An Offal Evening

It was our first night in Milano.  I am an obsessed restaurant researcher.  I like to know where I'm going before I get there.  I usually cross reference between know sites like Michelin guide and crowd sourced sites like Tripadvisor.  I have a love for offal and I found this restaurant, which seemed to check all the boxes. Good ratings on the Michelin guide, quality food at a reasonable price.

Trattoria Trippa
Via Giorgio Vasari, 1, 20135 Milano MI, Italy

The place was away from the tourist area, and when we walked in there were no other Americans in the restaurant all night.  I love that. This place had it all. Friendly staff with good English skills. A good match for our mediocre Italian. We try and I know it's appreciated.  Linda is much better than I am. I think I am just not afraid to make a fool of myself by mangling their language. Linda is much better. Back to the food. On the menu were Fried trip, and the Trippa del giorno.  This was trip cooked in a tomato sauce. They had sweetbreads, calves brains, bone marrow, tartar, a pappardelle with a bolognese sauce made with horse meat. I'm not sure exactly why I love this. Most of the fascination is for anything that I can't get at home.  Part of it is my feeling about respecting the sacrifice the animal has made for us. If we are going to take it's life, it's our responsibility not to waste it. Why is it that people turn their nose up at eating his stomach, nose, foot, ear, lips ect. and choose only to lust after the voluntary muscles like arms or legs?  Is that less gruesome? Does that require less sacrifice from the animal? I think not. The thing that fascinates me about "Cucina Povera" is that is how we use to eat. When meat was precious and rare. When we had to find a way to make these lesser cuts taste as good as the prime ones. I understand that people don't want to eat food that tastes like poop or have that barnyardy aroma.  I don't either. I guarantee that none of the things we ate tonight did either. Unfortunately we could not taste everything on the menu although I would have liked to, we were limit to the Fried tripe, the Trippa del giorno and a grilled Veal with mashed potatoes and spinach ( can you guess that was for Linda?). Objectively the taste of the grilled Veal was the best ( yes it is a flavor that I've been programed to like).  However the fried Trip, lightly floured with rosemary was excellent. Like adult children fingers. This would make fantastic bar food, salty, crispy on the outside, tender inside. The Trippa cooked in a tomato sauce was soft and delicious. Nether poopy or barnyardy at all. If you didn't know what it was you would just think delicious. Short of going vegan I just want to honor the animals sacrifice. And a great bottle of wine.  A offal great start to this journey