Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Restaurant Review: Tratoria La Burrasca

FLORENCE, ITALY


We went for lunch after visiting the Mercato Central, intending to eat at a place called Cafaggia. Following the theme of the Italy trip, it was closed, this time for the month because of holiday. Left without plans, we decided to just wonder around towards the market and hope we could find something good. We walked by this place called Tratoria La Burrasca. It had all the signs of a good restaurant: was a small place, off the main road, filled with Italians, handwritten menu, and near the market. I had a very good feeling about it, and it turned out to be an awesome place. I was so confident that I ordered 2 pasta dishes.

The first was gnocchi with pesto and tomatoes. They really hit this one out of the park. The pesto was definitely homemade; I could tell by the irregular pieces of basil from being ground. From experience making handmade pesto, I recognize this when I see(and taste) it. The gnocchi were light and fluffy as they should be.
The second dish was rigatoni with tuna, tomatoes, olive oil, red onion, and garlic. Although the picture makes the pasta to be rather plain, it was not that way. For starters, the tuna in Italy is packed in olive oil rather than water, so it is much more flavorful and is often used in pastas. The olive oil was flavored with the onion and garlic as well, making a light and very appetizing pasta dish. This is another restaurant, that if I was in Florence again, I would have to make a stop at. As a final note, this place is also fairly cheap. I had two pasta dishes and split a carafe of house wine and only spend around 15 Euro.

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