Il Pane di Luca

Have you ever eaten focaccia?

Yes?

From il Pane di Luca?

No?

Then forget everything you know about focaccia, get on a plane, come to Milano, and go immediately to this place. And for my friends in Milan, let's go tomorrow! I have to thank Lodovica for letting us know that the BEST focaccia in Milan (or the world) is right around the corner from where I live. I can't describe the amazingness of this focaccia, but I'll try.

You walk in and, depending on the time of day, there's a huge assortment of all different kinds of pizza, and your basic focaccia. I simply point and ask for a piece of focaccia, then they cut off a piece, throw it on the scale, I pay, and off I go. Ordering a piece of the pizza is just as easy, but I like to keep it simple and not mess with a good thing.* The focaccia practically melts in your mouth. It's so soft and oily, but then you get a piece in the same bite that's also a little bit crispy on the top, and you just want to stop and thank whoever invented focaccia in the first place. Luckily I don't walk down this street on the way home from school, so I've been able to limit myself to one trip a week.

But, I'm available all week to take you if you want to go. Every day.

Oh and friends in North America, even if you think you've had good focaccia back home, you don't even know focaccia. Trust me on this. Even if it's from an Italian baker who just arrived in Vancouver a day ago with all of his baking supplies and ingredients. No comparison.

*Last week I messed with a good thing. I went for my weekly piece of focaccia, but they were out so I asked for a piece with tomatoes and olives. The lovely lady behind the counter confirmed (or so I thought/heard) that it was olive asciughe. I thought that this must be a way of saying "dried olives" and pictured those really salty olives and thought it sounded just fine. Well, I got home and realized that what she really said was olive e acciughe, which is actually olives and anchovies! Translation fail.