Far from the
Tuscan sun

>> From Italian standards to teriyaki
chicken, Carmine’s got it covered

by MATHILDE RABBAT

On my trips to Europe, thanks to a rather anemic budget, I subsisted on a baguette and crêpe-a-day diet in Paris, döner and beer in Berlin, the Spaghetti Factory’s cheapest pasta plate in Venice, and panini and jam packets swiped from the hotel’s continental breakfast in Rome.

Since the only thing I ate in Florence was gelato for almost every meal, now that my financials have improved, I thought it would be a treat to give Carmine’s Tuscany Grill a crack. Locals know the space well, having once been occupied by Amazona, the now defunct Greek eatery.

For starters, you’re encouraged to swirl the contents of your breadbasket around in a delightful pond of olive oil sprinkled with rosemary, sage and thyme, a fitting way to awaken the palate. Weekly specials (ranging between $9–$13 for lunch, and $13–$21 for dinner) include either a soupe du jour, a Caesar or house salad, and a choice of coffee or tea.

Your soup may be a hearty minestrone filled with broccoli, cauliflower, onion, spinach, celery, carrot, tomato and zucchini, rendered limp from overcooking. No real complaints regarding my house salad. Mixed greens and julienne cut carrots were as crispy as they should be and the dressing beat out Kraft zesty Italian, though I would have preferred a simple olive oil and balsamic drizzle.

As part of the dinner weekly special, my duo di pasta ($12.95), consisting of manicotti with spinach and ricotta stuffing sharing the dish with a generous helping of veal-stuffed tortellini, failed to hit the mark in both the pasta and sauce departments. The deep red tomato sauce coating the manicotti sleeves and the rosée sauce intermingled between the tortellini were sweeter than any I’ve ever had, unpleasantly so. In addition, a bland manicotti stuffing, bearing the consistency of a fluffy béchamel, and a grainy parmesan topping sprinkled by the server, failed to improve the lot of this dish.

Another dinner special, the costolette di agnello ($17.95), on the other hand, presented an improvement over the former dish with its tenderly grilled lamb chops, uneventful but al dente crinkle-cut veggies (zucchini, cauliflower and carrots) and a heap of very garlicky mashed potatoes.

If specials aren’t your thing, you are free to mix and match pasta in various permutations with the sauce of your choice ($10–$16). A looney will buy you a whole-wheat substitution instead of white-floured pasta, which is a rarity and a nice touch. Furthermore, all dishes can be supersized to family portions ($30–$39).

Those of you with a sweet tooth may be disappointed in the dessert selection, which is conspicuously absent from the menu.

According to someone in-the-know, the resto’s name doesn’t represent any particular individual. Similarly, very few items listed on the extensive menu actually come from the grill—or from Tuscany.

There was no bistecca florentina or risotto to be had, or any other of the classic dishes that hark back to the region for that matter. Instead, what you’ll find are generic Italian standards in the form of pastas, thin crust pizzas, chicken, veal and seafood.

The all-but-Tuscan menu features other regions, with dishes such as pollo genovese, rotolo milanese and bolognese ragu. In fact, it stretches far beyond the country’s regions, as evidenced by items like Greek salad, tzatziki, Cajun chicken and salmon, jambalaya, a Romanoff rosée sauce, coconut shrimp and a pollo teriyaki.

So, for now, it looks as though I will need to amass more funds and venture back to Italia for Tuscan classics like briachina, the prisoners soup.