Chef Stefania Gambaccini learned her craft at the apron strings of her “mommy grandmothers” and slowly transitioned from cooking for friends’ parties to joining her family in presenting typical dishes from Lucca that one usually only finds in Italian homes. The pasta is freshly made each day from scratch, and the chef rolls out each pizza herself. Now, there’s been a fair amount of grumbling on social media about the cost and servings sizes at Baonecci Ristorante, and the Gambaccinis address this on their website:
“We know… our fare is not inexpensive, due to high-quality ingredients used for each dish, plus for the love of an Italian woman that puts her heart in every dish that she cooks for you... As we say in Italian, ‘non si può avere la botte piena e la moglie ubriaca’ : ‘you can’t have both a full carafe of wine and a drunken wife.’”
Indeed.
We decided to see for ourselves, and we're glad we did. It was a trek out there to be sure, but once we arrived we were warmly greeted by the Gambaccini patriarch, a bearded gentleman whose Italian accent and mannerisms were almost straight out of a Fellini movie, in the best possible way. After we were seated, we were brought our own water bottle, something we always appreciate. We ordered a couple of glasses of Chianti at the very reasonable cost of $13 each and decided on our courses. We opted for a starter, a pasta, a pizza and a dessert, all of which we intended to share.
The starter selection was fagioli all'uccelletto. We weren’t sure if this was a soup or not, since in our Italian household “pasta fagioli” was always a soup. This was not a soup but was instead a beautifully prepared warm bowl of cannellini beans, tomato sauce, sausage, garlic and sage. The tomato sauce was rich and robust but not overpowering, the sausage meaty with a perfect texture. We could have made a meal of this with a larger bowl and a few chunks of crusty bread. (Side note: they do not serve bread here as many typically American-Italian restaurants do.)
Of course our pasta choice was tordelli lucchesi. This is described on the menu as meat ravioli with house made pork and beef Bolognese sauce and parsley. There were six rather large pieces (about three inches in diameter) to the order, which was just enough for the two of us. These were extremely good, probably better than the ones we had in Lucca proper a few years ago in a now-defunct spot hidden within that city’s walls. The pasta was perfectly cooked, the meat sauce full of flavor.
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The dish that made Lucca proud, tordelli lucchesi: meat ravioli, housemade pork and beef bolognese sauce and parsley.
Hank Vaughn
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Maremma diavola has a very spicy tomato sauce, garlic, olive oil and italian parsley; and no cheese.
Hank Vaughn
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If you can't have cannoli have tiramisu: Mascarpone Cream, Ladyfingers soaked In espresso and chocolate powder, $12
Hank Vaughn
7151 Preston Road, Unit 451 (Frisco), 4 p.m. - 10 p.m. Monday - Saturday