One final good meal in Bologna
September 18th - Bologna
From here on out, our internet access was quite spotty so I'm posting most of this based on memory while sitting in San Diego.
We have had a number of really good meals in Bologna, unfortunately at this point in the vacation we were both pretty restauranted out. The night before, needing a little break from the traditional 2 or 3 course affairs that Italian's seem never tire of, the Italians have a antidote. The pizzeria. We have taken advantage of this a couple of times, for a break from the restaurant scene. A simple pizza, some wine and maybe a dessert. That's all that's required.
It's Sunday September 19th and it's our last day in Italy. On our first day in Bologna we stumbled across a little restaurant near Piazza Maggiore where we had our first lunch, It was nice, but nothing spectacular. So now, it's Sunday and most places are closed in Bologna, shops, restaurants, most places. Sunday is a day for the family in Italy so it's hard to find an open restaurant. As we were back near Piazza Maggiore, we discover that the place we first had lunch. We decide to give this same place another try. The place is "Trattorria La Corte Galluzzi". On it's on little tiny piazza. Really mostly an opening in the buildings like a little courtyard. The front of the house is run by a nice couple who did everything by themselves. They were quite busy, running back and forth taking orders and serving food. We opted to eat inside, while by now we had discovered that "al Fresco" dinning, although very pleasant was now, in Italy the final domain of the smokers. Smokers are banned from smoking indoors, so they all seem to go for the outdoor dinning. Believe me that getting stuck downwind of one or two of these chain smoking, smokestacks can ruin even the greatest of meals. The inside of this restaurant was very pleasant, nice lighting, open beams and about 15 tables. Being Sunday they were not very crowded, so it was quite and pleasant with the smokers sequestered outdoors. The food was excellent, as good as we had in any of the Fodor/Frommers highly recommended restaurants. Simple but good. A great finale to our journey in Italy.
From here on out, our internet access was quite spotty so I'm posting most of this based on memory while sitting in San Diego.
We have had a number of really good meals in Bologna, unfortunately at this point in the vacation we were both pretty restauranted out. The night before, needing a little break from the traditional 2 or 3 course affairs that Italian's seem never tire of, the Italians have a antidote. The pizzeria. We have taken advantage of this a couple of times, for a break from the restaurant scene. A simple pizza, some wine and maybe a dessert. That's all that's required.
It's Sunday September 19th and it's our last day in Italy. On our first day in Bologna we stumbled across a little restaurant near Piazza Maggiore where we had our first lunch, It was nice, but nothing spectacular. So now, it's Sunday and most places are closed in Bologna, shops, restaurants, most places. Sunday is a day for the family in Italy so it's hard to find an open restaurant. As we were back near Piazza Maggiore, we discover that the place we first had lunch. We decide to give this same place another try. The place is "Trattorria La Corte Galluzzi". On it's on little tiny piazza. Really mostly an opening in the buildings like a little courtyard. The front of the house is run by a nice couple who did everything by themselves. They were quite busy, running back and forth taking orders and serving food. We opted to eat inside, while by now we had discovered that "al Fresco" dinning, although very pleasant was now, in Italy the final domain of the smokers. Smokers are banned from smoking indoors, so they all seem to go for the outdoor dinning. Believe me that getting stuck downwind of one or two of these chain smoking, smokestacks can ruin even the greatest of meals. The inside of this restaurant was very pleasant, nice lighting, open beams and about 15 tables. Being Sunday they were not very crowded, so it was quite and pleasant with the smokers sequestered outdoors. The food was excellent, as good as we had in any of the Fodor/Frommers highly recommended restaurants. Simple but good. A great finale to our journey in Italy.
Veal Scallopini and Porcini mushrooms
Fresh Spagetti Carbonara
One of the things that amazes me about how they eat here is that almost every place, for dessert will have some sort of fresh fruit. Simple ripe fruit cut up. It's so simple and so delicious. I don't know why they only times that you might see this in the US is $7.95 plate of rasberry's, blackberry's and currents out of season shipped from New Zealand with mint sprigs. Why can't we have simple fresh fruit? Why?? My reason (probably my delusion) is two reasons. We don't have fruit and vegetable vendors anymore. Someone who know's what ripe fruit and vegetable look an taste like. Someone who when you go to their stall at the market will ask you if the fruit or vegetable is for tonight and will select something appropriate. That's why when you go to the beautiful vegetable markets in Italy, they will put out a contract on your life if you touch the fruit and vegetables. The vendor is the only one that should be touching the stuff. He know and he will recommend to you the item that best suits your needs. It think the other thing that hurts us here in the US is our obsession with how things look. We must have perfect looking fruit and veg, regardless of the taste. That's why, for the most part outside of the farmers market, we have this gorgeous, perfect looking, but tasteless fruit and veg.
A ripe pineapple, cut up
Future dinner guests beware, you will be seeing stuff like this on my dinner table soon.
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