Restaurant: Ristorante Le Potazzine Location: Montalcino, Italy Date: June 20, 2011 Cuisine: Tuscan Rating: Tasty traditional ANY CHARACTER HERE We took a most excellent wine tasting tour of Montalcino (the home of the one and only Brunello). This was led by a…
Restaurant: Ristorante Babette Location: Poggibonsi, Italy Date: June 19, 2011 Cuisine: Tuscan Seafood Rating: Great food, great value ANY CHARACTER HERE After our self selection failure on Saturday, we got another restaurant recommend from our host (the owner of our villa). He sent…
What better intersection of my interests than a meal based on Ancient Roman cuisine. On Thursday July 14 and 15th the Getty Villa offered a combination of lecture on ancient food and a meal of authentic Roman dishes based on…
Restaurant: Fraiche Santa Monica Location: 312 Wilshire Blvd., Santa Monica, CA 90401. Phone : 310.451.7482 Date: July 13, 2011 Cuisine: Cal French Italian Rating: Epic! ANY CHARACTER HERE Last weekend I was eating at one of my favorite local spots, Sam’s by the Beach and chatting…
Restaurant: Osteria da Camillo Location: Poggibonsi, Italy Date: June 18, 2011 Cuisine: Tuscan Rating: Very mediocre ANY CHARACTER HERE We were in Poggibonsi to drop my brother off at the bus/train station and we spent a few minutes wandering around and then…
Location: Staggia, Italy Date: June 11-25, 2011 Cuisine: Tuscan ANY CHARACTER HERE This is our third year renting a villa in Europe for a big chunk of June. I’ve experimented with different ways to handle the breakfast situation for a…
Restaurant: Nove IX Location: Florence, Italy Date: June 17, 2011 Cuisine: Modern Tuscan Rating: Tasty! ANY CHARACTER HERE Our Florentine friend brought us to this attractive new place on the banks of the Arno river as the sun was making it’s…
Restaurant: La Cantinetta Antinori Location: Florence, Italy Date: June 17, 2011 Cuisine: Modern Tuscan Rating: Slick and tasty ANY CHARACTER HERE On our first trip to Florence (we went thrice) we met up with an Italian friend and her family…
Restaurant: Arnolfo Ristorante Location: Colle di Val d’Elsa, Italy Date: June 16 & 23, 2011 Cuisine: Tuscan Rating: Awesome, but hard to find ANY CHARACTER HERE Just fifteen minutes from our villa and Siena lies the city of Colle di…
Restaurant: Ristorante La Griglia Location: San Gimignano, Italy Date: June 16, 2011 Cuisine: Tuscan Tourist Rating: Mediocre ANY CHARACTER HERE We visited San Gimignano, as nearly all tourists in our part of Tuscany do. This is an interesting town, fairly unique…
Location: Staggia, Italy Date: June 15 & 18, 2011 Cuisine: Tuscan ANY CHARACTER HERE Twice in the villa we arranged a “simple” dinner of local bounty. All the stuff below was purchased at either the local market in Staggia or…
Restaurant: Pizzeria Il Rifugio Location: Volterra, Italy Date: June 15, 2011 Cuisine: Tuscan + Pizza Rating: Solid Pizza ANY CHARACTER HERE I highly recommend the medium sized town of Volterra. Besides the negative of being the home town of one…
Restaurant: Il Pozzo Location: Monteriggioni, Italy Date: June 13 & 22, 2011 Cuisine: Tuscan Rating: Classic Tuscan ANY CHARACTER HERE This local resteraunt in the cute little walled town of Monteriggioni pretty much typifies Tuscan cooking at its traditional best. We initially…
Restaurant: Lo Sfizio di Bianchi Location: Gaiole in Chianti, Italy Date: June 14, 2011 Cuisine: Tuscan Rating: Surprisingly good for a random pick ANY CHARACTER HERE My father and I went on a Chianti Classico wine tasting quest, and this…
Restaurant: Ristorante Albergaccio di Castellina Location: Castellina in Chianti, Italy Date: June 13 & 20, 2011 Cuisine: Tuscan Rating: Great food, great service ANY CHARACTER HERE Albergaccio di Castellina is the first “fancy” place we went to in Tuscany, and it was…
Restaurant: Dietro Le Quinte Location: Colle di Val d’Elsa, Italy Date: June 13, 2011 Cuisine: Tuscan Rating: Good food, but a little more $$ than some ANY CHARACTER HERE We wandered into the town of Colle di Val d’Elsa having no idea that…
Restaurant: Trattoria Pepei Location: Siena, Italy Date: June 12 & 19, 2011 Cuisine: Tuscan Rating: Delicious & Fun! ANY CHARACTER HERE Our first full day in tuscany and we went into Siena. We selected a restaurant the night before using Michelin, picking a centrally located one…
Restaurant: Pozzo dei Desideri Location: Bologna, Italy Date: June 11, 2011 Cuisine: Tuscan Rating: Good food, good value ANY CHARACTER HERE Today we drove through the mountains between Forli in Emilia-Romagna and Tuscany, then down past Florence to Staggia a small…
Restaurant: Al Caminetto Location: Cervia / Milano Marittima, Italy Date: June 10, 2011 Cuisine: Adriatic Seafood Rating: Great service, great food ANY CHARACTER HERE For our anniversary my wife, me, and our family went out to what the locals described as “the…
