Ganzo

Saturday, April 18th, was the first day all semester I worked at Ganzo. This is a pretty big surprise, considering this is the restaurant affiliated with Apicius, and its run with several students volunteering their time in the kitchen, the bar, and the front of the house. Ganzo, which means, “cool” in Italian, is a pretty hip restaurant, with fun Italian food. The school puts many students in the restaurant to work, some having a full semester internship. On Saturdays, there is a brunch, which is served from 11-2pm, and this is the shift I was asked to work this week. It was pretty fun, a little slow business wise, but interesting to talk to some new people. I met this kid, Christian, who is from Hawaii and in his 4th semester at Apicius. We spent some time talking about how we both miss home, but absolutely love this opportunity, and really enjoy the culture in Italy. We had a good time, it was only the two of us in the kitchen, the chef was in and out, mostly in the dining room and talking with the restaurant manager, so the two of us were left to get the food out. We also talked about the differences between restaurant work and catering, what I like more about catering, and the pros and cons of opening up our own restaurants in the future. I am hoping to work a few more shifts in the next month, so I am excited to learn a little more and get that much more experience in a restaurant.

The Buffet prep included Panini’s with chicken and arugula, fruit, slices of fresh carrot cake, (which my roommate Bonnie prepared on Friday, and was delicious I may add ☺) Seafood salad, olives, sliced cheese and meats, and also eggs, potatoes, bacon and sausage to order. Everything was quite tasty, and free for me to eat, which made it that much better. The kitchen at this restaurant is a good size, larger then the Hilton kitchen, which is surprising considering Café Max at the Hilton, can seat 6 times the amount of people. It is also very well organized, with several reaching refrigerators with specific items in each. The flow is very easy; nobody is stepping over each other, plenty of space to prep several different foods without the worry of cross contamination, and yes, the possibility of “Harboring Pathogens”. (That’s for you Susie Q, with love from Cupcake). The paid staff at Ganzo is for the most part, very considerate and caring to the students, which is nice considering the students are volunteering their time.

Hopefully there will be more about this place in my future blogging, because it’s fun to get a feel for different types of restaurants and how each kitchen is unique. One Block West, you are still number one in my heart!

Ciao Bella. I send you love from the sweet streets of Florence <3