One of my favorite meals and lunchtime memories. When I first moved to Firenze just after my 26th birthday, it took me a month or two to bring on freelance clients. I remember taking a very ambitious walk up into the hills and coming back down toward the center maybe four or five hours later, starving, but with barely enough in my pocket for a New York espresso. I walked by a tavola calda, an otherwise non-descript place where you might buy a bus ticket. Sometimes these places have a surprisingly fantastic, simple lunch menu, and you’d be shocked how talented the chef could be in the tiny kitchen in the back. I saw a few construction workers having lunch and took a peak at that day’s spring menu. This gorgeous trofie pasta with citrus was less than five euros, and I shall remember it forever.