The hamburger conquered Florence

July 11, 2023

There are dynamics in the world of food that move as slowly as karst rivers. Sometimes global trends give the accelerator a boost – think of the growing attention to healthy eating which has led to the inclusion of criteria such as healthiness and authenticity in chefs’ checklists – but in other cases it is the evolution of technologies. Not only in fine dining, but also in the field of informal cuisine and that universe between two slices of bread that is the hamburger, the eye has come to claim its part by convincing nightclub managers to create dishes, as well as being good and healthy, they are also pleasing to the eye. A concept which today, thanks to the advancement of the complexity of devices and the media boom of the gastronomic supply chain, has found expression in “Instagrammable dishes”, but which upon closer inspection was born long before the advent of smartphones. For several decades now, in fact, the awareness of having to pay attention to the plating has meant that even the “young” and informal cuisine more or less voluntarily follows the fashions and general customs, thus embodying the spirit of the time: let’s treat ourselves to a small experiment and let’s think back to the 1980s, a period which in Italy saw the development of the nascent hamburger phenomenon, a formula which on the other side of the Atlantic had already been customary for a few decades. While allowing for a necessary simplification, it is difficult not to notice similarities with the clothing sector in the common use of bright colors and combinations of ingredients considered innovative at the time but which time would later relegate to oblivion, if not actually condemned to a damnatio memoriae.

Let’s take the case of the burger: what has remained as a value from the sieve of time, despite the succession of fashions, is the attention to the quality and arrangement of the elements, layer after layer, as a factor capable of determining success of the sandwich. On this front, the Red Garted in via de’ Benci stands both as a witness to the passage of time and a mirror of the evolution of taste, and as a thermometer of the trends of Generation X, local or international.

“Compared to a not too distant past – says Riccardo Tarantoli, owner of the place that has animated the main street of Florentine nightlife for sixty years – in recent years we eat less but we pay more attention to quality. Food is increasingly seen as sharing and conviviality, and not merely filling the stomach. Beyond these macro trends, however, the forceful return of sweet and sour in dishes demonstrates that today we generally eat less salty foods. And certainly not for health reasons, as one might think, but rather for a widespread change in the perception of taste common to more or less all forms of contemporary cuisine”. Hence the choice to continue serving ribs, an evergreen of the restaurant, keeping the pork chops infused for 48 hours in a sweet and sour sauce.

Also worth underlining is the renewed attention to chicken, a meat that has long suffered from an unjustified inferiority complex: if beef continues to reign supreme – both in general in a city dedicated to steak like Florence, and in the specific case of a nightclub which during the lockdown achieved record sales volumes on the delivery and take away front – the demand for chicken exploded both in burgers and in fried foods to be enjoyed at the table. The theme of sharing is instead demonstrated by the success of tailgate, a dish designed for large tables, while a real novelty are the three variations of the international breakfast which oscillate between bacon, scrambled eggs, pancakes and the inevitable hashbrowns.

However, the passage of time and the evolution of taste have not only brought new additions to the Red Garter menu: for example, the first courses have disappeared. while the dishes that contributed to making the restaurant in via de’ Benci an institution remain unchanged. This is the case of chicken wings – which were also much more difficult to find in Florence until twenty years ago, demonstrating how the palate undergoes significant changes – but also of tacos with pulled pork, where Latin suggestions mix to an American-style cut.

Sixty years ago as today, however, the king of the Red Garter table remains the burger. Not just any one, but the traditional American one, which has subtle differences compared to the versions we have introduced in Italy: on the other side of the Atlantic the canonical recipe is preferred (a meatloaf, possibly Angus, seasoned with lettuce, tomato, cheddar cheese, gherkins, onions and bacon) while in the Old Continent variations with local meats are more appreciated – we are still in the homeland of Chianina – and fewer sauces as condiments, compensated by more territorial additions (mushroom pâté, lard, truffles, parmesan , etc…).

Even on the bread front, the soft American “bun” is sometimes different from the sandwich used in Italy, where biodiversity allows the use of different flours. And what about meat, an element that is affected not only by the difference between the cattle breeds used but also by the percentage of fat that is added to the minced meat to obtain a more or less succulent meatball? Also in this case, Riccardo Tarantoli gives an updated snapshot of the tastes of the people of the night: “The Americans who come to the Red Garter generally ask for a drier burger, they prefer it well cooked rather than rare. However, in the ranking of our most popular sandwiches, the ‘Magnifico’ with onions marinated in Jack Daniels and local ingredients such as mascarpone and gorgonzola cream does not disappoint.

It is our best-selling specialty after the Rodeo Burger (with fried onion) and the classic NY Bacon Cheeseburger.” Furthermore, compared to a menu of ten years ago, today it is much more common to find vegetarian options, in which the meatball is replaced by a mix of vegetables and legumes.

In short, in just one turn of the calendar’s waltz, the transition from the 1910s to the 1920s saw much more important changes than those that required longer times in the past. Thanks to smartphones, as mentioned, but also to a popular conscience that is more attentive to quality and health. But nothing has been lost in terms of the pleasure of conviviality, paradoxically even more strengthened by two years of restrictions and lockdowns. Not only at the table, but also in another “social space” that has made the Red Garter as unique as karaoke in the Florentine panorama. “It has not gone out of fashion at all – confirms Riccardo Tarantoli – but its success continues to depend on how it is managed, on the way in which barriers are broken down by those who choose to try their hand and get involved”.

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