Before the trip I had little idea what made this dish so special. And after the trip I still have no clue. All I know is that it is something a tourist MUST be recommended to try, just like Frites in Belgium, Wagyu Beef in Kobe or Clam Chowder in New England. To make this a thoroughly enjoyable experience I even did a fair amount of restaurant research before I set out. I ended up picking a relatively famous restaurant (it's even recommended by Fodor’s), a century-old establishment in a quiet corner of downtown Firenze, a modest trattoria rumoured to be the oldest in the city and having served patrons in the like of John Steinbeck.
Trattoria Sostansa. I had so much trouble locating this place, as it seemed like another dark little shop on another little alley without a street sign. I didn't even know I was in the right alley until a mounted policeman passed by this deserted street. The sun was beginning to set at 19:00, and with the trattoria opening at 19:30 and no line-up at the door, I decided to take a 30 minute walk along the river bank. When I came back sharply at 19:30 though, the entire trattoria was all filled with hungry patrons and I barely squeezed into the last seat. Scores of people came after me only to be turned away or to be registered for the 21:30 seating. And this was only a Monday evening.
The trattoria was small and somewhat cramped. I was seated with an older American couple who tried to involve me in their conversation for the entire duration of the meal while I did my best to oblige. The wife ordered a chicken breast in butter, which she despised but looked and smelled wondrous to me. The husband ordered a Bistecca alla Fiorentina, the size of which convinced me to skip the Primi Piatti.
For antipasto, most wonderful prosciutto I've ever had. Check out my Prosciutto tribute page.
Then the long awaited second course came. Bistecca alla Fiorentina, the famed T-bone steak named after this beautiful city. Is it worthy of its name?
The first bite was, well, nothing special. This would be confirmed by the subsequent bites, many of which were made necessary by the toughness of the steak, especially on the strip loin side of the T-bone. The tenderloin side was better: medium rare, juicy, and relatively tender, but it was still quite ordinary. I had expected more from a restaurant of this level of reputation.
The Dolce was exceptional however - a dessert lover's crème meringue pie. It was exactly how a meringue pie should be, a delicious contrast where the meringue was crunchy and crumbly while the crème was silky and soft.
Maybe it was just a tough cut of meat, I thought. I would be dissatisfied to take home this impression of Bistecca alla Fiorentina, and so I had to try this famous steak one more time at a finer restaurant. I got my chance two nights later, when my Italian colleagues treated our team to a tremendous feast at Le Lance Ristorante in Fiesole.
This is it, my second chance. Not a T-bone this time, but a beautifully grilled rib steak nonetheless. A flavorful and juicy steak, as you would expect from a restaurant of this price range, but not outstanding either. In fact, I still cannot distinguish the difference between Bistecca alla Fiorentina from a regular North American T-bone steak.
As you can tell I'm somewhat disappointed. I still look forward to a meal in the future where I'll taste a Bistecca alla Fiorentina that distinguishes itself from the T-bones of the rest of the world. But until then, this steak is still lower in my book than a regular North American prime rib, and certainly nowhere near the level of a Kobe or Matsuzaka steak (see my Japan travel blog here).
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