So, a big thank you as I begin these travels and reports to all of the people her on H.O. who guided my thinking!
My cousin and I arrived in Bologna yesterday afternoon, and as he was arriving from NY and needed a nap, I put on my sneakers and took a little jog toward a restaurant I had been trying to reach for almost a week to try and reserve with no luck. (We are staying about a half hour’s jog from city center.) Every post I read said it was imperative to get a reservation far in advance, but I could not get them to answer their phone, much less reserve!
I arrived at Trattoria di Via Serra di Tommaso & Flavio as they were finishing their lunch service, only to learn from Flavio that they were fully booked for last night (Saturday). He suggested that if we got there before their opening at 7 pm, and we were “first on line” we might get a table. (I was a little dubious about this, as I did not know if my cousin who had flown overnight and driven to Bologna would even be awake by 7!) I asked about all of the other days we were going to be in Bologna, and he said they were closed, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday (turns out they are open for lunch on Tuesday), but we were due to leave Bologna on Wednesday and I was able to get a reservation for lunch on Wednesday!
I was completely happy with that, but it turned out my cousin was not only awake but game to get to the restaurant to wait for a spot last night! (He and I are as simpatico about restaurants as any two people, and he saw how eager I was for this hard-to-land reservation.) We got there first (much to the clear dismay of an older couple who did not know how to react to us, and refused to stand behind us on line.) Anyway, Flavio honored his promise, and we snagged the only open table in the restaurant while the others waiting filled the four seats at the bar (we would have been totally happy with these.)
We ate (and these are my descriptions, not the menu’s which we forgot to take a picture of, and anyway it did not include the specials):
Flat biscuits, just baked, with soft (ricotta?) cheese and fig jam. (So, my hotel is blocking downloading of my pictures to my computer…Going to pause this report till I can fix this issue!)
Okay, sorry for the delay. I can now upload pictures. That Sat. night dinner in pictures, but also we had lunch there today, so I’ll include all of that here. Both times we had a half liter of their house white and Sat. night a half liter of their house red, both excellent accompaniments to their food.
We had these meatballs both times we came (As described by the waitress, beef and pork, porcini mushrooms mixed in with the meat, and cooked first in steam in the oven, then in a pot. I a, definitely going to try this!):
Booking impossible at this restaurant unless you turn up at the end of a lunch service and make a booking for a few days ahead. Show up twenty or so minutes before they open (at 7) and might snag seats at the little ( 4 seat) bar. Worth eating here twice, though we had one extraordinary meal after another in Bologna–only one clunker. I will write the rest of them up in the next day or so!
P.S. I did take a picture of today’s menu, which was a bit different from Sat. night. Also we had a starter of fig roasted with Caprino goat cheese (no picture, sorry!)
just got back from travel and so glad to see that you got to go to this place nd that it is still just as wonderful. They started out and made their name as a country restaurant then moved into the city and I think still seem to be distinct from the other Bologna contenders in their cuisine and home-i-ness which you experienced . So glad! We went over there - this was some years ago - early for Sunday lunch without a res - having not been able to get in touch and they charmingly squeezed us in.
