauces... the list goes on and on. This cafe had only the finest, with some of the oils priced upwards of 50 euro! Here, we got to try mini panini (there is no "s") with truffle cream on them. they were as good as they sound.
If only every class I ever took was like this one... I sometime feel like I am dreaming.
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