Pane e Vino is a restaurant name you find ‘dappertutto’ in Italy.
As long as they don’t adhere too much to their name, no problem for me. In the end one expects to eat something more than bread and wine, however the two are a good base for any meal.
Last Friday we went to Cortona to Taverna Pane e Vino to participate in an event called ‘Il Trippaio e lo Champagne’. Champagne is something everyone knows but Trippaio……? A Trippaio is nothing more or less than a seller of tripe. You can still find a lot of tripe sellers around Florence. Florence is not high on my list of favourite cities, it feels like Disneyworld to me and good food is expensive, proper wine virtually inexistent or at least not easy to find, unless you halt at a good trippaio that is.
The trippaio generally not only sells tripe but basically the less valuable parts of a cow which are mostly intestines/offal also called ‘il quinto quarto’ in Italy. There has been an upsurge in the popularity of intestines partly from people like Fergus Henderson with his nose to tail eating philosophy.
Anyway what did we eat?
We started of with an antipasto consisting of ‘crostino di poppa’ (toasted bread with udder pate), ‘crostino lampredotto’ (toasted bread with the fourth stomach), ‘insalata di nervetti’ (my favourite veal shank and foot made into a salad with some chilli) and tongue with salsa verde. Sublime!
After that a zuppa made with centopelle, the third compartment of the stomach of a cow called manyplies in English if I’m correct. Had second helpings of this.
Then it was time for the Trippaio to provide some background info on his metier. He said that though demand isn’t increasing there still are people who like to eat this type of street food and that it is very healthy. He spoke in heavy Tuscan accent how he loves his stand and sees it as an institution where people not only get to eat proper food but also have a nice chat and meet others in a place which serves as a ‘binder’ for society. It is always fantastic to hear people speak who take pride in the job that they do.
Next was superb pasta with lampredotto sauce. Lampredotto is the 4th part of the stomach.
Finally Trippa en Lampredotto served on toast. Mind you in the meantime the champagne kept flowing in our glasses, nice selection though I prefer mine less sweet.
Pane e Vino organises regularly special events and I urge to pay them a visit. The owner Arnaldo Rossi is a winemaker as well. Though we are Umbria fans we suggest you hop over the Tuscan Umbria border to try their slightly spiced rague with pasta, ottimo!
I need to overcome the mental block I have to trying tripe. I am SURE it is amazing, but it seems so foreign to me (born and raised in the US and a recent expat). I’m glad you had such a lovely evening!