I will fully admit that I was a total sucker for all the foodie scenes in Master of None (second season). And yes, I made a special trip to come to Hosteria Giusti based on that first episode where Aziz goes and eats at this adorable and magical place that only has 4 tables and is behind a salumeria. If there was any place I wanted to go to more than any place on this trip, this was it. And it did not disappoint in the least bit.
The place is exactly how it's presented in the show - gorgeous exterior store front, cute but tiny deli and then you walk through the meats and cheeses to a small room with 4 tables where you will dine on the most amazing food. I was shocked that the place wasn't sold out - maybe because it was random weekday in September? In any case, the waitress was super super sweet and walked us through the menu. There are about 4 appetizers, 4 pastas, 4 entrees and 4 desserts to choose from. Everyone online raved about the fried dumpling with cold cuts (12 euros) and when we said that Aarti was a vegetarian the waitress kindly said they could make a cheese version instead. Why not? Will and I split the pork cheek pasta (18 euros), duck pasta (18 euros) and suckling pig in room temperature with onions and aged balsamic vinegar entree (26 euros). It's a little pricey compared to a lot of the meals we were having but I guess all this press as allowed them to really charge a premium.
I know the fried dumplings with cold cuts sounds weird but believe me when I say it's amazing. The dough is like a fluffy pocket and it's pulled right from the fryer because it's super hot and then they layer on delicious and fatty sliced charcuterie. They really do a disservice when they call it cold cuts because most people would envision these gross slices of deli meat but these were mouth watering, elegant local delicacies. The cheese was also outstanding because the cheese was practically melting on top when we got it. As for the pastas, they were also fantastic. The pork cheek one came in a red sauce with thick chewy pasta called strozzapreti. The sauce was spot on but the dish could have used some more meat to it. The duck pasta was my favorite- perfectly cooked served on a bed of al dente thin sheets of macaroni. It's definitely not your Kraft macaroni.
The one slight disappointment was the sucking pig. Yes, I know it said it was at room temperature on the menu but it still seemed a bit cold. But the onion sauce was incredible and made up for the cold pig.
While I didn't give this place 5 forks, it was definitely a highlight of the trip and well worth the extra planning. Modena is a cute, small town that is super close to Bologna (1 hr by train) and is definitely off the beaten path. So much so that it was a bit boring in that there aren't really any sights to see and we kind of ended up walking around aimlessly. Note, this place is only open for lunch, so definitely make a reservation early! Total bill: $156 for 3 people with tax and tip
Franceschetta 58 Via Vignolese 58, 41124 Modena, Italy 3 Forks
Ugh, this review breaks my heart because it had potential to be a real winner. Obviously, when I knew we were going to Modena, I tried to get a reservation at Osteria Francescana, the #1 restaurant in the world. But sadly, even after waking up at 4am to try to get seats, we couldn't snag any reservations. So we did what most people do when they can't get in and got a reservation at it's sister restaurant Franceschetta 58 instead. Financially, it's probably for the best since Osteria Francescana is like 400 euros a person. As much as I love food, it's really hard to justify spending that kind of money in one sitting.
Franceschetta 58 is in a really random part of Modena, almost in the suburbs. We walked there and it was fine but it's definitely a trek. Upon walking in, you realize that EVERYONE there is a tourist (not surprising). It felt like I was eating in America. Also a bit displeasing was that the decor was super modern and not very Italian feeling - again, I felt like I was eating at some fancy bistro in NYC. But the good news is that prices are much more reasonable - nothing was more than 16 euros. I got the famous burger (9 euros) and the grouper as an entree (16 euros).
The burger is a slider served in a cardboard box and it's actually really tasty. In fact it was the best thing I had from the menu. It was moist and had a tangy green and brown BBQ like sauce to it. I believe the regular order comes with 2 burgers but you can get just 1. As for my entree, my grouper came with a yellow tomato puree, eggplant, olive juice and sage. The fish was tender and the skin nice and crispy. It was a fine dish but nothing super memorable. Unfortunately, everyone else felt like their food was meh. The pasta Aarti had was super hard and was surprisingly the one place where we didn't enjoy the pasta.
But where this place really suffered as the service. It was slow AF. I read about how slow it was online and I got nervous when I realized that our reservation was at 8:30 and the last train back to Bologna was at midnight. You'd think a 3 1/2 hr window was enough time but it really wasn't. In fact, we got so nervous about the time that we finally gave up and had them call us a car to drive us back to Bologna because there was no way we would have made it back to the train station in time. Plus by the time 11pm rolled around, we were just tired and weren't enjoying ourselves anymore.
I'm still glad we went, even though I wouldn't recommend it as a place to go out of your way to. Maybe it's better for lunch when you won't feel so rushed to get back to the train station or at the very least book an early dinner reservation so that you're not on pins and needles like we were. Total bill for 5: $225 with tax and tip
Photo Credit: Yelp
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