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« The Italian "Mac 'n Cheese" | Main | Subway Crash » October 1, 2006Lunch and DeceptionA continuation of the blog post Dinner and Deception. Last weekend, I took a day-trip to the Tuscan town of Siena to do research for a travel article. My research included checking out inexpensive hotels, visiting the main sites and tasting some of the local cuisine (one of my favorite things to do)! Along with the red wine, Chianti, the fennel flavored salami, finocchiona, and the fruit-cake-like sweet, panforte, this region is know for its wild boar, cinghiale. While wandering through the medieval streets, I happened upon a restaurant that was serving wild boar with mushrooms with grilled polenta as their specialty. The restaurant also advertised that it had been reviewed by the Rick Steves guidebooks in the past, so I figured it would be OK. Well, I was in for a surprise. Literally three minutes after I had ordered the potentially mouth-watering dish, it was placed in front of me. Now, I work in a restaurant that serves grilled polenta and I know that it takes longer than three minutes to cook – and even longer to get it as dry as the stuff on my plate. The entire dish was only lukewarm, and I had the sinking feeling that I was had been served yesterday’s leftovers straight from the microwave. Real Italian restaurants take pride in their food and want nothing more than for the customers to enjoy a delicious meal…but this? As I looked around the dining room, I realized that over half of the patrons were foreigners; framed Rick Steves reviews loomed over their heads on the walls. I speculated that this restaurant once was a genuinely good-quality local hot spot, until it was written up in a guidebook. Now, it has become just another restaurant that caters to tourists, knowing perfectly well that the average American wouldn’t know the different between yesterday or today’s polenta. In addition, my waiter spoke perfect English, and was figuratively jumping on me to translate the Italian menu before I had spoken a single word. I declined his offer in almost-perfect Italian, and should have taken it as a sign that customers were assumed to be foreigners. A few snapshots of Siena:
Posted by Kelsea Comments"I speculated that this restaurant once was a genuinely good-quality local hot spot, until it was written up in a guidebook. Now, it has become just another restaurant that caters to tourists, knowing perfectly well that the average American wouldn’t know the different between yesterday or today’s polenta". a curious and affectionate roman reader Siena's specialities: saporelli and pork called cinta senese, more on http://www.terresiena.it/page.asp?cat=chianti&par=static_terre_chianti_cinta&id_codicearea=&lang=it Posted by: Federico at October 5, 2006 7:36 AM Drawing a moral valid for all, obviously Posted by: Federico at October 12, 2006 3:03 AM |
Kelsea Brennan-Wessels is a sophomore at The American University of Rome |
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Comments
"I speculated that this restaurant once was a genuinely good-quality local hot spot, until it was written up in a guidebook. Now, it has become just another restaurant that caters to tourists, knowing perfectly well that the average American wouldn’t know the different between yesterday or today’s polenta".
Drawing moral: be suspicious of restaurants on complaisant guidebooks, be suspicious of restaurants
in wide touristic places, improve your taste.
a curious and affectionate roman reader
Siena's specialities: saporelli and pork called cinta senese, more on http://www.terresiena.it/page.asp?cat=chianti&par=static_terre_chianti_cinta&id_codicearea=&lang=it
Posted by: Federico | October 5, 2006 7:36 AM
Drawing a moral valid for all, obviously
Posted by: Federico | October 12, 2006 3:03 AM