On the way in to Florence we took a side trip to Greve in Chianti. We traveled some more scenic roads similar to the ones that marked our week in Arezzo. Misa knew of two good stores to buy souvenirs and so we took them in. There's a commercial center that is ringed by small shops and a handful of cafes and restaurants. Perhaps the most interesting was ameat shop called Macelleria Falorni, which had an amazing selection of cured meats from pancetta to wild boar salami. They also had a good selection of pecorino and parmesan.
After lightening our load of euros there, we headed over to Le Cantine di Greve in Chianti. A great enoteca with wines from all over Tuscany, of course wines from Chianti were heavily represented. They sell electronic cards (denominations from 10-25 euros) that allow you to sample many, if not all, of the wines (most prices @ .80 euros per sample). We didn't take advantage of it, because we hadn't eaten yet, but were sorely tempted.
While browsing and trying to decide a place to eat, we saw Danny McBride. Wasn't sure it was him until I heard his voice. The clincher was that he and his companion got into a chauffeured car. Actually saw them the next day at the Uffizi as well. Small, Apatowish world.
Even though the center is decidedly consumer-centered, it has a somewhat Bohemian feel, like Noho without the trust-fund panhandlers.
Prato is a city north of Firenze and is famous for textile manufacturing. Our main goal was to go to a cashmere factory store called Maglificio Denny. We found the store easily enough, but it seemed to be closed. We called the number and were lucky that Antonella, the manager, was there working, in spite of it being Sunday. She let us in and allowed the two of us the run of the place. She was incredibly warm and gracious.
She went so far as to suggest three different restaurants for us. We found one, but it was 満席. One was closed. We drove around Prato for a while and just stopped at a place where we found a large parking lot. Wandering around we decided on the first restaurant we came upon and had one of the best meals of our trip. The restaurant's called Lo Scoglio and specializes in seafood. We shared an appetizer of mussels and each had a pasta dish. All of it was amazing, including the house wine. Truly wonderful.
Heading down to the dining room, we are greeted by what we'll come to know as typical breakfast fare. Homemade bread, cured meat, cheese, and other light sundries.
We decide to forego our original plan of staying close to the hotel and instead decide to take a trip south to Montepulciano to visit a winery and then lunch at a restaurant from one of Misa's guidebooks. The previous night's hair-raising journey on the autostrada still fresh, local roads seem the best choice. Relying in equal measure on a map and our car navigation system, we head out. Directly we're rewarded for choosing the long cut. Post-harvest fields and stone and brick farmhouses appear with increasing frequency as the road, at first parallel to the autostrada, burrows farther into the hills. Soon we're passing Lucignano. It sits resolutely atop it's hill as it must have done for centuries. The scenery continues to breathtake and after an hour of successive vistas one as beautiful as the next, we arrive in Montepulciano.
Montepulciano is like the cities we've scene along the way, but on a grander scale. Large and imposing. For some reason the GPS won't accept the exact address of the vineyard, so we stop to ask for directions. An affable fellow at a hotel doesn't know the winery, but gives us directions to the area, Acquaviva, and tells us to ask someone there. The unlucky person works in a flower shop in what looks to be Acquaviva's city center and he manages with a few English words to direct us. A few kilometers later and we're pulling in to the winery property only to discover it closed. We hadn't anticipated that it might be closed on a Sunday. A little disappointed, we decide set out for the restaurant. This time we call ahead.
Again the GPS is less-than-helpful and so we head back to Montepulciano hoping to find another samaritan willing to point us in the right direction. Near the center I steer the car onto what I believe is the road where we spoke with the helpful hotel guy. A fortuitous mistake this turns out to be. We come upon a large wine store/ristorante with a bunch of cars in front and turn in. The rotund young woman near the door perceives immediately that we speak no Italian and switches to faintly accented English. She knows the restaurant and provides us with precise directions including landmarks and approximate driving time. Hitchless we pull into the parking lot of La Casina.
La Casina sits a bit back from the road and has a patio out front, which must be, with its view overlooking some beautiful scenery, an incredible place to dine in warmer seasons. Misa orders the seasonal menu and I the tasting. In the end we end up with an amalgam of the two, a recommendation from our affable waiter. Affability seems to be an italian trait. With our meal we order white wine and are brought one from San Gimignano (2006 Cusona 1933 from gucciardini strozzi). The waiter informs us that most wines from Tuscany are reds, but the one we're drinking is one of the few good local whites. It lives up to its billing. While intermittently chatting with an (you guessed it) affable older gentleman who is dining in the corner and seems completely unfazed by our not speaking Italian, we are served an inordinately large lunch. A meat and cheese plate with three pieces of cheese, roughly 3 sq. inches each, and five or six slices of cured meat. What our waiter claims is a half portion of soup, which, it should be known, we didn't order, but he just wanted us to try it. A pasta course with spinach and ricotta ravioli (awesome) and noodles with rabbit sauce (me) and porcini sauce (Misa). For our next course I had what must have been most of a rabbit, including a section of the torso that included the liver. Very, very tasty. Misa had a plate of assorted pork that included sausage and chops. After coffee and 68 euros lighter, we waddled out to the parking lot.
Retracing our path home we stopped at the wine store and picked up two bottles of Ercolani Vino Nobile di Montepulciano (2006).
That evening we ate at the hotel restaurant. It was an unremarkable meal aside from a jaunty waitress that speaks English, French and Spanish and both of the other couples in the room being from the US, one from Boston.
The (Tokyo version of the) Japan Craft Beer Association's Great Japan Beer Festival is May 5th and 6th this year at Garden Place in Ebisu.
You have been warned.
For a long time now I've had a bookmarks folder where I would dump everything with which I didn't have the time or energy to deal. Sort of a dysfunctional browser tickler file. I found something a little bit ago that I wanted to dump in there and thought that it might be a good idea to put my 'other' folder in my bookmark bar (rather than hidden away behind the scenes) for easy packratting of new stuff. Unfortunately in the middle of a drag I was prompted about a cookie and inadvertently dropped the folder onto the current blank tab. Well, about 40 <deny> clicks later I have all manner of sites up that've been gathering e-dust in the darkest reachest of my Camino. Master procrastinator that I am I decided to try to cull their numbers and got lost in a morass of things that I don't remember.
Lo and behold I come across a site called Spinshell.tv and there on the front page is a video that has Traci's face on it. Turns out that these folks did a nice interview with the proprietress of The Pink Cow and so now any of you who haven't been there before can get a sense of it and her.
Enjoy.
Technorati Tags: Japan, video, puppy, Shibuya, Spinshell.tv, The Pink Cow, Tokyo, Traci Consoli
Back and somewhat rested after a day and a half of imbibing in Numazu. It was the 7th anniversary celebration (link may expire) for Baird Beer - the best beer in Japan.
It had been about 5 years since I went down there last, Todd having moved out of Shizuoka and my disdain for weekend train riding adding up to my only sampling the Baird goodies available through their e-store. But I'm going to the States in the Fall and the outlay of cash for that pretty much means no vacation this summer and so Misa and I were looking for something relatively inexpensive to do. Our little trip vastly exceeded my expectations and we had a blast and got a chance to unwind in unfamiliar environs.
For our transportation we used, as always, ekikara(Japanese). It's the first site that I go to when trying to figure out the best way to get someplace new and with little muss and fuss all of the different train options are displayed. Through this site we find out about a semi-express train called the Acty that leaves from Tokyo Station (we picked it up at Shinagawa) and arrives in Atami. Express speed at local train fare, win win. From Atami we took a local to Numazu and from there a taxi (@¥1000) to our hotel.
We arrived about an hour before check to find nobody at the front desk. Suihoen is a very small place and it seemed that the proprietors were off having lunch. Still encumbered with our weekend bags we walked to the Taproom. The party had only been on for a bit more than two hours, but it was in fullswing. Standing room only. There was a band playing Celtic music, a ¥1000 all-you-can-eat buffet, and all the beers on offer were ¥500/pint. We tried each of the beers and with a brief break to go and check into our room, stayed until about 10:00.
While I've known Bryan for some years, I've never really gotten the chance to talk to him much. Very interesting guy. Turns out that he went to prep school in New England and then on to Williams. Seems he knew, or knew someone that knew, my high school friend Dave Sprague. Small world, this. Also, his girls were in the house and stealing the show. He and Sayuri's oldest is 9 or 10 y.o. and the youngest about 3. They were really enjoying the party atmosphere and all of the people (old and new) that were heaping attention on them. They were all delights, but we were shocked at how different each of their personalities are. Bryan and Sayuri are in for an interesting ride.
Oh, and I met this guy. He's been living in Numazu for about 23 years and is an expert on Japanese pottery. Yellin claims that he wasn't a beer drinker until he had tried Baird Beer, and now he's a regular at the Taproom. And he has a blog.
And I met Lauren and (briefly) her husband Scott. They're two Aussies here teaching English and have a cool blog all about the haps in Numazu.
What esle? They were offering their 7-year-anniversary ale (link may expire) in bottles and we brought back 4 of those and two Wheat Kings. Hmmn. Somehow I just got thirsty.
.
Technorati Tags: Baird Beer, Beer, Fishmarket Taproom, Japan, Numazu, puppy, Shizuoka, 沼津, 静岡
Pam just told me about a ramen shop run by a buddy of hers. I'll have to get Shoe to check it out with me. Also, it's right near Nate and Daniel's place, so maybe I can get one of them to come by also.
Any of you Setagaya denizens and/or ramen lovers been there?
Mark's in Japan and will be here tomorrow. In preparation I ordered up some beer from Bryan and now I just have to make a 6ft+ clumsy-person-sized hole in my crap and I'm straight.
