Back in February 2005 I made my first trip to Florence. My mate and I stayed in a cheap twin room in a plaza somewhere. As this was my first overseas trip in years, I left all the planning to my mate and his Lonely Planet. Our accommodation host decided to recommend us a local place to eat - Trattoria Mario. It was on the corner of the same plaza we were staying and seemed quite busy. What impressed us was that we were the only non-Italians that were there (granted this was winter) but I'm certain also because it hadn't been discovered by the internet and others yet. I recall an exceptional pork chop bursting with flavour and grilled goodness, a jovial loud atmosphere and a pretty good pasta ragu.
Fast forward 7 years and I found myself in Florence again. My mate (who wasn't with me) and I often reminisced about this trattoria but neither of us could recall the name nor location. I was actually wandering around looking for Osteria Pepo (which has great reviews online) when I found a familiar face - it was Mario. Memories of the store front, the plaza corner location and the meat inside came flooding back.
What less impressed me was the clientele - all American. The loud accented voices filled the space outside of patrons waiting to go inside. All I could hear was how "awesome" it was, how everything was "awesome" and someone's friend had said it was "awesome" and after finally finishing and coming out it was all "awesome". I thought if it was worth the 20min or so wait amongst this crowd and decided I should pay homage.
The bustle inside had escalated now to loud English voices, the lack of old Italian families, but the familiar sight of huge steaks still remained.
- Penne al ragu - flavoursome simple dish enhanced with parmesan;
- Bistecca di maiale (pork chop) - not as tender as I remember but still juicy and packed with flavour;
- Disossata (boneless beef steak) - served rare (no exceptions, which makes me happy) and nicely charred.
The food is still great. The beef texture was better but the pork flavour was better. Meat remains my friend. Until next time Mario.