So I’m sure the readers of this blog – all four of you – were wondering which fine eatery would resurrect Where’d Ya Eat?
Well your answer is Mac Dario, the “fast food” establishment of butcher Dario Cecchini. Its mission statement is that it “can serve good food at a good price and have a good time doing it.” This is all accomplished with only two menus, the first a play on fast food and the second a sampling of specialties from the butcher shop.
The
Mac Dario is a bun-less half pound burger in a breadcrumb crust with garlic and sage roasted potatoes, vegetables and sliced onions, the restaurant’s sauces, Tuscan bread, and sparkling or still water. Set at 10 euro, it’s basically a steal and pretty ridiculous given the quality and amount of food served.
The “burger” itself is cooked to order – the restaurant and I both recommend “Toscana” or rare – and the crust is light and barely-there. Cecchini owns cattle of a rare breed in Spain, and all the beef he serves is trucked in weekly. The quality of the beef is obvious and the other components of the dish only serve to reinforce and complement it. The potatoes wedges are perfectly roasted, the vegetables (bell pepper, carrot, celery) caramelized, and the red onions barely-cooked... crunchy but sweet. The sauces and breads are brought out before the burger, but I recommend holding back until the plate arrives so you don’t fill yourself up. The sauces are ll homemade: A “Tuscan ketchup” (high quality tomato sauce), honey mustard, and a red bell pepper jelly both sweet and spicy.
The other menu, simply called “
Welcome,” is a selection of the specialties available for purchase in the shop. Raw garden vegetables and olive oil for dipping, probably to keep things light and healthy before all the meat arrives: “Chianti sushi” (steak tartar), “Chianti tuna” (or pork), roasted pork with herbs and garlic, and meatloaf with the pepper jelly. I haven’t actually had this menu, but I have sampled both the Steak tartar which is beefy and fresh and enhanced with spices and lemon, and the roasted pork, which is tender as expected and leaner than expected.
The rest of the menu is a glass of house red wine, fruit juice, coffee and a slice of olive oil cake (topped with sugar and pine nuts), and Italian military liquers for digestifs. Each item is available for 2 Euro. And for 3 Euro, you can have a quarter liter of the red wine.
You can purchase Cecchini’s beef, pork, or lamb (when in season), at his butcher shop attached to the restaurant. And although he favors Spanish cattle, the rest of his ingredients are local to Chianti. His wine, olive oil, and herbs all come from his own estate within two miles of the restaurant. The aforementioned as well as the red pepper jelly, honey mustard, and “perfume of Chianti” (a delicious salt spiced with Tuscan herbs that probably makes its way onto everything on the menu) are all on sale there too.
The restaurant seats about two dozen people, so don’t be surprised if you’re sitting next to strangers at one of the long tables. The atmosphere is relaxed and cheerful. It almost feels like a party. No RSVPs or reservations are taken though.
This is certainly an excellent and memorable dining experience and definitely in my top ten favorite meals of all time. The staff are all professional, courteous, and genuinely happy to be at work. Although the likes of Elton John, Madonna, and Sting have eaten there, there is no pretense; the staff would never call their burgers “casual fine dining” although they are. In fact, the lack of foie gras, truffle, and other unnecessary fancy ingredients only goes to show the quality of both the beef and the cooking. A meal here would satisfy anyone who is a meat lover and change the mind of anyone who is not.
Mac Dario
Open noon to 3pm everyday except Wednesday and Sunday
Via XX Luglio, II
Panzano in Chianti, Firenze
+39 055 852020 Tel
+39 055 852700 Fax
http://www.dariocecchini.com
ALSO: With reservations, the restaurant morphs into two other alter egos for dinners and Sunday lunch. “Solociccia” is a six-course two-hour dinner – the six meats selected at Cecchini’s discretion – with an abundant amount of sides, desserts, and drinks for 30 Euro a person. “Officina della Bistecca” is a meal devoted to Chianti’s famous grilled steaks: Bistecca alla Fiorentinia, alla Costata, and alla Panzanese. The 50 Euro per person price is inclusive of other expected components too, not that anyone could possibly leave the three-hour meal hungry.
