Near the eastern side of Bologna’s city walls is a charming restaurant called Osteria Broccaindosso with a cheerful, laid back, familiar style welcoming local folks seven nights a week. My expat buddy and his girlfriend took us there for dinner, a selection of pastas typical of the region and a fresh bottle of Lambrusco that went down…
Osteria dell’Orsa is a gem, a cozy, laid back joint in Bologna’s university district, best known for serving up plate upon plate of the region’s best known dish, tagliatelle al ragù. An expat friend of mine took us there for lunch, as the bae and I were both enthusiastic about trying authentic spaghetti Bolognese (a sentiment I had made…
“It’s rare though, bloody. Don’t ask for it cooked well,” warned several people – our airBnB guy Vigan, a restaurant host, a waiter. Bistecca alla Fiorentina never comes well done, and in most Tuscan restaurants they’ll just tell you to order something else rather than taking it “burnt.” If you prefer shoe leather to a juicy cut of local moo,…
It started and ended with a piadina from La Piadona in Pisa. On the first night of bae’s and my weeklong road trip around Tuscany, we had beer and homemade amaro at a lovely local bar named Sud and were on the hunt for the perfect late night snack to soak it up before hitting the pillow.…
After a scenic and vigorous hike in the Parque Natural Posets Maladeta, my brother, my boo, my sister-in-law and I returned to our apartment in the peaceful mountainous village of Benasque, hungry for something hearty and rich. It was also the night of the Germany-Russia game of the Eurocup, one of the most anticipated matches…
I really enjoy spending my Sundays hiking to small, very very old towns in the mountains of Catalunya. It´s a great way to burn calories, be under the sun and to collect Instagram snaps of plazas that look like they were taken in the 16th century. These towns are usually pretty similar: they each have…
I only learned about Belle Isle Seafood Restaurant a few years ago, only a few years after having spent almost three years living a ten minute walk from it, and a ten minute walk from not much else. I spent three years commuting daily for an hour from East Boston to Cambridge, from Orient Heights…
As the weather cools and days become shorter our priorities begin to change too. We bid adieu to those light dinners on a terrace, those chilled boquerones en vinagre, those carefree beers with olives and cigarettes. We embrace instead the comforts of home: blankets, socks and sweaters, the joy of being inside where it’s warm and soft…
“It’s our hamburger. It’s small and it’s wet,” said my new Turkish friend. We had spent the day roaming the narrow alleys of Kadıköy Market on the Asian side of Istanbul, and I had stuffed my face with room temperature street mussels, minced meat flatbreads and a sketchy looking sandwich made with frozen fish from Norway. I had a…
Our best meal in Andalucía was a lunch in Cádiz at a pretty Paris-bistro-style restaurant named La Parisien with its terrace flooding out onto the pint-sized Plaza de San Francisco. Located in a slightly less touristy area of the historical center, the plaza offers a great place to sit and admire the 16th century San Francisco…
That Best Bite 