Florence, Italy: I Tarocchi: Amazing Mussels Pescatore Under 10,00 Euro!!!

I Tarocchi in the Oltrarno, that's where!

We have the NICEST landlady in the world. She is the classic Italian mamma and full of good advice. Her name is Signora Elena and her son (Gianpaolo) live just across the courtyard. This means that we chat on a regular basis. Signora Elena is funny, spirited and generous. Her son is also very "simpatico" (nice). Every once in a while she will bring over tomatoes from her garden, or a taste of something delicious she has cooked.

The other night, she was nice enough to take us to I Tarocchi (Tarocchi means tarrot cards), which is just down the street from our home. Signora Elena is a regular customer, so we were treated very well.

I discovered that this family-owned eatery has been around for many years, offering typical Tuscan cuisine and pizza. Since Signora Elena has praised the mussels, we all decided to get that for our main course. For our primo, we got tagliatelle with salmon and pear and cheese filled fagottini- both were delicious.

The star of the night, however, was the mussels. They were tender and juicy in a savory red sauce seasoned with plenty of minced garlic and lemon. We kept dunking our bread in the broth and raving about how good it was...Seriously, I was tempted to just bring the rest of it home and use it as a base for a seafood risotto the next day!

I think my one critique is that they should serve the mussels in a deep bowl and bring a spoon so that we could eat the broth like a soup afterward. Mmmm...And the most amazing thing of all? The entire platter cost only 7,50 euro!!! In Florence, that is unheard of for seafood.

Although we did not get the Baccala alla Livornese (Codfish Livorno style), it looked so good that I snapped a photo and plan to try it next time. The couple behind us ordered pizza, which also looked tempting, as did the gnocchi and risotto from the two people beside us (sorry, no photos). All in all, I give this restaurant a big thumbs up for the quality of food, reasonable price and convenient location (just across the Bardini Museum).

I Tarocchi
Via de Renai, 12 / 14
50125 Firenze
Tel. (+39) 055 2343912
Fax (+39) 055 2344373

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xoxo, C