Amazing. We’ve had the house in the Lunigiana for 7 years and still we can meet folks and they tell us of new and wonderful places to eat within a 15 minute drive. I mean we’re really, really, rural here, as you can see in the picture in our last post.
Why this amazes me is that I grew up in rural Illinois. My mom still lives there. When we want to go out to eat and don’t want to push a fork through dismally re-hydrated mashed potatoes in a restaurant, we have to drive all the way out to the “Quad Cities.” Then the choices, if you don’t want industrial food, are still quite limited. I mean you’d think that four cities stuck together in America’s fertile heartland could come up with some fab food put together by real people who know what a potato looks like. But no.
So anyway, we drove out to La Locanda del Grillo, whose card says it’s in Licciana Nardi but it’s really not that far from Terrarossa, truth be told. It’s way out in the middle of nowhere in any case, like many good restaurants here in the Lunigiana.
Above is one of the primi we had. Chicche con le Vongole is what you’re lookin’ at. Chicche are little gnocchi, or gnocchetti, made from potatoes and, in this case, some spinach. The sauce was a bit spicy. The vongole fresh and tangy.
We drank the house white with it and some fizzy water. Then, for seconds, came platters of grilled calimari. Then platters of cippolini agrodolce, sweet and sour onions. Lunch for two with wine: 24 Euro out the door.
Lunch at the Locanda del Grillo was first-rate, a solid choice. The place is filled with working men, some of whom had ordered special food because a big table next to us was definitely in the middle of a huge feast. When locals choose a place to feast at, it’s gotta be good.
Oh, and there are four, good looking bocce courts on the property adjacent to the restaurant. I wanna play! You don’t see bocce so much in the Lunigiana.
Stats:
La Locanda del Grillo
Via Costmala, 36
54016 Licciana Nardi
Tel: 0187 420128