A Flashback from Florence

Last month, in an excruciatingly long post about my travels in Italy, I made small mention of Ristoro Terra Terra--a little restaurant in Florence that my wife and I happily stumbled upon.  Although the food at Terra Terra was spectacular, it was not the only thing from this restaurant that left a lasting impression on us.

Our waiter at Terra Terra was a sight to behold.  Don't get me wrong, the service he provided was excellent as he made spot-on recommendations for our wine and food.  But we also found delight in certain eccentricities displayed by our server. Here is what I previously wrote about him in the old blog post I mentioned earlier:

"At Terra Terra, a little restaurant that was literally around the corner from the famed Duomo, we were greeted by a gentleman dressed in black baggy jeans, a black t-shirt, dark hair pulled into a pony tail, and a  goatee.  He pretty much looked like a non-threatening Satan.  He spoke very good English and had a gruff voice that was a cross between Cobra Commander, Antonio Banderas, and Count Dracula.  When he wasn’t serving guests he was either outside smoking (five cigarettes by my wife’s count) or behind the bar downing a glass of cold white wine (three glasses by my count).  An all-around cool dude if you ask me.  Seriously."

There was so much more that I wanted to write about our waiter at Terra Terra, I just didn't because I didn't have the pictures to back up my outlandish descriptions.  Until now...

Imagine my surprise when, a few days ago, I received a very random email from a complete stranger.  Gary Lengyel, from Longmont, Colorado, wrote to me:

"Hi,

I enjoyed your write up on 'When In Italy". Just returned from 10 days in Tuscany and had an absolutely wonderful time. Even spent 4 hours (yes, 4!) in Terra Terra. I enjoyed your write up on that as well. In fact, I thought I'd forward a couple of pictures of the waiter you mention. He's the reason we were there that long! Even shared grappa with us.

If you want to post them, please do, just give me credit for the pictures.

Enjoy,
Gary"

It turns out, after returning from his own trip with his family to Italy, Gary's sister stumbled upon my blog after doing some sleuthing for the aforementioned waiter of Terra Terra.  Oh, what a wonderous thing the world wide web!

Without further ado, the pictures of the aforementioned waiter that were kindly provided by Gary:

Grappa, anyone?

Comedic gold!

And finally, a picture of Gary's mother with the infamous waiter and a good looking platter of assorted salumi.

Gary also informed me that after more googling, he found out that the waiter in question's name is actually Christian.  Christian!  Ironic considering I described this waiter as "a non-threatening Satan," "Beelzebub lite," and "The Prince of Darkness".

After thinking about it, I'm pretty sure Christian is more than just a waiter at Terra Terra.  I'm pretty sure he may be the proprietor of the restaurant.  How else could he get away with being so awesome?

Thanks again Gary, for sending me these hilarious pictures.  I can't help but laugh every time I see them.

And Christian, if you're out there and happen to come across this little blog of mine, thanks for running a great restaurant, knowing your food and wine, and for being a cool dude (and please don't have me killed).

Anyways, I'm sure this post meant absolutely nothing to the few people out there reading.  But I was so delighted to receive these pictures from someone I've never met or corresponded with.  Two different sets of people, on two different occasions,  serendipitously found the same great restaurant in Florence.  And through the small world that is the internet, we can all bear witness to the awesomeness that is Christian (the waiter?) of Ristoro Terra Terra in Florence, Italy.

Comments

[Gary]

Thank you for posting these pictures for me. We had a wonderful time indeed, not only in Florence, but throughout Tuscany. And oh, the stories we can tell of just this one evening! He was an absolute riot! We all still laugh when we think and talk about it.

Gary

[Jeremy Jensen]

By posting these pictures, does this make you the Ace to his Gary?

[Wandering Chopsticks]

Oh I love it! How could you not have taken pictures of the waiter while you were there?

I've got pictures of this old man feeding pigeons and Paris and later met someone else who had pictures of that same man. It was a cool coincidink for us too. I love the WWW!

[joey]

Great post! I was laughing out loud the whole time! Love your description (Cobra Commander! Now there's something I haven't heard in a looong while) and his pictures :) Awesome waiters (or proprietors) are the bomb :) I wish we had more here...

The WWW rocks!

[LuAnn]

I am Gary's sister, who found your blog. Here it is a month and a half after our trip and we're still hysterical everytime we talk about our 4 hour adventure in Terra Terra. When we first saw "Cristian", I told my family (and him) he looks like Johnny Depp. Mom went on to name him Giovanni Depp. To this day that's how we refer to him. It truly was a wonderful trip and experience. Thanks for bringing it all back again.
LuAnn

[Burnt Lumpia]

No problem Gary. I was relieved to find out that my wife and I weren't weirdos for being in awe of Christian.

Jeremy, what is everybody looking at?

Dub C, we were too scared to take pictures of him. And I was focused on the food;)

Joey, I'm impressed that you got the Cobra Commander reference.

LuAnn, long live Giovanni Depp!

[Judith in Umbria]

Both Terra Terra and Cristiano are favorites of mine. He is not quite so ebullient with people who live in Italy and speak Italian! Too bad.
My daughter likes this restaurant better than any other restaurant in all of Italy, so we eat there always when she visits, and I eat there when I ship in Florence.
I thought the woman there was the manager. I thought that because the third time I went and ordered the exceptional risotto with vinegared pork she refused to let me order it. She told me she would give me a sample if I would try something else on the menu. I was brought a half order as a reward for ordering the ravioli. There is much to love about Terra Terra.