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Big Beef
By B.A. Nilsson
Bistecca alla Fiorentina is more than a meal. It’s a marriage, a commitment to a
huge portion of the finest cut of beef, seasoned lightly and grilled over very hot
coals. It is a monument of meat that you order rare (if you’re a true beef-eater),
served with a traditional yet incongruous side of fries, an avatar of
carnivorousness and a tribute to what’s best about Tuscan fare.
Which is a combination of two things: local ingredients and simple preparations, a
theme recurring more and more often in the better restaurants. It’s not exclusive to
Tuscan cooking, of course, but this region of Italy is steeped in the tradition.
That’s where Vico chef-owner Mark Ganem lived and worked after leaving the
world of fashion—specifically, reporting on fashion for the magazines W and
Women’s Wear Daily, for which he was Milan bureau chief.
“I decided instead to work for a bed and breakfast near San Gimignano, and that’
s where I learned to cook. It was on the river Elsa, and was called Vico d’Elsa—
‘vico’ means ‘village’ in Tuscany—so that’s where I found my inspiration.”
Ganem and his partner, maître d’ Adam Klersfeld, tested the waters with a
catering business before opening Vico last June. Tucked into a century-old
building on a corner of Hudson’s ever-growing Warren Street, it’s a worthy
addition to a locus of some of the area’s better restaurants.
Sit in the front room at the bar or at a nearby table and watch Ganem and his staff
at work in the open kitchen. Venture beyond and you have a choice of nicely
decorated, sunny colored rooms on different levels as well as the outdoor deck.
We sat near enough to the deck to allow us to easily get up and explore, but the
room itself was more than comfortable.
With a round of beverages before us we pored over the single-page menu, and
that’s where the bistecca Fiorentina caught my eye. It’s available in two cuts: T-
bone or Porterhouse . Each cut includes two of the animal’s tastiest, tenderest
chunks of meat: the tenderloin (which gives us filet mignon) and the strip loin,
separated by a T-shaped bone. The Porterhouse is cut from a section with a
larger piece of tenderloin, hence the extra cost.
The main difference between this and what’s served in Italy is the breed. Over
there, your bistecca generally originates from the huge, white Chianina breed;
here, you hope for something on the order of Angus. Having had but one Chianina
steak a couple of years ago, I can’t swear that it was many orders of magnitude
better. In fact, confronted with the Vico Porterhouse, I was too awed to really care.
Even though I could consume only a fraction of it, it was a superb fraction, and the
rare remainder reheated nicely.
Being in that Tuscan frame of mind, I started with an assortment of meats and
cheeses, which included tangy strips of prosciutto and bresaola (cured beef), with
provolone, cornichons and more. The evening’s crostini assortment included the
traditional bruschetta topping of garlicky tomatoes, olive-rich tapenade and, best
of the trio, a green paste of garlic scape pesto.
Salads include insalate pera, a large portion of arugula topped with poached pear
slices and gorgonzola, which is a phenomenal combination when the greens are
this fresh and the dressing applied with restraint.
If you’re really going Tuscan, two entrées follow, with a pasta course leading the
way. We turned Spartan, although we were able to sample a variety. Eight pasta
or rice dishes are offered as primi, including a linguine with seafood dish, risotto
with lobster stock and shrimp and fettuccine in a lobster-marsala cream sauce
with lobster tails.
The seemingly simple pappardelle al telefono covers wide pasta strips with a
tomato sauce dripping with mozzarella, hence the name—supposedly for the
resemblance of stringy cheese to telephone wires. With fresh basil and a
sprinkling of freshly ground black pepper, it offers more flavor complexity than you
might at first suppose.
Fettuccine Botticelli was a special of the day, a dish in which the pasta is topped
with a cream sauce, porcini mushrooms, asparagus and edible flowers, so it
really does look like a work of art. Linguine tonno, another special, mixed tuna and
capers and big green olives in a light tomato sauce, again boasting the freshness
of flavor that comes from freshness of ingredients.
The secondi offerings also include sage-seasoned salmon with white beans,
grilled rosemary-crusted lamb and preparations of tuna, chicken and duck.
Vico invites you to linger. Service seems effortless, so your feel right at home.
Perhaps a glass of limoncello or grappa after the meal, with a biscotti or sorbet.
This we shall do next time we visit, when we haven’t over pasta-ized ourselves.
Add Vico to your must-try list.
By B.A. Nilsson
Bistecca alla Fiorentina is more than a meal. It’s a marriage, a commitment to a
huge portion of the finest cut of beef, seasoned lightly and grilled over very hot
coals. It is a monument of meat that you order rare (if you’re a true beef-eater),
served with a traditional yet incongruous side of fries, an avatar of
carnivorousness and a tribute to what’s best about Tuscan fare.
Which is a combination of two things: local ingredients and simple preparations, a
theme recurring more and more often in the better restaurants. It’s not exclusive to
Tuscan cooking, of course, but this region of Italy is steeped in the tradition.
That’s where Vico chef-owner Mark Ganem lived and worked after leaving the
world of fashion—specifically, reporting on fashion for the magazines W and
Women’s Wear Daily, for which he was Milan bureau chief.
“I decided instead to work for a bed and breakfast near San Gimignano, and that’
s where I learned to cook. It was on the river Elsa, and was called Vico d’Elsa—
‘vico’ means ‘village’ in Tuscany—so that’s where I found my inspiration.”
Ganem and his partner, maître d’ Adam Klersfeld, tested the waters with a
catering business before opening Vico last June. Tucked into a century-old
building on a corner of Hudson’s ever-growing Warren Street, it’s a worthy
addition to a locus of some of the area’s better restaurants.
Sit in the front room at the bar or at a nearby table and watch Ganem and his staff
at work in the open kitchen. Venture beyond and you have a choice of nicely
decorated, sunny colored rooms on different levels as well as the outdoor deck.
We sat near enough to the deck to allow us to easily get up and explore, but the
room itself was more than comfortable.
With a round of beverages before us we pored over the single-page menu, and
that’s where the bistecca Fiorentina caught my eye. It’s available in two cuts: T-
bone or Porterhouse . Each cut includes two of the animal’s tastiest, tenderest
chunks of meat: the tenderloin (which gives us filet mignon) and the strip loin,
separated by a T-shaped bone. The Porterhouse is cut from a section with a
larger piece of tenderloin, hence the extra cost.
The main difference between this and what’s served in Italy is the breed. Over
there, your bistecca generally originates from the huge, white Chianina breed;
here, you hope for something on the order of Angus. Having had but one Chianina
steak a couple of years ago, I can’t swear that it was many orders of magnitude
better. In fact, confronted with the Vico Porterhouse, I was too awed to really care.
Even though I could consume only a fraction of it, it was a superb fraction, and the
rare remainder reheated nicely.
Being in that Tuscan frame of mind, I started with an assortment of meats and
cheeses, which included tangy strips of prosciutto and bresaola (cured beef), with
provolone, cornichons and more. The evening’s crostini assortment included the
traditional bruschetta topping of garlicky tomatoes, olive-rich tapenade and, best
of the trio, a green paste of garlic scape pesto.
Salads include insalate pera, a large portion of arugula topped with poached pear
slices and gorgonzola, which is a phenomenal combination when the greens are
this fresh and the dressing applied with restraint.
If you’re really going Tuscan, two entrées follow, with a pasta course leading the
way. We turned Spartan, although we were able to sample a variety. Eight pasta
or rice dishes are offered as primi, including a linguine with seafood dish, risotto
with lobster stock and shrimp and fettuccine in a lobster-marsala cream sauce
with lobster tails.
The seemingly simple pappardelle al telefono covers wide pasta strips with a
tomato sauce dripping with mozzarella, hence the name—supposedly for the
resemblance of stringy cheese to telephone wires. With fresh basil and a
sprinkling of freshly ground black pepper, it offers more flavor complexity than you
might at first suppose.
Fettuccine Botticelli was a special of the day, a dish in which the pasta is topped
with a cream sauce, porcini mushrooms, asparagus and edible flowers, so it
really does look like a work of art. Linguine tonno, another special, mixed tuna and
capers and big green olives in a light tomato sauce, again boasting the freshness
of flavor that comes from freshness of ingredients.
The secondi offerings also include sage-seasoned salmon with white beans,
grilled rosemary-crusted lamb and preparations of tuna, chicken and duck.
Vico invites you to linger. Service seems effortless, so your feel right at home.
Perhaps a glass of limoncello or grappa after the meal, with a biscotti or sorbet.
This we shall do next time we visit, when we haven’t over pasta-ized ourselves.
Add Vico to your must-try list.
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