Osteria dei Cavalieri, Pisa, by Shelley Lance, Blog Editor
One of the best dining experiences during our trip to Tuscany last month was at the Osteria dei Cavalieri (which translates as “the Knight’s Tavern”) in Pisa. A friend calls Pisa a “poor man’s Florence,” in the sense of being smaller, less crowded, and less touristy than Florence, but with a similar feel. As in Florence, there are narrow, winding cobblestone streets, and the River Arno flows through both cities. (To be more accurate, Pisa, is super touristy right around the main attraction- the Leaning Tower, Field of Miracles, Duomo- but most tourists don’t wander around the rest of Pisa, so you feel like you have the place to yourself.)
The Osteria is located next to an elegantly proportioned square called the Piazza dei Cavalieri. Walking to the restaurant, we passed a lovely food market featuring small, purple artichokes, beautiful flattened and ribbed tomatoes, and (most surprisingly) slender, pale green squashes about 4-feet long.
According to my favorite food book on Tuscany, The Food Lover’s Guide to Florence, what is called an osteria used to be a place to drink wine and perhaps have a very casual meal (similar to an enoteca), but these days an osteria is pretty much the same as a trattoria, though perhaps “a little smarter and/or more expensive.” ( A trattoria is generally simpler, more rustic, and less expensive than a ristorante- though in modern times these distinctions are becoming blurred.) Osteria dei Cavalieri has that classic trattoria look: white-washed walls lined with dark wine racks. Stone ledges and nooks hold more bottles of wine, and the service is casual, friendly and efficient.
Since Pisa is close to the Ligurian Sea, there’s more fish and seafood on the menu here than we generally found in Florence, which is further inland.
I ordered fried dough (pasta fritti) with prosciutto as my antipasti (photo center left). The warm savory fritters, hidden underneath thin slices of silky pink, subtly flavored, and not too salty prosciutto were light and greaseless. What really made the dish work was the well-salted, deliciously golden crust of the “fried dough.”
The table bread at Osteria dei Cavalieri was salted! This surprised me since I had become accustomed to saltless Tuscan bread, but it was a welcome treat. On the bread plate, there was also excellent focaccia, cut into little squres, and salted on top. In fact, I noticed that the salt level in the food was a bit higher here than at most other restaurants we’d been to in Tuscany- in fact, for me, more what I’m used to thinking of as the perfect amount of salt.
My husband, Frank, ordered boiled octopus, nicely cooked, then chilled, then sliced, and served simply with salt, olive oil, and a bit of fresh herbs (photo top right). I ordered the gnocchi, which had good texture and a toothsome bite. They were served in a pureed sauce of squash blossoms and pistachios. But the best pasta on the table was the fish pasta special my friends ordered: a teeny dice of “rombo” (turbot) in a saffron sauce tossed with gorgeous tagliatelle. The pasta was subtly infused with both the saffron and the fish and also had a slight peppery aftertaste- sensational.
Our friends ordered a whole fish- seabass- which came to the table on a large platter with olive oil, potatoes, mussels, and tomatoes before being whisked away to the kitchen to be filleted (bottom photo).
I ordered rabbit, which was grilled with olive oil, oregano, and salt and served with 3 potato wedges and a bit of grated raw carrot for garnish (photo upper left). Totally simple and completely delicious.
The menu offered several fancy desserts, but the simplest was my favorite- a refreshing little bowl of lemon ice with prosecco poured over it.
Tuscany is not known for white wines as much as it is for reds, but the house white, Malvasia Blanco made from the vermentino grape, was really good.
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