Rome, Italy
Alan's Log:
Joan's Log:
ANTIPASTI, PASTA, GELATO & SO MUCH MORE!
(or the real reason we came
to Rome)
January 2008
I thought I'd write a little about the food in Rome... I don't want to bore you, if you're not into food feel free to skip this whole page to get back to Barcelona where we take a side trip along the coast, meet up with Alan's parents and spend a weekend in Budapest, Hungary.Italian food is very much a big deal to us. It's our favorite, it's what we want when we go out, it's what we always cook. We fell in love eating really, really good Italian food at Frenchies, a great place in Clear Lake, Texas, owned by first generation Italians. I wouldn't say it's the foundation of our relationship, but it's probably the cornerstone! With that in mind, I did some research before we left Barcelona on some of the big foodie blogs, including Chowhound.com and egullet.com, etc. and came up with a list of some great places to eat in Rome. My homework paid off too. We had some fantastic meals, nothing too fancy, in some little out of the way places, off the main tourist track, with really well prepared, simple food.
We had breakfast at a different place everyday, it was usually just a tiny snack bar, that served cappuccinos, espresso, pastries, and wonderful freshly made sandwiches, which they would toast in a panini press. The very best part was the cappuccinos! So much better then Starbucks could ever dream of making. (sorry, Starbucks. I love you, but I think I've moved on)
Lunch...except for one restaurant, we would look a round the area we happened to be in and pick what looked best to us. We found some really great places, and sometimes lunch would be so fantastic we would have to skip dinner completely. That happened twice.
La Taverna dei Fori Imperiali
I'll
start with the best. I found this on Frank Bruni's blog (he is the
restaurant critic for the New York Times) He really liked this
place, other people wrote about it and loved it too. La
Traverna dei Fori Imperiali on Via Madonna dei Monti, 16...I almost hate to
spread the word about it, because I want to keep it a
secret. But I'm pretty sure the secret is out anyway. It's a tiny
place on a dark narrow side street, not too far from the Forum, it's
not fancy and the prices are reasonable and one of our best dining
experiences ever! We went there twice. I love this place for several
reasons, the food of course is exceptional. They have wonderful
housemade pasta, once I had pappardelle with veal ragu and
truffles. I'm still craving it, God, I wish I could recreate it.
Alan had pappardelle with a spicy black cabbage sauce, also
wonderful, another time we shared the pasta puttanesca, also divine.
They have wonderful antipastis as well. The best was a Jewish
style fried whole artichoke, also grilled zuchini, fresh buffalo
mozzarella and eggplant with olives and pinenuts! Another great
was the meatloaf, made with veal and pistachio nuts. Their deserts are
fantastic too. Strawberry Tiramisu! Should I say more?
No, you'd just hate me. We (I) also tried the panna cotta with
chocolate sauce, pure love.
The decor is
straight out of central casting and might put some off with its red checkered tablecloths and candles stuck in rafia wrapped chianti bottles.
I thought that this could go either way - either a discovery or
just another jaded trattoria. The smell of food was the first clue that we had got
it right. The aroma of truffles pervaded the room.
Aldo the owner/manager immediately made us feel welcome and was full of advice on his specials
of the day. We particularly appreciated his ability to
describe the dishes in English. The food was just as good as
Joan says it was. Despite his help, we made a mistake with one dish on
our second visit. Although nothing was wrong with it, it was not what we had expected
and we decided to order a different dish. Aldo immediately took back
the offending dish and we were not charged for it. The chef appeared periodically
and checked on his customers and throughout the evening friends of Aldo's arrived, staying
for a while, chatting at a back table. A lemoncello and then a grappa on the
house completed a fine meal. The only negatives - the ubiquitous rose
seller; the man with the tray of small green plastic frogs;
plus an elderly singer, and finally an accordionist all of whom made their way
into and around the restaurant several times during the course of the evening.. Aldo
says he can't keep them out but he didn't seem to be trying very hard
either. I just wonder who is buying all the small green
frogs!? Price around €35 each for dinner including wine. I liked the old man singing! He was cute.
Arlu, (Borgo Pio, 135)
This time I really thought that Joan had blown it. She described a great lunch restaurant just around the corner from that tourist nirvana - The Vatican, I didn't believe a word of it. My first impressions were not encouraging. The street was full of restaurants and souvenir shops. The first pair of restaurants we passed sported touts outside hustling the tourists inside. One was so keen to drag us inside that I decided to talk to him - I asked him where we would find Arlu. He diffidently pointed down the street to the only restaurant with no hustler outside. It was a good sign. We arrived late for lunch., were welcomed in and told that the kitchen was closing in 5 minutes. It was good to be told, before we had wasted precious time getting settled etc. We made a quick decision on wine - house - and left the other decisions to the chef. We shared a starter of steamed clams in garlic, white wine with crusty bread. I decided just to have the Tuscan Bean soup (Fagioli) because I was saving room for the Old Bridge Gelato which was just around the corner! The soup was thick, with canelloni beans, carrots, and pancetta. Alan had the vegetable lasgane, which looked wonderful, I didn't get a bite! This is a great place, with great service too. If you are going to the Vatican, this is the perfect place for lunch, it's where the people who work at the Vatican eat, so you know it has to be good.Antica Trattoria da Carlone, (Via della Luce)
We found this
place as we were wandering through the Trastevere area, on a Sunday
afternoon. We were getting pretty hungry, and were checking out a lot of
little places in the area, the Trastevere has a lot of really great-looking
places, but this one just had that little something that just looked
right.
Plus it was full of people, where a number of
other restaurants in this area were quiet at this time of day/year. We walked into a
room like your English grandmother's dining room, with cream brocade tablecloths
and old black and white pictures hung on the walls. Super place, very
welcoming and friendly, very inexpensive, great food. Highlights were the
grilled vegetable antipasti, Spaghetti alla Noci (walnut sauce) and perfectly
roasted and seasoned lamb with roasted potatoes. (I have to add that the roasted lamb tasted amazing
BUT it was a rib cut with an extremely small dollop of meat
and a lot of ribs containing no meat at all. It looked big on
the plate but it would certainly not be enough for a main course without a pasta
dish to start). Complimentary
lemoncello. Needless to say we skipped dinner that night! I had a
few panicky moments when I got locked in the ladies room, I could NOT get
the key to work! It was one of those old fashioned skeleton key
locks. Soon one of the cooks and a waiter were on the other side
telling me how to open it in Italian, after lots of jiggling the key and
twisting it finally opened and we all had a good laugh about it!La Fenice (Via F. Crispi, 68)
Another fantastic place we found on our own,
for lunch. I loved this little restaurant, and wished we could have gone
back for dinner. I had Fagioli (Bean) soup again, which was
the best I've ever eaten. It was a combination of large canelloni beans,
garbanza beans and barley, with sausage. (I have already recreated
it on the boat, with great sucess!) Alan had grilled Tuna on a bed of
grilled raddicio, and I mean grilled-over-an-open-fire grilled.
Awesome! Their desserts looked wonderful, but I passed in favor of a
possible gelato encounter! :0)Il Forno (Campo de Fiori)
Pizza...I
researched this place pretty throughly, it was highly recomended by some good
sources. Some said it was
the best in Rome. It was definitely the best I have had in many
years. It's the kind of place
where you stand and line and buy a slice to go. They had about 5 different
kinds. They all looked incredible. The crust was all puffy and
bubbly, with not too much sauce. If you go to the Campo de Fiori market,
and you should if you like fresh markets, this is a really colorful one, get a
slice to go. You'll thank me later!Gelato
We went to several gelaterias, and had mixed reviews. The first one we tried,San Crispino (near the Trevi Fountain)
Was raved about on the web, and said to be the all-time best gelato in Rome. I had to try it! It was good, very dense and creamy. I got a combo of chocolate meringue sp! and zabaglione.Doesn't that sound amazing? Alan got caramel. It was amazing, but...I'm not sure it rated the BEST in Rome. This was going to require more research!
We visited several that LOOKED great with puffed-up piles of icecream and all sorts of exotic toppings, but they were let down by the flavor and will not be named here. An honorable mention goes to
Old Bridge
Just outside Saint Peter's and a recommendation from our friend Ann Lee who has just returned from Rome. This is very popular with the locals and resident college students, who know a thing or two about ice cream and good value. It's the cheapest, the biggest serving, and really creamy, and really, really good! But the Blue Ribbon goes toFior Fiore
On Via della Croce, 17/18 (See picture above), just go there and get pistaccio!Next....Back to Barcelona for a couple of side trips, one along the coast and another by plane to Budapest Hungary. Then Alan's parents visit us in Barcelona.