Travel Tips

Francesca is the key to the success of Antica Trattoria Aggujaro. She maintains strict control of her environment, keeping the waitresses on their toes, and is in a state of perpetual motion. Francesca leads by example, never slowing for a moment, easing into a slow trot near the end of the night. She is the 'only' one to take the customers order, reciting from a hastily prepared note pad clenched in her rigid fist, rapidly reading out the list of todays offerings to newly arrived patrons.

God forbid if you should arrive alone, as she will seat you with perfect strangers, as has happened with me in the past. Worse still, you are cannon fodder for her if you don't understand 'rapid' Italian. To add to her mystique, Francesca speaks the Veneto dialect, a variation on what is spoken elsewhere, so forget the Italian you've learned from that nice shiny CD, cause it don't work with this lady.

She quickly reads from her specials, and might repeat one or two items if asked, but will walk away in lightly veiled disgust if you appear slow witted. She has slammed her note book on the table in front of me before, and told me, in no uncertain terms, to make up my mind. A quick scan of her chicken scratch left me none the wiser, so I quickly pointed with splayed fingers and hoped for the best, receiving a "humphh" in reply. Of course, during past lulls, Ma Kettle has explained that I read Italian better than I understand it, so, I continue to live in hope she is simply toying with my affections.

I rather enjoy this lady. She thinks I'm a dork.

We had a tremendous meal, at least in my opinion. I'm not normally a great fan of food from the Veneto region, having found most foods rather bland, meat a bit tough, and often little variation is offered from one restaurant to another. I was a tad nervous when it was decided that we'd all share the grilled meat platter.

Francesca is widely known throughout Padova for offering a wonderful salad bar, with numerous specialty items only found in this region. Berni and Carl were quite hungry, and, if nothing else, the sheer quantity of food would satisfy. Francesca also served a plate of appetizers to tide us over.

The primo, Bigoli, was ordered by all (probably out of fear), and from the comments overheard at our table, it appeared to be a success.

However, the big surprise was the huge platter of grilled meats set down in front of us. Overflowing with ribs, bacon, pork chops, chicken, and various types of sausages grilled over an open flame, I questioned whether we could ever eat it all. Then, to top it off, the waitress brought a second platter, heaped with the most tender steak I have eaten in ages. So tender in fact, a fork was all that was required to cut it. Buried beneath each were the standard slabs of grilled polenta, very typical within the Veneto region.

Lots of wine, carafes of both red and prosecco, and two bottles of liquer were placed on the table with our coffee at the end of the meal, so having ample liquid refreshments was never an issue that night.

A feast fit for the King and Queen of VT...Rex and Berni. Paola and Ma Kettle were presented with doggie bags of left over meats, so we continued to dine well for days afterwards.

Dinner is over, now what? They were unsuspecting of what delights awaited them.

After dinner, we were entertained by a most enthusiastic performer, who, unfortunately can not sing a recognizable note. However he/she sings with a great deal of energy, off key of course, but so, so campy, it was hilarious.

There was great speculation as to the gender of this person, and Ma Kettle and Paola had finally decided he/she was a female, until Paola spoke to the two girls sitting behind her, and they advised he/she was male.

All in all, although her singing left much to be desired, his/her stage presence was admirable. As said already, great fun to watch. Best taken with a carafe or two (or three or four) of wine.

The jury is still out however, and I don't intend to be the one to find out for sure.

More entertainment in the form of belly dancing. She was pretty darn good for an unspecified gender. I tend to think she is female. At least I'm hoping so.

For Carl's sake, I hope the young lady above is, in fact, a young lady. At this point I don't believe he was aware of the gender bending, and much like the myth of Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny, I saw no reason to disillusion him too early in the evening.

Sacra reminding Rex of what evil thoughts do to a person.

Rex and I share a few confidences, with Carl slightly out of camera range, but within ear shot.