La Buchetta

La Buchetta Food and Wine is a little restaurant located steps away from the Ponte alla Grazie. I always walked past this restaurant, but it was not until my final days in Florence that I heard about it. When I was solo for lunch one afternoon, I decided to stop in and see what La Buchetta had to offer. It had great reviews online, and I had recently heard all about the “angel and demon gnocchi”, so I came here on a mission to try this dish.

As it was lunch time, I didn’t go all out for a full meal. However, as an observant patron, I noticed that all the big parties were ordering the bistecca alla fiorentina, and it looked really darn good. So, if you come here for dinner, I am sure you can’t go wrong with the steak.

In Italy it is never too early to have some wine, so I ordered the classic house red. It was very good, and only 4 euro for a glass.

Onto the reason I came here: the angel and demon gnocchi. The presentation is great, and it is by no means a little serving. There is a lot going on in this one dish. There are herbs and flowers on top for the presentation, bits of crispy pork cheek, little drops of a red spicy sauce, then finally the gnocchi doused in the creamy Stracciatella* cheese sauce. The sauce was really rich, but I loved Stracciatella flavor. The cheese would stretch as you pulled each piece of gnocchi with your fork. The bits of pork cheek were very tasty, and provided a little crunch with each bite. The savory flavor of the pork cheek went well with the cheese sauce. I recommend mixing in the red spicy sauce because it added a little kick to the dish. I guess that is where the demon comes in. All in all, it was a great dish

Takeaways: La Buchetta is a highly rated restaurant in a busy part of the city. I was lucky to even get in for lunch without a reservation, as it was packed during lunch. The moral is that you will need to call days in advance to make a reservation in order to eat here. The bistecca alla fiorentina looked real good, and I’m sure there’s a reason why most people ordered it. The gnocchi dish is on the pricier side at 20 euros, but it is a culinary experience. Truth be told, I liked the truffle gnocchi at Il Parione better, but this is still worth the try. 

Score: 8.1/10

*Stracciatella is an Italian cheese made from pulled mozzarella curds and heavy cream. It is a rich, creamy cheese that has a hint of sweetness to it.