A Stroke of Luck

It’s our first Monday in paradise, aka. Chianti! Wonder what we’ll do today and especially, what’s for lunch?? Let’s just head towards Castellina in Chianti and check things out there, i.e. Enoteca Biologica on via c. Borgheri, where we bought some amazing Vin Santo a few years ago? The upshot being that the place seems not to be there any more, or at least we couldn’t find it…so wanted another bottle of Vin Santo to take home!

We walked about Castellina then back to the car. “Hey, there’s a sign pointing to San Donato” and “hey, I’m pretty sure that Mark, my sisters’ friend, told us we should go there to check out two restaurants he likes! So, we are off driving along a small country road for 5K. Of course we can’t find either restaurant and I can’t tell you how many times we drove back out to the main road and circled back again. Finally, I say “let’s ask someone”. We did, but my Italian…well, let’s say is sort of limited. Isn’t sign language a wonderful thing when you don’t totally understand what is being said? This nice young lady hopped into her car and indicated “follow me” and we did, right to the parking lot, then she pointed us in the direction of the Trattoria la Troppa and guess what? It’s Monday and…aww you guessed, chiuso Lundei (closed on Monday)! Now what?

We decided to throw in the towel and head back to Greve in Chianti for lunch but luckily we spotted Locanda da Pietraculpa as we headed out of town! “Hey, this is the other place Mark mentioned, right?” San Donato is a small medieval town and who knew they would have such a great restaurant? Lunch in their recently completed “conservatory” was absolutely fantastic! We shared an outstanding, slightly warm, layered eggplant, buffalo mozzarella creation with basil sauce, followed by “pici” (thick Tuscan spaghetti) with a sauce that included delicious pieces of rabbit, strewn with not overly sweet candied lemon peel that made a great compliment to the richness of the rabbit sauce! How could I turn up “tagliolini” (flat thin pasta ribbons) with a sauce of shredded zucchini, zucchini blossoms tossed with Parmigiano and then, completely elevating the pasta to another level, topped with shaved truffles!!! Add a couple of glasses of excellent Sauvignon Blanc followed by macchiato and new to us, foam served on the side so you could add just what you like! Amazing food, great servicd and two very happy diners! The bonus, in our book, was having the opportunity to chat with the restaurant owner and the chef and thank them for an excellent experience!