The cliche about food in Tuscany is that it's all meat all the time -- wild boar, rabbit, pigeon sauce even. For critics, the monotony is broken up only occasionally by a few overcooked vegetables.
Dario Cecchini, the Butcher-Preacher of Panzano (and a dead ringer for Liberace), literally embodies the conventional wisdom. A Sunday lunch at his place, Macelleria Cecchini or Officina della Bistecca, is an adventure in red meat: six courses of chianina beef ranging from raw ground (or "sushi" as he calls it) to a traditional Beafsteak Florentine, three inches thick, charred on the outside and room temperature on the inside.
Carrying the cliche even further, Dario appears halfway through the meal to deliver his big line: "To Beef or Not to Beef." Somehow, you forgive him.
I've avoided carpaccio for a reason. I never thought I'd eat raw ground meat in an age of mad cow. But as Tuscan cookbook author Judy Witts Francini (www.divinacucina.com) says, "It's like butta." It was. Butta mixed with garlic and herbs. The baked potatoes were softened up with Tuscan "butter" -- raw pork lard mixed with herbs. The vegetables were crudite--for dipping in red wine vinegar and olive oil. And the whole meal was topped off with olive oil cake.
It was the perfect meal for a blustery fall day.
Jamie Oliver and Alice Waters are rumored to be fans.
But for your heart's sake, eat here just once a year.
