With so many incredible Tuscan restaurants, it’s hard to pick a favorite

Montecarlo has more than a dozen restaurants, all of five-star quality. I wish we had the budget to dine out more often, but we don’t. Besides that, Lucy is an excellent cook in her own right, and furthermore, it is possible to buy restaurant quality meals at a rosticceria, or tavola calda, places which provide what is basically home cooking to carry back to your dining room. We have one of these nearby in San Salvatore, the macelleria of Luigi Bianchi and his family (they will even deliver). And even the prepared food at the supermarkets is great here.

Angiolo shows off the mushrooms that we
will soon be eating.

But we do occasionally dine out, especially when we have visitors, and so we’ve tried about half of the restaurants. This week we tried one new to us, Ristorante dal Pallini, and we’d have to call it a new favorite. Considering the high quality of all the other restaurants, this is a strong statement in its favor. Just what impressed us so much? I’d have to say it was the welcoming congeniality of the family that owns and operates the place. The cook, Angiolo, came out of the kitchen to explain how he prepares his risotto and to show us the fresh porcini mushrooms that had just been delivered from the Garfagnana. His wife Gloria and son Rumen checked on us and chatted with us periodically throughout the meal. Our friends needed gluten-free meals, and Gloria and Angiolo suggested several possibilities. Angliolo even invited me inside to view his sparkling clean kitchen.

Kathryn digs into some
exquisite risotto ai funghi.

What can I say about the food? I am neither a gourmet nor a picky eater, but I can assure you that it was every bit as fresh, authentic and delicious as the other fine restaurants in Montecarlo, but a little less expensive. We were fortunate enough to have picked a perfect day to dine outside, under the shelter of a sun umbrella, but the restaurant also has ample inside dining space. Perhaps the greatest drawback (though not for us) is the unusual location. Frankly, we don’t know how it can compete, because the average visitor to Montecarlo would not even know it exists. It’s at the end of a moderately rough dirt road outside the city walls on the west side. Any tourist parking in the main lot would simply walk down the streets of the historic center and pick one of the more visible options.

Lucy chose an antipasto misto instead
of a primo piatto.

Pallini is about a five-minute walk from the Porta Nuova. Start at the end of via Roma, go down the stairs and continue about 50 meters on a rough and uneven gravel road. At the T, turn right and follow the dirt road about 200 meters. They are open for both lunch and dinner. We hope the word spreads, at least among the locals, of this exceptional restaurant. We’ll do our part to give it some business when our guests ask us out for a meal!