My introduction to this restaurant was over 20 years ago. My main travel guide was a book devoted to shopping in Milan, Venice, Florence and Rome that listed hotels and restaurants almost as afterthoughts in each chapter. Now it graces the pages of most major travel guides, but you can always get a table at 6:30 p.m.
Whenever I travel to Florence, Italy I make a pilgrimage across the Ponte Vecchio to the Oltrarno section of the city to dine at The White Boar. This charming, old world osteria never fails to deliver a satisfying meal of classic Tuscan recipes including wild boar stew and ribolita. No matter how the times change, Cinghiale Bianco allows you to step back into the Tuscany of old where you are welcomed and treated like extended family. I proudly display one of their ashtrays in my kitchen. It was a gift to me by the owner Massimo as I was singing the praises of his restaurant, just after the ban on indoor smoking took effect. While celebrating my birthday there one year, he also brought me a piece of cake on the house, a generosity I would have expected to be reserved for regular customers from the neighborhood who frequented the restaurant weekly. Only one time did I miss dinner here, when I came for a day trip on a Wednesday.
When first traveling to Italy, I found the salads disappointing since they were primarily made with chicory and lettuce. On the right you can see that they have become more varied and colorful. Most times I skip salad in Europe and go straight to the vegetable sides, but on those occasions when you just have to have something raw and fresh, it's nice to know that there are now more options. The prosciutto pictured above is a standard on the menu and is made from wild boar. Much dryer than Prosciutto di Parma, wild boar prosciutto is stronger in flavor and pairs well with the unsalted Tuscan bread. Its color is as deep and rich, as its taste and we seldom fail to order it.
The main advantage of traveling to Italy in October is that it's truffle season and most good restaurants showcase fresh "tartufo". One year I ordered pasta with freshly grated truffle over a cream sauce here. This year I chose the burrata with tartufata (a truffle sauce sometimes mixed with porcini mushrooms and/or black olives) and fresh black truffle, drizzled with olive oil that had also been spiked with truffle. It may sound like overkill, but you can never have too many tartufo!
Was wild boar stew mentioned? That's it on the right, served up with polenta. A heartier dinner for a cool Autumn evening cannot be found. The meat is fall-off-the-bone tender and the sauce is just begging to be sopped up by the polenta as it usually is. Strozzapreti al Burro is pictured on the right, photographed as the parmigiano cheese was drifting down towards the plate. Strozzapreti meaning "priest strangler" is used to describe many different dishes in Italy, perhaps as many dishes as there are regional cuisines. There is even a pasta shape called by that name, but for me it will always mean the ravioli nudi (ravioli filling sans pasta) of Osteria del Cinghale Bianco. This ricotta and spinach dumpling literally melts in your mouth. I insist that everyone I know try this at least once in their lives. There are now 4 strozzapreti in an order, but when I first started going there were only two, but they were the size of billiard balls and most certainly would have strangled anyone trying to eat them whole.
Borgo S. Jacopo, 43 r.
50125 Florence
Tel. Fax +39 055/21.57.06
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday 18.30 - 22.30
Saturday, Sunday, 12.00 - 15.00 / 18.30 - 22.30
Closed on Wednesday
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