The Daily Diary of a Wandering Restaurateur
September 30 - Chianti Cuisine
We finally took a lunch break in the Bar Dante, a small cafe in the town of Radda in Chianti. The special of the day was pici, a large (1/4" or so) hand-rolled pasta with a ragu sauce made with chinghale (wild boar). Top it off with a cold beer and life is indeed good!
For dinner we went down the road a few minutes and up the hill to the town of Castelnuovo Berardenga. It was a neat, rambling sort of place with little piazzas and some impressive lighting at night. It would be worth a return visit in the daylight just to get more of the detail. The wall on the right was along one side of the inner courtyard entry to a B&B. Very strange.
Patrick recommended we eat at the Osteria al Prato ... and he was right -- nothing fancy but great local food at very reasonable prices. We arrived around 7:30 (early for dining in Italy) and it was a good thing we had a reservation. Around 8:00 the whole place suddenly filled up. Restaurants here only figure on one turn a night, so if you come late you might not be seated. There is no concept of turning tables like we see in the US ... but then again, there is also no concept of hurry up and get on to the next thing either. Dinner is the evening's entertainment and it is to be savored. Very civilized. We liked it enough to make a reservation for the whole group for a final meal on Friday night.
© 2008 Restaurant Doctor
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