Marina of Ascea, Italy: Super Value, Nice Variety In A Beach Town With Few Dining Options

Da Franco

Restaurant and Pizzeria

Via Elea 213

84046 Marina, Italy

Phone: +39 0974 972979

Facebook Page

Prices: $$$$

For a tourist/beach town, Ascea is noticeably lacking in a selection of decent restaurants, particularly on "the Corso" or main street. We went to Pizzeria and Ristorante Da Franco with a friend who lives in Ascea. The restaurant is at the far end of Corso from the town center and they have a reasonable €15 menu del giorno (tourist menu; primo, secondo, contorno, coperto, servizio) for dinner. It is quite big inside, but being a nice evening we sat on the small terrace in front on the street. The service was very attentive and good. 

I went with the menu del giorno and a primo of penne boscaiola (meat, mushrooms, and peas) with scallopina ai funghi (meat scallops in mushroom sauce) as my secondo and patatine (french fries) for a contorno. The boscaiola was creamy, earthy and robust, the scallopine light and savory, and the fries crispy and hot. An excellent meal at just €15.

My wife and her friend had pizza which was as good as expected in Southern Italy, particularly anywhere within 100 miles of Naples. The crusts thin, yet sturdy enough to hold the toppings without getting soggy with just the right amount of tomato and other ingredients, not too many and not too few.

Da Franco was quite a good value in a beach town with remarkably few options, particularly for those on a budget and is recommended when visiting Ascea.

CombatCritic Gives Da Franco 8 Bombs Out Of 10 ... Bombs Are Good!

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Title: Super Value, Nice Variety In A Beach Town With Few Dining Options

Key Words: Da Franco, franco, Ascea, restaurant, ristorante, pizzeria, pizza, menu del giorno, menu, giorno, review, travel, value, Campania, Italy, Italian, pasta, CombatCritic, TravelValue

Pistoia (Tuscany), Italy: A Wonderful Pasta Factory Tour In A Historic Villa Seized By The Nazis During WWII

Pastificio Chelucci

Food Tours, Pasta Factory

Via di Valente, 7

51100 Pistoia, Italy

Phone: +39 0573 42011

Web: pastificiochelucci.it

Prices: € € € € 

Hand-crafted pasta since 1912, the owner Giuseppe has been in the family business since 1950, is extremely friendly and informative, and made us feel welcome for our free, private tour.

During World War II, the Nazis took over the building, a villa, making it their headquarters in 1942. The family had to walk for two days to Florence while the Germans occupied their home. Once the Nazis fled from Allied Forces in December 1942, they returned home to Pistoia and were the first pastificio (pasta factory) of 36 in the area to resume operations after the war. They are the only remaining pastificio of the original 36 in Pistoia.

The factory has been automated since 1950, but the pastas are still dried the old fashion way and hand packed. In fact, Giuseppe's sweet 94-year-old mother Dina still processes and packs the maccheroni by hand from time to time. The same machine from 1950 is still being used today. They have numerous varieties of pasta, including their signature pastas like "Quasimodi", made with only Tuscan flour from the Pisa area and their secret ingredient, pure local spring water. They recently unveiled a pasta in the shape of Pinocchio characters called "Le Bugie" ("the lies"), the result of a scholarship competition in the local schools.

The factory employs only six people, but they produce a wide variety of pastas using old family recipes and processes. The small river behind the factory once spun the turbines beneath the building which allowed them to resume operations so quickly after the war. Special drying units maintain constant temperatures between 32 and 35 degrees Celsius (90-95 Fahrenheit), ensuring that the pasta does not break, reducing waste, and resulting in quality products. Pastas take from 24 hours to six days to dry depending on the shape (versus two hours for mass produced brands).

The bronze pasta forms used to give the pastas their various shapes result in a special consistency not found in mass produced brands (De Cecco, Barilla). Their pastas take much less time to cook (5 minutes versus 12-15 minutes for comparable mass produced pasta) because the pasta from the brass forms allow the boiling water to saturate the pasta instead of cooking it from the outside. The water they are boiled in also has much more starch then that of the mass produced brands, allowing the water to be used to better thicken sauces before serving.

The valley in which the villa sits is quiet, green, lush, and much cooler than smoldering Florence, so it was a breath of fresh air, literally, after a month in 100 degree Florence and its wall-to-wall tourists. The temperature and humidity in the protected valley setting creates the perfect environment for making top-quality pastas. Giuseppe is working on adding a small gift shop and cafe, culinary demonstrations, and possibly pasta making and cooking classes in the near future, but in the meantime a tour of their operation is a must if visiting Tuscany (I have also included it in my article: Top 19 FREE THINGS TO DO In And Around Florence) and tell him CombatCritic sent you!

CombatCritic Gives Pastaficio Chelucci Tour The Coveted 10 Bombs Out Of 10 ... IT'S THE BOMB ... More Bombs Are Better!

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Title: A Wonderful Pasta Factory Tour In A Historic Villa Seized By The Nazis During WWII

Key Words: Pastificio Chelucci, pastificio, Giuseppe, Chelucci, Pistoia, Florence, Firenze, Italy, Toscana, Tuscany, pasta, factory, tour, travel, value, review, guide, Yelp, TripAdvisor

Florence: An Outstanding Lunch Value, Possibly Overpriced As A Dinner Option

Osteria dei Centopoveri 
Restaurant and Pizzeria
Via Palazzuolo, 31r, 50123 
Florence, Italy
Phone: +39 055 218846
Website: centopoveri.it
Prices: $$$$

Air conditioning on a 100+ degree day in sweltering Florence, Italy ... HOOAH!

Tortellini Panna Prosciutto Con Piselli

Reasonably priced at €10 for a two course lunch, including wine, water, service and tip, this osteria (it is not spelled "ostaria", just like pizzeria is not spelled "pizzaria") and pizzeria is one of many value options near train station Santa Maria Novella in Florence. There are better and worse, but the food and service were pretty good and the price excellent.

Insalata Caprese

The restaurant is large and our group of six were quickly seated even though they were pretty busy. Five adults ordered off of the fixed price menu and the lone, very hungry child ordered a Margherita pizza, what else. Four of us had the tortellini panna prosciutto con piselli (ham, cream, and peas) for our first course and one had the pasta alla Sorrentina. The tortellini were mass produced, but very good, and plentiful served in a creamy, garlicky sauce with diced ham and peas. The sauce was so good that I ignored my wife's pleas and performed "scarpetta", cleaning my plate with the fresh, local bread and happily consuming it. The pasta all Sorrentina did not look all that appetizing, but what could we expect in Florence? There was no sauce, only a small amount of crushed tomato and a little mozzarella mixed with a lot of store-bought pasta.

Frittata di Patate

The very hungry child did not receive his pizza until after our second courses were served, but he was very patient nonetheless. A pizza lover, he was not impressed by his pizza although it looked good from where I was sitting, so 3/4 of it went uneaten. Our main courses were the Caprese salad, frittata de patate (potato omelette), and scallopine ai funghi (pork cutlets in mushroom sauce). The Caprese was decent with fresh fior di latte (cow's milk), not mozzarella di bufala (made with water buffalo milk in the region of Campania) as you would get in and around the Island of Capri, its namesake. The dish's signature fresh basil leaves were notably missing and replaced with lettuce, something you would never see in Southern Italy, but it was not bad at all. The frittata di patate was pretty good, although my wife did not think it was good as her friend Giovanna (from Naples) mother's version. Giovanna had the scallopine, which she said was "so-so", coming in a thick, creamy mushroom sauce along with green beans on the side. It looked good, but I did not taste it, so I cannot corroborate her evaluation.

Scallopine ai Funghi

We received a liter of local red wine for the five of us, five bottles of water (we had been walking in the 100 degree heat for four hours), and five after-meal espressos with the bill coming to a very reasonable €60.50 for six people, a relative bargain in Florence. The menu is basic, nothing fancy, but the food good and the value exceptional. They are quite a bit pricier for dinner, in the €25 to €40 range per person, so lunch is a major value.

My only complaints were: 1) the child did not get his pizza as fast as he should have; 2) the sparsely adorned pasta alla Sorrentina; and 3) the lack of basil on the Caprese Salad, otherwise we were quite pleased with our meal.

CombatCritic Gives Osteria dei Centopoveri 7 Bombs Out Of 10 (3.5/5 Stars) ... BOMBS ARE GOOD IN THIS CASE!

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Title: An Outstanding Lunch Value, Possibly Overpriced As A Dinner Option

Key Words: Osteria dei Centopoveri, osteria, centopoveri, restaurant, pizzeria, Via Palazzuolo, Firenze, Florence, Santa Maria Novella, Italy, menu, review, travel, value, pasta, wine, pizza, CombatCritic, Yelp, TripAdvisor, tourist

Florence, Italy: Good Versus Bad Equates To Average Value

• Trattoria Il Contadino
• Via del Palazzuolo 69-71R
• Florence, Italy
• South of Santa Maria Novella Station
• Phone: +39 055 2382673
• trattoriailcontadino.com

 Prices: $$$$

Trattoria Da Giorgo, just down the street, is closed on Sunday and was not an option after our return to the train station from a day trip in Siena, so we decided to try Il Contadino. They have decent food and lots of it with cheap prices compared to the rest of the overpriced tourist traps in Florence. Unlike many restaurants in Italy, they are open seven days a week from noon (12:00) until 10:30pm (22:30), so you can get a meal anytime you like. Arriving around 7:00pm on a Sunday night after a long day in the Tuscan sun, we were quickly seated and shortly thereafter our waiter arrived. 

That was the most efficient service we received the rest of the night because as he and his female counterpart hovered around our table in the nearly empty restaurant, making for a rather uncomfortable experience, they chatted with each other and their friends at the next table. However, when we needed something, we had to try to catch their eye rather than counting on them to notice when they were needed instead of socializing with each other.

Tagliatelle alla Boscaiola

The menu is fixed price, €9 to €12 for lunch, and €13.50 to €14.50 for dinner, a decent value for what you receive in return and there is also an “ala carte” menu if you so choose. For €14.50 (€12 at lunch) you are entitled to a ½ liter of water, ¼ liter of wine (per person/ red or white), primo (first course from the day's menu – pasta, soup, etc), secondo (second course from the day's menu – meat dish), and contorno (vegetable – salad, potatoes, artichokes, broccoli, etc). 

Scallopine

Tagiatelle alla Boscailola, a long, thin pasta in a tomato-based sauce with ground beef, mushrooms, and black olives was my choice as a primo. The tagliatelle were good with rich, earthy tones from the mushrooms and unlike more than a few Tuscan restaurants we have been to recently, perfectly cooked “al dente”. My wife decided to forgo the meat dish, so she ordered the prosciutto e melone (cured ham and and honeydew melon) for her primo. Being difficult to improve on sliced ham and melon, her first course was as good a most places and a fair size portion.

Risotto

For secondi I had the scaloppine ai funghi (pork cutlets in a white wine and mushroom sauce). The meat was very dry and had obviously been sitting around much of the day waiting for a customer to arrive. The sauce was good and there was plenty of it, but a few more mushrooms would have been nice. My wife had the risotto with zucchini and gorgonzola, creamy with a bit of zing from the aged cheese, it could have cooked a minute or two longer to reach the desired consistency of a classic risotto. Our contorni were patate fritte (French fries), crispy but not very hot, and patate arrosto (roasted potatoes) which, like the pork, had also been sitting in a chafing dish for far too long.

We had to remind the waiter two times to bring our wine, a local red, which was decent, lightly chilled and fruity. Instead of bringing a half-liter for the two of us, he brought a single one-quarter liter carafe five to ten minutes after our primi had arrived and another carafe, having to ask him once again, after our second courses had arrived. With so few people in the restaurant, there is really no excuse for such inattentive service.

The restaurant is clean and bright even though it is in a rather seedy part of town, but we were somewhat disappointed by the food and very disappointed by the service. When I gave the waiter my card, telling him that I would post a review on my blog, TripAdvisor, and Yelp, he said "So what? I can post a review on TripAdvisor, so what makes you different from me?" I told him that I am Yelp

"Elite", a TripAdvisor "Top Contributor", and have a blog averaging 40,000 views a year. Enough said.

You will have a better meal in Italy for €30 or less, several places come to mind, but in Florence, with its dearth of reasonably priced restaurants, you will not find many inexpensive options. Although our experience was somewhat disappointing, the food was not bad overall and the prices fair. So if Trattoria da Giorgio just down the street is closed or too full, Trattoria il Contadino would be a decent second choice.

CombatCritic Gives Trattoria Il Contadino 6 Bombs Out Of 10 … More Bombs Are Better!

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Fixed Price Menu (Italian)

Fixed Price Menu (English)

Special Menu (Dinner)

Menu of the Day (Italian)

Menu of the Day (English)

Title: Good Versus Bad Equates To Average Value

Key Words: Trattoria il Contadino, trattoria, Contadino, Firenze, Florence, Santa Maria Novella, Italy, menu, review, travel, value, pasta, wine, meat, dessert, CombatCritic, Yelp, TripAdvisor, tourist

Florence, Italy: By Giorgio, This Is As Good As It Gets!

 Trattoria da Giorgio

• Via del Palazzuolo 100R
• Florence, Italy
• South of Santa Maria Novella Station
• Phone: +39 055 284302
• Website: trattoriadagiorgio.it

 Prices: $$$$

We ate here three years ago and loved the place. Great food, lots of it, and ridiculously cheap prices compared to the rest of Florence and its overpriced tourist traps. So we returned once again and, again, we were not disappointed!

They open for dinner at 6pm, rather early by Italian standards, but make sure you get there before 8pm unless you want to wait. They have a sign-up sheet at the entrance if all of the tables are full, so simply jot your name down if you cannot find a seat. Arriving around 7:45pm on a Wednesday night, we were quickly seated and shortly thereafter our waiter arrived with our water and a half-liter of red wine.

The menu is fixed price, €13 for lunch and €14 for dinner, a pittance for what you receive in return and there is no “ala carte” menu. For that very reasonable price, you are entitled to a ½ liter of water, ¼ liter of wine (per person/ red or white), primo (first course – pasta, soup, etc), secondo (second course – meat dish), and contorno (vegetable – salad, potatoes, artichokes, broccoli, etc). Desserts are extra, but quite cheap at €2 for lemon sorbet or €3 for tiramisu, panna cotta, and cheesecake among others.

We had the homemade pasta for our primi, a bigoli (think fat spaghetti) with black truffles and mushrooms and paccheri con broccoli e salsicce (a large flat noodle in a creamy sauce of broccoli florettes and sausage). The truffle and mushroom pasta was superb with rich, earthy tones and unlike more than a few Tuscan restaurants we have been to recently, perfectly cooked “al dente”. The paccheri con broccoli e salsicce had a slightly odd taste, almost as if there were tuna in the recipe (I asked and there was not). It was not bad, but it was not what I was expecting, so my wife and I swapped plates as she found it quite tasty. I attribute it to a temporary disruption in my palate rather than a problem on their part.

For secondi we both had the scaloppine marsala e noci (cutlets, pork I believe, in a creamy marsala and walnut sauce). The meat was juicy and tender and the sauce sublime, reminiscent of a savory German “rahm” (cream) sauce and one of the best sauces I have had in recent memory. Our contorni were patate fritte (French fries), perfectly cooked – crispy and hot – and artichokes marinated in olive oil, also excellent.

The wine, a local red, was good - lightly chilled, mildly sparkling, fruity, and slightly sweet. Although very full, we could not resist sharing a tiramisu (€3). Coming in a rather large cup, there were layers of saviardi cookies soaked in coffee and sweet mascarpone cheese sprinkled with cocoa powder as is the tradition.

Once again, we were not disappointed. In-fact, Trattoria da Giorgio is the “BEST VALUE” in Florence or anywhere else for that matter. You will not have a better meal anywhere in Italy for €30 … guaranteed.

CombatCritic Gives Trattoria da Giorgio 10 Bombs Out Of 10 … More Bombs Are Better ... IT'S "THE BOMB"!

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Title: By Giorgio, This Is As Good As It Gets!

Key Words: Trattoria da Giorgio, trattoria, Giorgio, Firenze, Florence, Italy, menu, review, travel, value, pasta, wine, meat, dessert, CombatCritic, Yelp, TripAdvisor, tourist

Abondanza...Simpatico...Buonissimo...La Vinaina is a Bargain and Treat in Residential Florence!

La Vinaina

Via dell'Agnolo, 48r, 50122 
Florence, Italy
Phone: +39.055.234.4120

Prices:  € € € € € 

Around the corner from the wonderful Mercato Sant'Abrogio, my wife and I visited La Vinaina on several occasions with the students of the University of Kansas attending the study abroad program in Florence. Our apartment was just around the corner and we enjoyed the proximity, warm welcome, fresh ingredients, and very reasonable prices for lunch.

Being an amateur chef and restaurant critic, and having traveled to 49 countries around the world, I have eaten at few restaurants with the impeccable quality and value as we found at La Vinaina.

The pasta and bread...always fresh; the meat and fish...always prepared to perfection; the service...always attentive and friendly. I would recommend this restaurant to anybody...on a budget, like students, to more EXCLUSIVE and seasoned travelers alike. There is something for everyone at La Vinaina!

Watch my video collage dedicated to our friends at La Vinaina on CombatCritic TV:

Watch My Video of La Vinaina and Surrounding Area on CombatCritic TV!

or read more about this wonderful cucina tipica toscana in The CombatCritic Chronicle: 

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CombatCritic gives La Vinaina 7 BOMBS OUT OF 10...bombs in this case are good!

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Title: Abondanza...Simpatico...Buonissimo...La Vinaina is a Bargain and Treat in Residential Florence!

Key Words: La Vinaina, vinaina, restaurant, trattoria, pasta, menu, Mercato Sant'Ambrogio, mercato, sant'ambrogio, ambrogio, food, Florence, Italy, Firenze, travel, value, CombatCritic