Okay, here’s the rest of our eating odyssey! First, pictures from Collin Emiliane:
Milk-braised veal
Rum something dessert
Walnut caramel cake!
Pizza at Emma hit the spot…Fearing I am not the connoisseur that @vinouspleasure is on this front, but I think it might pass his muster. We had a salad (pears, walnuts, spinach, honey, parmigano, olive oil and balsamic on the table), I was jonesing for some fresh greens, etc., and this hit the spot; and shared bruschetta with tomatoes before the pizzas. I ordered the margherita di bufala, simple, but to me the best (pretty sure this is what my cousin had also); our guest had same with artichokes, also delicious. Only pizza restaurant we went to during the trip, but we ate our way through slices (or sandwiches made with white pizza) during the days. We were staying between two excellent bakeries (where these slices are most often as far as I can work out): Antico Forno Roscioli and Antico Forno Campo de’ Fiori. White pizza sandwiches with mortadella (again simply the meat for me) from either bakery kept me going till dinner many a day. Also, just about any of the pizza slices from Roscioli, but I prefer the ones made on thinner crust than the thick crust ones.
Dinner Monday night was at Trattoria Priscilla. This was a restaurant recommended by a friend of my cousin’s who grew up in Rome and has fond memories of this place where he returns every time he goes home. It is located on the ancient part of the Appian Way and was quite a project to get to, even in a taxi. Still, a very dramatic setting…from the outside. Quirky, idiosyncratic host/owner(?) asked us about our water choice when we sat down (I converted my cousin to the joys of “aqua leggermente” which I have only seen in Italy, until Paris recently came across with a with “fines bules” version that my landlord stocks my fridge with for me when I go!). Got the water, and then ordered, and he asked: Wine? Yes…Red or White? We were a little stumped by this, but we got a half carafe of each and then worried about the dinner. We needn’t have worried. Simple, but good food (sort of how I like it). We had some salumi and then some of that wild boar pasta I was becoming very attached to. (This was the second best wild boar pasta we had on the trip; best was at Trattoria Monti later in the trip.) We had some meat and potatoes (mashed) for the main, also succulent roast (veal, I think) and called it a well fed night. (Spoiler alert: we didn’t have any meal that we thought was just bad.)
We had a so-so meal at Babette the next night. I was disappointed because I remembered it as really swell. Pasta (we had a shrimp and artichoke tagliatelle) was overcooked. Mains were good, but on the boring side. We shared an appetizer of fried anchovies, stuffed with cheese, some salad that was really the best part of the meal. Lovely, room (I remember the garden also being beautiful). I would still try again, as maybe it was our ordering that was off.
We had lunch at Roscioli (the salumeria) the next day. We sat at the counter and ate our way through some anchovies and toast with funny butters (less of a fan of this than I thought I would be); the always delicious burrata and “semi-dried” tomatoes; and we both got our own pasta carbonara. I would travel across the world to eat this pasta, and my cousin practically licked his plate. They had a bottle of a wine I had tasted there before, and we both really liked it, finding a bottle to eat with starters Thanksgiving dinner the next night:
(We had a nice red that night too, but I didn’t take pictures.)
Thanksgiving at Al Ceppo was very meh, I’m afraid. A fancy and beautiful space. Service was wonky. And that detracted. We ordered different combinations of appetizers and primi courses, and the waiter made the executive decision to put them on the table at the same time (which really didn’t work for the one of us, not me!, who was eating both an appetizer and a primi). When we asked him to hold that primi, he got a bit fussy. I eventually won him over big time, explaining this was a special evening for us (we had friends of mine join us, not American, but understanding that this was a fête) but I still never got offered a coffee at the end. Food was okay, but not special. My friend’s girlfriend (who lives in Rome) had asked around, and this is what her friends had suggested. I wouldn’t recommend the restaurant…But we had a wonderful time anyway because, well, the company was great, the wine too, and we had lots to celebrate and be thankful for!
Friday night we had a splendid dinner at Trattoria Monti. I had never been there before, and would run back the next time I go to Rome. Full of Italians, as far as we could tell, wonderful service (no English menus, and we needed a bit of help). The aforementioned wild boar pasta was really, really good. Tasted deeply of wonderful flavor that couldn’t have been there if someone hadn’t had a pot going all day. Least that’s what it tasted like to us. We shared the suckling pig (nice portion with actual crispy skin) and a supernal eggplant parmigiana. Couldn’t eat dessert, but I was offered (and drank) a cup of coffee.
Last night we went to my friends’ apartment for aperitivo, and then six of us went to dinner downstairs from her place. It’s a very quirky restaurant in the back of a fish monger: La Pesceria Re di Roma. We were there for hours, and the platters of food kept coming. This is the place my New York HO diners would have gravitated toward. We had two different kinds of crudo platters, ditto fritura platters, several of us had the excellent pasta vongole (me, for one), and then two had whole fish mains…my cousin had two grilled fish (I’ll have to ask him what they were), but fresh excellent, just olive oil and salt added. Dessert was had, but not by me, after all that. Coffee yes.
We went home in the wee hours and managed to make our early flight out. One word about coffee. To me, coffee in Italy is all good. Even at gas stations along highways. Still, in the are of Rome I stay, I go for my morning macchiato either to Roscioli Caffe (it’s a minor monopoly in the area, but family run, and just a wondeful group of food emporia) where they also have pastries and maritozzi, though I don’t eat sweet in the morning or Sant’ Eustachio. I’m a bit of a coffee nut, and really anywhere is, as I said, great for coffee in Italy, but these two spots, one modern and the other very traditional, are my happy places in Rome. N.B. at Sant’ Eustachio, you pay at the cashier and then give your order to the barista. Make sure to say “no sugar,” if you don’t want sugar there. At Roscioli, you can drink and then pay at the bar. There is also seating out front and maybe in the back too, but I’ve never gone for a seat…it looks like they do breakfast, and maybe later aperitivo, I don’t know. I finally worked out that most places that are caffes by day do aperitivo (drinks and snacks) in the evening.
We had an amazing time, and even though it sounds like we did nothing but eat, we did a bunch of other stuff too, especially my cousin, who had a list, and checked off almost everything.
