Oh the flight back was a doozy. My first leg from Milan to Frankfurt didn’t go too well. We took off late, and then once we got near Frankfurt, we had to stay in a holding pattern because excessive winds in Frankfurt limited the approaches of incoming planes. Eventually we landed, with negative time to spare. You know when you watch movies and people are running in the airports? Yep, that was me. And once I got to the gate, it was absolute madness. I’d never seen as many airport employees working at an actual gate than for this flight. I also had someone in front of me show up with a red X next to their name when they swiped his name through. Not exactly do-not-fly, but not exactly all green like me either. Wonder what his deal was?

Anyhoo, it was a long ass flight, and they didn’t waste time feeding us lunch. It was the usual choice of pasta or chicken and I went with pasta this time. It was lasagna! Look at it. Doesn’t it look like a square of gross? Other than the noodles being overcooked to mush, it was quite fine. The broccoli was awesome. My body was craving some green vegetables something fierce! The pesto pasta salad was also nice. My favorite part was the apple cake dessert!

The return flight was much longer than the one there, so we got a much heartier second treat (first time we got a little teeny danish). It was a warmed up foccaccia sandwich with turkey and cheese. It was really good! And I was finishing up some of the Tuc crackers I’d gotten at the train station. They’re like ritz, but better and butterier!

One interesting service note I observed. When they gave me my drink on the plane, they asked me if I wanted ice. Which of course I did. When they served the german woman next to me, they automatically did not give her ice. And you know, the cans of soda you get on the plane are not cold. What is it about americans who love their sodas cold and europeans who like it room temperature?

I arrived in Florence on friday night and there was still a little bit of daylight left so I started roaming. Whenever I go to new places, that’s just what I do. I’m a roamer. I didn’t even have any real maps. But I just started walking. I quickly realized how small Florence actually is and how amazingly walkable it is. Maps make it look big, but in reality, it’s quite small. You can walk everywhere and see everything. It’s hard to get lost because eventually, any street you walk down will end up somewhere familiar, like the train station, the river and any of its bridges, the duomo, this piazza or that piazza, so it’s hard to actually not know where you are, relatively.

I didn’t exactly know where I was going, but I had a couple of snippets of maps to get me to some major spots. I actually had a place picked out for dinner, but once I found it, it turned out to only be a lunch spot. Drat. So I had to just wing it as far as where to have dinner. This is how I ended up at Giannino. When you walk around in Florence, especially considering how touristy it is, all the restaurants have menus outside and sometimes, there are people who try to get you to come into their restaurant. I ended up here because really, it was a toss-up to me, and they didn’t have anyone out front.

When you first go in, the place isn’t that big. Or so you think. But then when you’re sitting, you see giant groups coming in. And you realize there’s a whole other dining room on the first floor, as well as seemingly giant rooms on the second floor. It turns out, this place is huge. Many of the restaurants have special menus that are a set number of euros and you get a few courses of specific dishes. The prices are quite reasonable too. I decided to just go a la carte. It’s a pretty big menu.

As opposed to where I was earlier this week, in Florence, they give you olive oil with your bread. I think this is fairly typical bread of Florence, but it was really bland. I didn’t care for its lack of flavor or its dry crumbly texture. And the olive oil, well it certainly looks green, and it tastes even greener than it is. It didn’t do it for me.

I went real italian and decided to get two dishes, a pasta and a meat. So for my pasta, the parpadelle with meat in a chianti sauce. I know it was friday, and it’s supposed to be fish on friday, but I ain’t catholic, so who cares. I picked it because on their menu, they have certain dishes marked as traditional florentine dishes. I wanted to try traditional, so I picked this one. This was super good! The pasta was nice and firm and the meat and sauce were highly flavorful and full of fresh herbs. Big thumbs up on this. And it was a really good sized portion. I was pretty much full.

Then came my chicken dish – chicken el diavlo (or something like that). It was the devil style chicken, devil, because it was supposed to be spicy. This was another dish that was traditional florentine. This chicken was cooked extremely well, tender, and juicy. But it was boring. So so so boring. It was just plain cooked chicken, and the skin had been brushed with some chili oil. There was nothing wrong with it, it was just too boring for me, and since I was fairly full, it wasn’t a big deal. I loved that it came with fries though, how traditional! But I ate them up because I really wanted a vegetable, even though I’m not sure how much a potato counts as a vegetable. I had some italian ketchup too, and it’s different than heinz or hunts, but I can’t exactly explain how it tastes different. It just does.

You’re in Florence, so all of the wait staff speaks english. So you don’t really have to worry. They’ll bring you an english menu by default. Service was quite fine. And the prices were reasonable too.

After dinner, I roamed around some more, and then ended my evening with some gelato. I mean, you can’t help yourself, because gelato spots are everywhere. There are multiple shops on every block. It’s like a requirement. I got some mixed berry and lemon, and it was a perfect way to end the night.

Modo Mio is a beloved BYOB in fishtown. I don’t really know anyone who hasn’t liked the place. It’s been open for a few years, and I have no idea why I waited so long to go. It was worth all the hype. [Apologies in advance for the worse than usual photos, but the lighting in there is terrible for non-flash photos!]

Since it was a BYOB, M made us some pre-dinner gin cocktails. We b’d plenty of our own b’s. We even offered a drink to one of the waitresses, but she refused! We all decided to do the turista menu, which allows you to pick anything from the antipasti, pasta, secondi, and dessert menus.

The bread was unbelievable. It’s served with a porcini olio, which was also beyond delicious. The bread is incredibly dense and wet and chewy on the inside. Things were starting off well.

Before the food started coming out, we got a little amuse bouche, which was a bruschetta with tuna puree. The bread was a bit too salty on the crust, but overall, it was a great little taste.

For the antipasti, a few of us got the cervello, the fried calves’ brains with walnuts and pickled fennel. Who knew fried brains would be so good?

I ordered the Polpo, the balsamic grilled octopus, crispy potato cake, with arugula pesto. Wow. Just wow. The octopus was tender and delicious, and the crispy potato cake, although not crispy, was so surprisingly good. People are afraid that octopus could possibly be rubbery. This octopus was the furthest from rubbery as anything possibly could be.

For the pasta, M got the Caramelli, fresh pasta candies (look how cute they are!) stuffed with buffalo milk Taleggio and hazelnut brown butter. The cheese was super creamy and delicious in here. So rich!

R and I both picked the Mlinzi, toasted fresh pasta with a rustic rabbit ragu. So good! The pasta was extremely firm, I guess that comes from the toasting. The ragu was made with sweet peppers so it had a surprising sweetness.

F’s lamb dish, the Agnello. It’s typically a braised lamb chops dish, but this night, it was a giant lamb ball, served with porcini and apple fritters.

Three of us got the Guancè, the veal cheek served chef’s choice style. The menu says “trust him”. It’s a good idea to do so. Delicious! Again, this is a bit on the sweet side. I think E would have preferred that it was less sweet. The cheek itself was nice and tender.

I was in the mood for something on the lighter side for my entree, so I went with a fish dish and picked the Razze, seared skate wing with apricot brown butter, almonds, capers, and lemon. It was exactly what I wanted! The fish was perfectly cooked and the whole dish was light. I don’t like capers so I ate around them, but I loved everything else. The apricot chunks were a really nice touch.

For desserts, the options included tiramisu, a flourless chocolate something, an italian style crepe with nutella, and I forget what else. A few went with just cappuccino or espresso. Because I’m into fruits in my desserts, I got the apple pastry. It was somewhat like an apple pie, but one that had shavings of cheese on top. It was nice and light and a perfect way to end this meal. Really, the entire meal and experience exceeded all of my expectations. The service was also good, provided by our very actorly waiter, Steve. The place is small, and you’re all definitely squeezed in. It’s also quite loud, so don’t expect a quiet and serene place that is romantic. It’s boisterous! But the food is some of the best I’ve ever had. I implore everyone to visit! I’ll definitely be back!