There are places where one is always welcome not because one maybe rich or famous but simply because one showed up and took a liking to the what one found as well as the people. The kind of place I have in mind is the one where guests mingle with one another in an atmosphere that is created not by anybody in particular but by the little things for instance the way in which guests say “ciao” (hi or bye in Italian) to one another whenever coming or going or the way everybody knows ones name. It is these details and many more which make the bar-restaurant “San Lorenzo” located in downtown Warsaw on “John Paul 2nd street” be precisely that sort of place.
I am talking about a place where Italians as well as their descendents like myself or even people who have no traces of being Italian what so ever are never denied the affability and joy that is in the Italian way of entertaining. This holding true in San Lorenzo because of it’s main owner, Gianfranco who is equally charming when talking to the President of Poland (who can on occasions be found there nibbling away at his Lasagna) as when talking to the most modest of guest.
As for my relationship with “San Lorenzo” this dates back to late in the summer of 2001 when I accompanied by my wife and daughter ventured to take a table outside deciding to give this place a go. My wife and I were not hungry so we limited ourselves to ordering espresso for me and a cup of tea for her while our daughter (Paullina, The Star of “The Little Opera Singer”) needing to satisfy her youthful sweet tooth ordered Tiramisu with her favorite drink, apple juice to wash it down.
I as a person who had traveled to over 30 countries had encountered many a restaurant claiming to be Italian with not as much as the slightest connection to the “old country” apart from the name of the establishment or the fact that they served pseudo Italian dishes. I for my part can not claim to have immediately noticed from the outside or even the inside which I saw when I went to the men’s room that this was a restaurant whose proprietor was Italian. It was not that the interior of this restaurant was in bad taste as that was not the case but I also had seen places which though well decorated were not Italian. I had even been to this particular place before which I knew to have two stories as I had visited it on many an occasion when it was being used as both a clothing store which was the upstairs part and a cafeteria on the lower level.
The interior decorating I had to admit was nice even more then it had been but I was still curious to see if the owner was Italian so after having looked the place over both upstairs and down, I went outside again to join my wife and daughter who had already been served.
The tiramisu my daughter ordered tasted like the real thing (her allowing me a small taste) but I needed proof in regards to the authenticity of this place.
The verification came when Paullina stood up as she was 3 and a half years of age at the time and kneeled on the floor to play with a toy car she had brought with her and just as she was in the middle of playing a dark haired man approached the table and said “Hey Pokemon” due to my daughter’s t-shirt of the popular cartoon character. This man whose name I would eventually find out was Enrico Buscema, part owner, his partner in the business being Gianfranco Lucese, a Florentine man living in Poland married to a Polish lady whose mother is Stefania Kozłowska, a well known Polish singer of some years back.
There wasn’t anything special I noticed about Enrico till he sat down joining the group of people who were sitting at his table who were speaking Italian. I don’t know what it is but there is something about hearing people speak my language in a foreign country that unites me to them. Perhaps it is knowing that that person is also a foreigner from the same place I am from or curiosity to simply share impressions of another country but be what it might I always seek to became acquainted with people whom I hear speaking Italian outside of Italy.
This being a large group made me shy about approaching making me bid my time till the party that had been at the table nearby was reduced to a party of one. A well attired redheaded gentleman who was rather on the portly side had been left alone leaving me with my
Tags: alexander, Calcio, Food, Great, Italian, Lorenzo, Place, SUMMER
