SABATINI GlNO-IIr Via Panzani: The Via Panzani is an unexceptional street whose tranquillity is troubled by a Toonerville-type tramway, but it happens to have-a special meaning for gourmets. Two unassailable shrines of good food are here, and their names arc worth remembering-Sabatini and Baldini. We will stick our necks out and state that there is none better than Sabatini in Tuscany. As proof, we would not submit the menu first, but the clientele, many of them single gentlemen, Solitary and content at their individual tables. There you will find goateed professors, plum-faced industrialists with rosy complexions, aesthetic, thin-faced men in yellow sweaters and riding boots who live in outlying villas. All of them are serene, munching their bread sticks (grissini) and tipping their Chianti fiasco from its silver cradle. They smile benignly over their coffee and pay slight attention to the conto.
Sabatini is a prime favorite with the better-upholstered Florentines and it is not always easy to get a table. The answer: get there before twelve-thirty and you're in. As for the menu-it glitters! There is a noble silver chariot loaded with antipasti if that is your mood, or a different pasta specially every dayfirst agnelatti (a half-moon type of ravioli with scalloped edges), then foricllhii (small stuffed rings of pasta with a meat and tomato sauce), then green lasagne. then cannelloni and so on down through the week. For the piece de ré sistance Sabatini offers so many good things that we're speechless. One of the best is petti di pollo al burro con irifold frescba, chicken breasts sautéed in butler, then covered with a stuffing of rice, mushrooms and ham and masked with a delicate sauce, then sprinkled liberally with paper-thin slices of lavender truffle. They leave a fragment of bone on each chicken breast, so that the client won't think it is a veal cutlet. That gives you an idea of the tenderness of Tuscan veal! Or maybe, come to think of it, the toughness of Tuscan chicken. At all events, it is delightful. Besides the usual cheese and fruit, you will find an extraordinary dessert here, Saini Honoré alla panna. If I'm ever caught using the word “yummy.” it will be in describing this voluptuous pastry! The wine list is filled with good things, but most guests seem happy with the palatable and inexpensive Chianti of the house served in carafes. A trilingual maitrc d'hôtel in a pin-stripe suit handles the linguistic problem well, the service is able and the prices fair. Sabatini is worth a wide detour, but if you are near the Duomo or the Church of Santa Maria Novello. it won't be necessary. It's between the two.
BALDINI-57r Via Panzani; A few steps down the street, and quite unostentatious behind its narrow doorway, is another praiseworthy place. Baldini is located in a long, high-ceilinged room with a half-hearted tapestry as its principal decoration. Nobody wastes time admiring the decor or listening to soulful singers here. Baldini is all for fine food, and its standards are high. We like its simple dishes in particular, and jotted down a very satisfying luncheon; fettucine alla bologncse, followed by tortino di carciofi, that light and fragrant Tuscan dish described a few paragraphs back, then a green salad, a beautiful full-ripe persimmon and caff'd aspresso. Nothing pretentious in such a menu, but our neighbors were indulging in a bécasse flumbée which was unmistakably the product of the higher realms of cooking. Baldini's waiters are cheerful and they struggle along fairly well in English.
OLIVIERO-18r Via Tosinghi: This is far more intime than most Florentine restaurants, and quite reminiscent of Paris, with a faint touch of Fifty-second Streel thrown in. The rooms are small, with banquettes against the wall and, if the atmosphere achieves a faint horsiness, it is due to a series of fine colored aquatints of English race horses which are the only decoration. The clientele is very discriminating and well-dressed. We have Counted three monocles there. at various times. We have also encountered a sad-faced and persistent little man who demonstrates mechanical animals at your table. There is a place for this, of course, but not in a good restaurant. Or am I becoming a fussy old fuddyduddy? I don't like having a mechanical bear clap his silly cymbals at my table!
All of this has nothing to do with the quality of Oliviero's cuisine, which is very good indeed. The menu is a rich one, and the prices a little higher than usual. Our large sogliola frilla was equal to a fine sole from the English Channel, and the aniinellc di vilelh al Madera were very tender and well-seasoned sweetbreads. We asked for a good Tuscan wine for the sweetbreads and enjoyed a delicious Serristori Chianti 1949-a name and a year worth remembering. Oliviero is right near the center of Florence and that cafe table we spoke about in the Piazza della Repubblica. If you heed its siren call, you won't be disappointed.
PAOLI -12 Via dei Tuvolini: This is one of the oldest restaurants in Florence, and certainly one of the most agreeable. Its rooms are vaulted and arched, dressed up with frescoes and escutcheons, but the colors are muted and the effect is restful. Paoli has an unostentatious entrance on a little side street near the Piazza della Signuria. If you have emerged footsore and ravenous front the Uffizi Gallery, this is unquestionably the nearest haven of good food. We like Paoli partly on account of its proprietor, a genial white-haired man of the old school. He is alert and cordial, speaks good French and English, and is genuinely interested in the contentment of his guests. This is one of the best places to come for authentic Tuscan specialties. They cur your Florentine bisivcca at the front counter here. weigh it, and charge you by the weight only. Countless Americans will back up the statement that this is one of the more restful places in Florence.
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