The Epicurean Pilgrim's Destination Guide to

Rome

Restaurants, Food Shops & Markets, Wine Stores in the Eternal City

written with photographs byCharles Leary & Vaughn Perret

First EditionPacific Avenue, S.A.

All Rights Reserved, 2009

Table of ContentsHow to Use this Guide . . . . . . . . page 3Rome Restaurants . . . . . . . . . . . page 5Cafes, Wine Stores & Enoteca . . . page 27Food Stores . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 29Kitchen Stores . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 32

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How to Use this GuideSome Terms & Concepts

Restaurant Reviews & ScoresThe restaurants (and other businesses) reviewed here will all be found in central Rome, generally in the historic areas most visited by travellers.

The scores for Service/Ambiance, Food, Overall, and Price are designed to be a quick guide to each restaurant, from 1 to 3 stars, with 3 being the highest score. Scores of “0” indicate a lack of quality or negative experience. Unless otherwise indicated, we base the reviews on more than one experience.

We highly recommend reading the reviews and not solely relying on the scores, as they give a better portrayal of each establishment.

New reviews will be added for each new edition, planned for every 24-36 months. Updates will also be made. Reviews are based on accumulated experiences since 2000.

Terms & Concepts: Dining & FoodA full Italian meal would be divided into plates and

courses as follows:antipasti: appetizersprimi piatti: usually the pasta course, which comes before the main dishes, or secondisecondi piatti: main dishes, usually fish, fowl, or meatcontorni are side dishes, often vegetables, which accompany the primi and/or secondidolci: sweets or desserts

For a full Roman gustatory experience, try a meal with all the courses! However, on a day-to-day basis do not feel obligated to order everything: an antipasti course followed by some pasta will suffice.

As the reader will find in many of the reviews that follow, we believe the primi of overall better quality than many of the secondi.

Osterie were originally simple taverns featuring wine and hearty home cooking. Often consisting of one big room, these establishments are not pretentious, though in touristy areas, they have taken on all the pricey qualities of larger restaurants.

A Ristorante is a full-blown restaurant with all of

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the qualities expected of such: uniformed waiters, table cloths, elaborate menus, possibly a sommelier, a maitre d', and full service. Ristorante can run the gamut from fairly humble operations, to what one would expect from a Michelin-starred eatery.

Perhaps in between the other two, a Trattoria exudes all of the homey charm of osterie, but are more than just taverns. Usually family-run, the food is likely on par with most ristorante, but the atmosphere is more casual and friendly.

A few useful terms

Abbachio: lamb

Anatra: duck

Baccala: dried, salted cod fish

Bottarga: dried tuna eggs

Carciofi: artichokes

Carni: meat

Champignones: white button mushrooms

Fiori di zuccha: squash blossoms

Formaggi: cheeses

Involtini: stuffed rolls, often of meat

Olio: oil

Pepperoncini: small, hot chili peppers

Pesci: fish

Pollo: chicken

Porcini: highly flavorful mushrooms, known in French as cepes

Tartufo: truffle, black (nero) or white (bianco)

Tonno: tuna

Vongole: clams

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Alphabetical Listings & Reviews of Rome Restaurants

Ristorante AbruzziAmbiance/Service *

Food 0

Overall *

Price *

Via del Vaccaro, 1 Tel. 06 67 93 897

Looking at the menu and the place, we had higher expectations than Abruzzi could fulfil. Mediocre food betrayed the overall pleasant service and above-average ambiance. Even some of the “house specialities” proved lacklustre.

Armando al PantheonAmbiance/Service *

Food *

Overall *

Price *Salita Dei Crescenzi, 31 Tel. 06.68803034One afternoon, having succumbed to a traveller's cold, we found ourselves in need of nourishment without the will to cook. The night before we had passed Armando al Pantheon and checked for an available table: they were full up. The place has that typical Roman ambiance and an attractive menu that sticks in the mind; we thus returned for lunch and found one open table.

It turns out to be a charming restaurant, one room, with high ceilings and a clear view into the kitchen. Armando is also listed in the Slow Food guide to Italian osteria. We had but two pasta dishes--spaghetti with truffles (19 euros) and ravioli al Armando (9 euros) and both were excellent. The spaghetti a very simple preparation of dried pasta perfectly cooked al dente with olive oil, salt, and shaved truffles. The ravioli a delicious construction with champignones and a light-handed cream sauce with cheese.

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A second visit again proved the primi to be of unwavering, very good quality, freshly prepared, through the secondi—as is so often the case—fell somewhat short. Three of us enjoyed the Spaghetti alla Claudio (with garlic, extra virgin olive oil, mushrooms, and saffron), Cicoria in padella (as a contorni), and Scamorza al tartufo, though the Anatra alle prugne (Duck with plum) left much ro be desired—dry and uninspired.

Caffe BerniniAmbiance/Service 0

Food *

Overall 0

Price **Piazza Navona, 44 Tel. 06 68192998This review is admittedly based on one experience, however the service, hospitality and cold food culminated in never desiring to go back in over a year's time, though for months we passed this stylish restaurant on a corner of Piazza Navona once a day.

Recommended by the Gambero Rosso guide as exceptional and serving something outside of the normal tourist fare on this remarkable square, we

gave it a try.

It was the service delays that proved fatal. The menu appeared truly creative and inviting. The primi we finally actually—after a patience-trying delay--received passed scrutiny, though they arrived tepid.

We then entered the utter black zone of waiting for our secondi for what was—in restaurant terms--an eternity. We decided to leave, and Bernini staff offered no apologies or explanations. Arguments erupted when we finally decided to call it quits. Prices are high.

La Buca di RipettaAmbiance/Service **

Food **

Overall *

Price *Via di Ripetta, 36 Tel. 06 321 93 91This charming restaurant not far from Piazza del Popolo tries hard. High quality table linens. Banquettes and wrought iron lamps. Cozy ambiance. The menu is great: diverse and obviously with some modern culinary touches, without loosing its Roman sense of place.

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However, the promise of a great menu goes south when most of the dishes you request are unavailable: stuffed rabbit, tenderloin with porcini, puntarella salad, pear ravioli. Had the wine not already been poured on hearing that the house lacked yet another of our selections, we would have left.

The food we did finally consume had all the attributes of good cuisine-- fresh pasta with seafood, raddichio ravioli with Gorgonzola sauce, squid ink pasta with baby octopus, shaved artichoke salad. However, the size of the secondi was uniformly small. The beef medallion with barolo sauce came with no sauce; the veal roast in tiny slices and mediocre.

The wine list is well selected. La Buca is worth a try—just make sure they have what you want before you're seated.

Ristorante Toscano Il BucoAmbiance/Service *

Food *

Overall *

Price *Via S. Ignazio, 8 Tel. 06 679 32 98The flavors of Tuscany carried to Rome: game, unique filled pastas like Nodini, hearty sauces like wild rabbit with tomatoes, excellent contorni, pheasant, grilled porcini mushrooms & meats. The waiters are friendly characters , including the amiable Alfredo. The wine list is well chosen, and one can reliably ask for good suggestions.

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Ristorante La CampanaAmbiance/Service *

Food **

Overall **

Price **Viccolo della Campana, 18 Tel. 06 6875273Among the Roman restaurant finds we are proud to promote in this guide is Ristorante la Campana, known as il locale piu antico de Roma since there has reportedly been an inn/restaurant at this location since at least the early 16th century.

Dishes bursting with distinct flavours include homemade artichoke ravioli with red sauce; tagliolini with zucchini blossoms and bottarga; stuffed and fried fiori di zuccha; fettuccine al tartufo bianco (with tartufo nero also available); lamb cutlet with fried artichokes; the superb animelle di abbacchio con funghi; baby octopus fettuccine; and eggplant Parmesan. The latter may sound hackneyed, but it was a rustic, authentic, and flavorful parmigiano, with perfectly cooked eggplant, including some skin, mozzarella baked to its textural supreme, Parmesan artfully applied, and a just spread of concentrated tomato sauce.

Unlike many restaurants where all the primi piatti

have more or less similar flavors--good or not--at La Campana the pasta strongly express individual personalities--the octopus fettuccine full of red pepper spice and garlic oil; the animelli with perfectly cooked mushrooms and black truffles; and the tagliolini with bottarga full of sharp sea flavors and delicious egg pasta.

Service is professional and very attentive but familial. A slap on the shoulder and a few jokes may accompany the waiter. Ambiance is typical upscale Roman, but prices are relatively reasonable. A full dinner for two with a bottle of wine was about 78 euros, for 3 persons, 137 euros.

The wine list has lots of excellent choices. We also had the house wine, which more than satisfied.

Cantina del VecchioAmbiance/Service **

Food **

Overall **

Price **Via dei Coronari, 30 Tel. 06 6867427Central Rome has numerous excellent restaurants--some of which we touch on here--but few have a modern, cosmopolitan twist like Cantina del

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Vecchio. It's not that this cozy restaurant and bar bowls you over with post-modern flourishes, but rather it manages to convey to its guests an urbane sophistication just enough out of the Roman trattoria theme to be quite refreshing.

Vecchio wins no awards for great value, but prices fall in line with food & service quality.

Well-selected wines by the glass and a menu that will have you debating between various selections has brought us back more than once.

Checchino dal 1887Ambiance/Service **

Food **

Overall **

Price **We were a bit surprised that the taxi driver didn't know where Checchino was. “Testaccio,” we said. For us, the restaurant was among the culinary certainties of Rome, and the taxi driver should surely know where to go.

After giving him the exact civic address, he had to go to the extent of plugging it into a talking GPS unit that told him how to wind his way there, in the old meat packing district just outside the centre. We had gone there before; always arriving in taxi, we had left once on foot, trekking our way across sedate residential neighbourhoods and strange open spaces until we reached the Tiber and hoofed it rapidly back to the more familiar and strangely comfortable zone of Spanish Steps, fountains, and Rotundas.

Checchino gives lessons, every day, in how to become a destination, a landmark that weathers the storms of trendy times. It's Checchino dal 1887, wearing its hundred and more years of

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continuous food service as a badge of honour. We went back not exactly because we remembered the food as being the absolute best in Rome, or the ambiance and service as so transporting that this vaulted single room of a restaurant would be a must go on every trip to Rome.

No, Checchino was and is not our favourite restaurant in the Eternal City. But, it's there, nearly timeless, and always present with its somewhat quirky and very Roman emphasis on offal, its cheese cart under the cheesy glass dome, stained glass false skylight, and walnut veneer wainscoting.

We recognized the owners—they must be the owners—ever present and attending with an air of dignified and professional interest in the guests, not aloof, not bored, nor overly excited by their position as purveyors of culinary information and hospitality. Always friendly. We recognized at least one of the white-jacketed waiters from prior visits. The decor had not changed, since 1887 at the earliest.

From the street, one enters a single, very high-ceilinged, vaulted room with a large fireplace at the very rear. There's not a single window, which

makes the room peculiar. There is a mysterious staircase to the upstairs, and a supposedly cavernous wine cellar downstairs, a little bar, a reception desk, the cheese cart, and lots of exactly uniform, white table-clothed square tables, some nestled together as 4-tops.

We have heard that the restaurant is actually dug into Monte Testaccio, itself a gigantic pottery midden from ancient Rome—a dumping ground for hundred of thousands of amphorae used to carry wine, oil, and garum. So, the culinary heritage here is immense.

We called a few hours before to reserve for 8:30 and arrived just about on time, despite the talking GPS and nervous taxi driver. Overcoats were taken. Good evenings exchanged. We sit and receive our Pelegrino water. The dog-eared and somewhat stained heavy paper menus must be designed to slightly disorient the patrons, with their set menu promotions—with a take-away souvenir plate—in Italian and English, their somewhat non-standard divisions between courses written only in Italian, and the additional, smaller menu, which seems to repeat some of the larger menu, but not everything. In addition, one can order the dishes on the set menus separately, but

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only some make an appearance on the main listings.

Despite Checchino's (probably deserved) fame for its vast wine list, most diners receive a 2-page roster of suggestions included with the main menu.

None of the above is a complaint—just some observations on the quirky side of the place.

In fact, Checchino clearly belongs in the upper echelons of the ristorante category. Though family run and attended, this is not your casual trattoria. The Maitre D's dress in suits. All wine by the bottle receives a full opening ceremony—side table, tasting glass, smelling the cork, checking the label, ritualized pours to rinse the glasses, observation of the wine's color—all before the patron is given his or her taste.

The place has its well-established and comfortable routines for both itself and its guests. The menu is stable, the décor indelibly fixed, the staff amiable and not stuffy, but deft in their professional habits, though one over officious, non-Italian waiter did spill the wine all over hand and glass in a failing attempt to be helpful.

The food at Checchino strays from the typical Roman in its emphasis on old-style cucina romana, rustic, tasty, and meaty. With its heritage in the old butchery district, the kitchen feature lots of organs, trotters, hearts, and the house dish, ox tail in a concentrated tomato sauce.

The pastas rank good to very good: classic spaghetti alla carbonara, spaghetti with bavette di tonno, tonarelle a la gricia as well as arrabiata and amatriciana, etc. The rabbit with sweet black olives and white wine sauce was the best we've had anywhere in Italy, and was served completely bone free. The famed coda alla vaccinara arrived well cooked and flavorful on a too-small oval plate with literally no meat on the bones; a bit more flesh would have gone a long way. The origins of this dish dates back to the customary payment to a vaccinaro (cattle butcher) with the entrails, hide, and tail of the animals being butchered. As the butchers branched out to eateries such as Checchino, the name gained widespread use.

The recommended wine, from the local region of Lazio, was superb and well priced at 23 euros: Casale di Giglio's Madreselva, a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot.

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L'Eau ViveAmbiance/Service *

Food **

Overall **

Price *Via Monterone, 85 Tel 06 688010L'Eau Vive exists a bit outside the usual spectrum restaurants in Rome, and is a nice choice for special occasions. Occupying two floors and several rooms of a Renaissance palace that also serves as home base for a convent, French food—

for the most part—is cooked and served by the nuns themselves as part of their order's religious work. This does not mean it's fare for the poor, quite the contrary. Lunch for three with one glass of wine each totalled 130 euros.

The food can be very good—soups (including the unusual lettuce soup), pates, and salads are excellent—but the main dishes follow the style of pre nouvelle cuisine France, with gloppy corn starch filled sauces and somewhat dull flavours. A recent sampling of Tournedos was quite overcooked and arrived warm, not hot. The salad with chèvre chaude, honey, and shaved almonds, though, was superlative.

Service can range from excellent to extremely slothful. If the place is full, expect delays. At Christmas lunch, it took 2 hours and 20 minutes for three to have a shared pate sampler, a salad, and a main dish, waiting for 30 minutes to have the cheque delivered after asking three times. The glasses of red wine arrived after the main dish was on the table, and although they rushed out the salads before the table had completed the appetizer, we then waited for half an hour or more to get the main.

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Nevertheless, on other occasions the sister servers have been attentive, friendly, and fast. L'Eau Vive carries an unusual mix of the cosmopolitan—with nuns from all over the world, many dressed in the clothes of their homeland—the somewhat retro French food, and the unique surroundings of historic Rome.

Ristorante Federico IAmbiance/Service **

Food **

Overall **

Price **Villa della Colonna Antonina, 48 Tel. 06 678 3717www.federicoprimo.itThis seafood eatery caters to tourists as well as locals, and though the menu always enticed we had avoided it as a likely “tourist trap” for some time. There's a deck area just off the street for outside dining and a bright, elegant interior.

Though based on only one visit, the cuisine ranked highly: fish ravioli with orange sauce, seafood risotto, and gnocchi with tomato sauce were all good to excellent. The classic thick tuna fillet with tomato sauce, capers, and delicious tiny black olives counts among the best seafood secondi

we've had. The potato crusted Bronzino was also excellent. A third dish that seemed intriguing, thin swordfish filets with fresh grapes, lacked flavor and seasoning.

Multilingual and charming waiters dressed in Italian suits provided excellent service once you pardon their eagerness to push extra dishes. “The tip is not included,” they emphatically inform you upon receiving the bill.

The wine list needs some work—most entries are quite pricey and numerous items have been scratched off the menu. There's a big Chianti section. We tried a vermintino (Mancini) for 22 euros that barely passed muster: flabby and washed out.

Pizza FloridaVia Florida 25, Tel. 06 688 03 236While taking a break from visiting the new and intriguing Museo Nazionale Romano Crypta Balbi, we ventured into the pouring rain and up 2 block to Pizzeria Florida, our new choice for the favourite spot amongst all the little, street side pizza places in Rome. This is a local favourite too, and the pizza is sold fast enough to always be fresh, with crisp crust. Toppings are varied and

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interesting; the ingredients very fresh and flavorful. Examples: ham, fontina cheese, & onions; cherry tomatoes and pepperoncini; fresh mozzarella and buffalo mozzarella. It's located right across the street from the "Cat Forum."

La FocacciaAmbiance/Service *

Food *

Overall *

Price *Via della Pace, 11 Tel. 06 688 03312It's relatively rare that we get excited about a menu, but the written offerings at Pizzeria Ristorante La Focaccia had us salivating. The menu

of this restaurant near Piazza Navona is extensive, the pizza offerings interesting, the salads wonderful, and many of the fried dishes unique. The food actually lived up to its promise, including the wood-oven pizzas and the intriguing appetizers. We highly recommended it as a casual eatery.

The problem: service. Although on our first visit, we were seated and given good service, attentive and pleasant, our neighbouring tables who arrived at the lunch rush were not so lucky. They had to wait substantial amounts of time both to order and to received their food. A return for late dinner showed the same--this time for us. One hapless waitress rushed around and had no idea how to prioritize, and she forgot our wine order. If you can, sit outside. So, go for the food, but with patience.

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Da FortunatoAmbiance/Service **

Food **

Overall *

Price **Via del Pantheon 55 - Tel 066792788Although a recent visit left us less than satisfied, the restaurant we have returned to more than any other in central Rome is Ristorante da Fortunato near the Pantheon. A favourite of celebrities and politicians, here skilled waiters deliver a menu of classic dishes. White table cloths, subdued atmosphere, and generally flawless execution from the kitchen make Fortunato a standard bearer. At times, the place is too staid and food has recently demonstrated less consistency. The risotto with saffron and zucchnini flowers is always good. The galleto al diavolo was uninspired--little to suggest anything but slightly undercooked roast chicken.

Trattoria dal Cav. GinoAmbiance/Service *

Food *

Overall *

Price *Vicolo Rosini 4 Tel. 06 6873434

Down a little side street off the Piazza del Parlemento is Trattoria dal Cavalier Gino, which we went to and then walked away having spied the sign NO CREDIT CARD. We sprinted to a cash machine and returned, immediately offering up that we had no reservation. We had to wait about 5 minutes while one waiter finished serving birthday cake to a small family party--out soon-to-be table was the cutting board--and we were seated. The ambiance is very much Rome a la 1963--the year the restaurant opened--with sayings about wine and Italian landscape scenes painted on the walls. The place is clearly loved by locals and we tried to primi and two secondi: spaghetti a la corbonara, spaghetti de la casa; beef involtini with tomato sauce, and roasted lamb. All were good--the house spaghetti and the lamb were excellent--perfectly prepared and bursting with flavor.

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Service was friendly and generally prompt. The house wine by the carafe--a Tuscan red--was quaffable. We also had a contorni of cold green chard with lemon. The total bill was a little over 50 euros for 2, including 1 litre of wine. Unfortunately, on a second visit--with reservation--both service and food fell below par. This time the gnocchi were too soft and the tomato sauce dull; the main dishes uninspired. A different waiter provided decent service, but his plate suggestions stunk. Recommended by Slow Food.

Green TAmbiance/Service **

Food **

Overall *

Price *Via di Pie di Marmo, 28 Tel. 06 6798628

Billing itself in English as a “Gourmet Restaurant,” Green T takes traditional Chinese cuisine to a new level of elegance, more akin to “real” refined Chinese food encountered in China, Hong Kong, or Taiwan. Adapted to its Roman location, here one does not eat Chinese style—sharing all the dishes amongst the assembled diners-- but rather orders antipasti, primi, and secondi in servings for each individual.

Prices are very high when compared to portion size. The interior is comfortable and somewhat slick post-modern Romano-Japano-Chinese style. When the restaurant is slow, service can be good to excellent. The two owners—an Italian man and Chinese woman—endeavour to attend to each table themselves, letting a plethora of black robed staff act mainly as delivery people and busboys. However, when Green T is busy, having to wait for the owner to come to your table to take the order,

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including the wine order and the water order and the food order, can cause unpleasant delays. Every restaurateur's necessity of delegating to and training a professional wait staff seems to have fallen by the wayside at Green T.

The food is very good, full of rich flavors, generally well prepared and presented. However, as mentioned, portion size is extremely small, a la nouvelle cuisine. Asked if the 20 euro dim sum sampler would be a good appetizer to split amongst 3 people, the answer was “yes” with the addition of a spring roll order. When the food came, it hardly sufficed and was impossible to reasonably split 3 ways: 2 springs rolls, and one of each of the tiny dim sum, save 6 little triangles of tasty shrimp toast.

The main dishes also arrived on the small side, though generally flavorful. The pork belly in clay pot is excellent. A goose dish was rather uninspired, dry, and somewhat tough.

One high point was the wine suggestion: Rubico's Lacryma di Morro di Alba for 18 euros, an inspiring, perfumed red wine from this little-known grape called “tear drop.”

Ristorante MaccheroniAmbiance/Service *

Food 0

Overall *

Price *Piazza delle Copelle, 44 Tel. 06 68307895.

Simply put: a tourist restaurant with good service.

Do not expect spectacular or fresh food, but rather consistent tourist fare, mostly “classic” Roman dishes. Service is efficient and friendly, atmosphere standard, with sprawling dining areas downstairs and more quaint trattoria atmosphere at ground level. Open 7 days a week, year round.

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Paris in Trastevere di Dario Cappellanti

Ambiance/Service **

Food **

Overall **

Price **Piazza S. Calisto, 7/A Tel 06 581 5378www.ristoranteparis.com

Nine years of experiencing Paris in Trastevere puts it among the top restaurants in this guide. Elegant dining rooms with wood panelling and lofty painted beam ceilings, delicate sconces, and white table linens—it's a very Roman sort of eatery, but with a more refined sense of place than the majority.

Paris provides very good to excellent service, with waiters not as staid as at someplace like Fortunato's nor too informal. One of the owners wearing a dark brown sport jacket and spectacles usually drifts purposefully amongst the 3 or 4 dining spaces, inspecting the seafood cart or passing a watchful glance across the room. Seafood is a strong suit in this Jewish eatery, given equal emphasis to meat dishes & pastas. The

artichokes and fried zucchini flowers—traditional antipasti—come delicately fried in fresh oil. Pastas are fresh, gnocchi and gnochetti cooked to the perfect balance between firm and soft. The gnochetti with ragu di pesce combines the elements of fresh potato pasta, pale, slightly cooked tomato sauce and subtle seafood flavours.

Unlike many of Rome's restaurants, the secondi at Paris maintain the quality and flavour tasted in the primi. Mazancole (a kind of prawn) with a brandy sauce, beef strips with a strong porcini mushroom sauce surrounded by a bed of fresh arugula, cod fish, roast beef (stracotto di manzo) with a red wine reduction, and scallopina with porcini have all proven excellent.

Ristorante PierluigiAmbiance/Service ***

Food **

Overall **

Price **Piazza de Ricci, 144 Tel 06 688 07879www.pierluigi.it

At the top of our list in all respects: excellent ambiance & service, superlative Italian cuisine

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with innovative touches, upscale décor, and a praiseworthy wine program. Each visit to Pierluigi happens by chance, as we stroll down the Via Monserrato, and we recall how much we liked the last visit.

Facing the Piazzaa de Ricci, with seasonal outdoor dining, inside Pierluigi exudes relaxed elegance, with soft tones, brick arch doorways between dining rooms, and fine modern art. As seems to be the case with all great Roman restaurants, the family of the owners is ever present, the father greeting you as you walk in, the son chatting with guests, and the mother strolling through the dining rooms with a warm smile and vigilant eye for all. Skilled waiters dressed in black, multilingual, informed, and professional will provide sage advice on daily specials and recommendations from the robust menu. Seafood is unsurpassed. A tuna tartar showed off the succulent flavours of the pink, very fresh tonno, served on a bed of diced apples with a sprinkle of sesame. The eggplant with buffalo milk ricotta and the Catalan seafood salad, both excellent. The latter exuded robust, clean flavors of warm shrimp, squid, clams, and potato just sauteed with savoury olive oil, salt, on a bed of arugula and cherry tomatoes.

Home made pasta with tuna, capers, peperoncini, and black olives: unsurpassed. The risotto a la pescatora, creamy tomato and crustacean sauce, with a couple of whole shrimp tossed in for good measure and flavour. Other classics include Spaghetti alle vongole veraci and a wide selection of fresh fish prepared to your liking.

The wine list results from years of experience in selecting the best from all of Italy's regions, with every selection served by the white shirted sommelier, who also advises every patron, pairing with the food ordered. The list also includes a section of red and white half bottles, perfect for lunch for 2.

Desserts are excellent.

Ristorante al PompiereAmbiance/Service *

Food 0

Overall 0

Price **Via S. Maria dei Calderari, 38 Tel. 6 686 8377

Having sampled the popular Pompiere's food and service periodically over 8 years, the latest

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judgement is not favourable. A Jewish Ghetto restaurant listed in numerous guidebooks and also popular with locals, the ambiance is unique--2nd

floor rooms with very high ceilings, stark white walls, fading artwork, and huge street-light lamps lending an overly-lit ambiance to everything. Families and business people at times fill the three halls—for lack of a better word—awaiting carciofi a la giudia, fiori di zucca, and cod fish.

At its best Prompiere satisfies with character and good food. The classic antipasti are very good. There's no better place for carciofi alla giudia. Service is somewhat clinical.

However, our latest encounter—and we were going back based on previous experiences, because we wanted to—failed miserably to impress, except in negative ways.

Other than the appetizers—which remained good to excellent—the food we received ranked from poor to middling. We appeared to be the only table ordering the highly recommended “daily special” Zuppa di pesce. The seafood risotto turned out to be asparagus risotto, and arrived undercooked and dry. Both pasta dishes came to the table a bit too much more than al dente,

glomming onto teeth like glue. The accompanying sauces lacked any depth or richness.

The Zuppa was a display piece, with good fresh seafood flavor, but impossible to eat—with so many tiny bones in the chunks of fish it was like chomping down on a pin cushion. Eggplant Parmesan was middling and overcooked—no attempt to be anything special.

The waiter and the kitchen argued with us over sending the undercooked risotto back, with the Bengali waiter who spoke good English two seconds earlier suddenly switching to rapid, accented Italian. After a little delay, he informed us that the risotto was fine because other tables were eating it.

Settimio (al Pantheon)Ambiance/Service *

Food 0

Overall 0

Price *Via delle Colonnelle, 14, Tel. 06 6789651

• This family-run trattoria is the closest eatery to our apartment at Piazza Capranica, not far from the Pantheon. A first visit last year had forged in

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our minds the idea of returning specifically in late Fall to sample the pasta with white truffle. The ambiance is charming enough, Roman style, and the food we tried was decent, though not spectacular. However, the white truffle dish appeared heavenly when we saw it served by the owner to an adjoining table of two distinguished-looking Italian gentleman who had come specifically for this dish.

We reserved the day before for 9 p.m. on a Saturday night and specifically asked if white truffles would be available. Of Course!

We arrived exactly on time to find a line consisting of several couples. No one was asking if anyone had reservations, and there was no book or list in sight. At least 4 different staff members asked us how many we were, but to no avail. They seated 3 couples ahead of us, even after we told 2 different members of the Settimio clan including the peripatetic owner, that we had reserved the day before. We waited between 10 & 15 minutes for a table, standing in the dining area looking into the kitchen (and watched the cook throw a dirty door mat onto the floor without washing her hands afterwards).

The restaurant was full, but obviously the management's intent was to cram as many people in as possible, service be damned. Fill the tables! Indeed, we expected some slowness, however service dragged even by Roman trattoria on a Saturday night standards. We finally received our wine, water, and bread and ordered, including--of course--the white truffle tagliolini. No problem.

The waiter did inform us that the grileld porcini mushrooms and the fresh wild mushroom salad we

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wanted were not available, so with disappointment we ordered a mixed salad and an anitpasti plate. After another long wait, the waiter appeared with the appetizers, which failed miserably; both a disgrace to Italian cuisine with its usual emphasis on freshness and bright flavour. The salad came limp and barely dressed; the antipasti with burnt beans and crusty polenta that had been wrenched of moisture by too much time out on the kitchen counter. Far from superlative. But . . . we were waiting attentively, expectantly for the pasta. After an hour and twenty minutes at Settimio, the waiter arrived with a bowl of tagliolini, a bowl of grated Parmesan, and a spoon. No white truffles, he said, kind of timidly hiding the pasta dish behind his back. On top of the tagliolini were . . . black truffles. We told the waiter this was unacceptable and he disappeared to deal with another unhappy table receiving a wrong order. He then finally went to the kitchen and hid out before returning to tell us there was absolutely no white truffle pasta available.

We immediately demanded the check and decided it was time to inform him about the true quality of the antipasti. He disappeared again and returned about 5 minutes later with il conto. No offer was made to reduce the bill after we had wasted 1.5 hours waiting for a house speciality the restaurant had promised to deliver. We assembled at the cash register to find the same waiter writing up tickets. Not even lifting his head, he intended for us to wait yet longer to take the credit card, scribbling away at a little desk with the credit card machine by his arm. Irate, to say the least, we demanded in broken Italian and fluent Spanish that he take the card and let us pay without further delay. The owner intervened and converted from the charming characteristic host to an unapologetic and argumentative old man. No white truffles today, he said. The best thing he did was dramatically crumple up the bill an waive his arm for us to leave, which we happily did, seeking out a still-open Chinese restaurant at 11 p.m., an evening ruined.

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--Write down your reservations and honour them--Don't take guests with no reservations before guests with reservations--Great and acknowledge guests when they walk in the door --Inform diners at the outset about what is not available that's printed on the menu--Don't take an order for white truffle tagliolini--the most expensive item on the menu and the house speciality-- and then wait more than an hour, when the dish is to be served, to tell your client that you're out--Be courteous, apologize, and make a gesture to keep your guests happy when a mistake occurs Settimio is unlikely to learn these lessons, but other restaurateurs might.

La Taverna del GhettoAmbiance/Service *

Food *

Overall *

Price **Via del Portico d'Ottavia, 7b-8 Tel. 06 68 809774La Taverna offers variable service and is popular with tourists, who can choose from amongst several Jewish restaurants in the former Ghetto area. This is the most Kosher, which can result in an interesting meal, at times sacrificing robust flavor for religious orthodoxy. Wines are all kosher,

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and do not ask for a cappucino!

The kitchen pulls off pasta dishes without difficulty—but remember there will be no cheese. The Tonnarelli con carciofi e scaglie di bottarga di muggine has at times passed muster, but at others paled in comparison with other bottarga (dried tuna eggs) flavoured pastas in this city (like that at La Campana). The Baccalà alla vecchia storia counts among the best cod dishes in Rome, and carries so much traditional and historical weight, it demands probing. The grilled meat platter is, by contrast, mediocre. The Jewish style artichokes and the stuffed zucchini blossoms both satisfy the palate, but are relatively dear, and other restaurants like Pompieri surpass La Taverna with these classic dishes.

This is not a value restaurant: prices are high for what you get.

Quinzi & GabrieliAmbiance/Service ***

Food **

Overall ***

Price ***Via delle Coppelle 5-6 Tel. 06 6879389

Among the most celebrated seafood restaurants in Rome, Quinzi & Gabrieli leaves an indelible memory of gustatory enjoyment in a smoothly run establishment.

The ambiance of the restaurant exudes an effort at aesthetic elegance. The room you take your seat in will determine the tone and feel. Quinzi has even given the rooms mood names: Sunrise at Portofino, Sunset at Capri, and Night-time at Elba. Frescoes, painted by stage design students from the Academy of Fine arts, cover 100 square metres of the restaurant using methods from the eighteenth century.

Though some reviewers have encountered less than refined service, we found everyone courteous and informed, to the point of making suggestions about courses and quantity of food that enhanced the meal. The wine list comes good and pricey, but so does the restaurant. Our shaved artichoke appetizer perfectly balanced the earthy, sweet, and bitter of carciofi with the opulent acidity of extra virgin oil. The pasta dishes count among the best we've encountered in Italy, demonstrating subtlety and complexity.

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Disappointingly unavailable according to the maître d'hôtel: two of the famous dishes we had wanted--spaghetti with lobster and a squid's ink pasta.

Romans go to Quinzi for fresh seafood, and the platters of raw and cooked crustaceans are truly amazing assemblies served on gigantic platters. The secondi we devoured cannot be falted, but the primi piatti were the real stars.

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Cafes, Markets, Wine Stores & Enoteca

2 Outdoor Food Markets & 1 Bakery

We recommend and frequent two food & vegetable markets in historic Rome: that at Campo dei Fiori and, in Trastevere, at Piazza San Cosimato.

Even in just the past decade, the Campo dei Fiori market has become much more touristy, and the vendors have higher prices. So be forewarned. Nevertheless, this market is charming and picturesque, overseen by the towering sculpture of Giordno Bruno. The ingredients available here represent superb quality and diversity.

Also here is Forno de' Fiori Campo dei Fiori, 22 Tel. 06 688 06662an excellent and extremely popular bakery offering traditional Roman breads and baked goods. The green olive bread (pane alle olive) is mouth watering.

The market at San Cosimato has better prices and fewer tourists, but less variety. A visit here also affords one stops at Innocenzi G & G and Il Tortellino (see below).

Cafes, Wine Stores & Enoteca

Antico Caffe della PaceVia della Pace, 3-4-5-7, tel. 06 6861216

Great place to have coffee or glass of wine.

BucconeVia di Ripetti 19-20 Tel. 06 3612154Mostly enoteca, part cafe, and boasting a nice selection of speciality food products and liquors, you'll find Buccone a short distance from the Piazza del Popolo. The walls are lined with shelves stacked high with selections of vini from across Italy--including a good section on local Lazio produce. Wines are well selected and advice

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knowledgeable and precise.

Per BaccoVia Pie di Marmo 34 Tel. 06 699 22186There's a big stone foot, the Pie di Marmo, left over from a gigantic statue belonging to a temple dedicated to Isis and Serapis, which gives its name to a small street near Santa Maria sopra Miverva (Pantheon). Here we have several times stopped at Per Bacco, an enoteca of sufficient size to give rise to an interesting selection of wines, without being overwhelming or stuffy. The owner has chosen carefully from all over Italy, with most selections well over 10 euros a bottle. The shop also has some olive oils and vinegars.

Caffe Doria di Ottavio RossettiVia della Gatta, 1/A, Tel. 06 679 3805

An elegant tea room that also serves wine by the glass, sweets, and snacks is located inside the magnificent Palazzo Pamphilj Doria—hard to beat this locale.

Enoteca Il VinaioVia dei Potoghesi, 5 Tel. 06 6897 4068iL ViNAiO has the best selection of wines for under 12 euros a bottle we have seen in central Rome, as

well as an excellent assortment of grappas, alcohols, and liqueurs. Like most enoteca, it also has bottled sauces and condiments, as well as biscotti and other sweets. It has become our favourite for daily wine purchases. The owner gladly provides advice and will choose within your price range. Bottles we have seen in other shops for 16 euros are 13 euros here.

We've never had a bad wine from Il Vinaio!

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Food Shops

Antica Norcineria dal 1886Via della Scofra, 100 Tel 06 688 01074Yet another great food store in this epicurean corner of Rome, also containing a butcher shop is Antica Norcineria. Everything here is high quality (with prices to match) and well chosen. Dried pastas, dried porcini, meat products, prosciutto of the highest order, lentils, buffalo mozzarella & other cheeses, truffles & truffle products, wines.

Filli Fabbi dal 1937Via della Croce, 27-28 Tel 06 6790612An excellent shop for cheeses, including pecorino with truffles, as well as fresh truffles and truffle pastes and oils. Fabbi offers high quality Italian sausages and hams as well.

Mozzarella ManiaPiazza D'Aracoeli, 14 Tel. 06 97840388 or 06 6783780A longstanding favourite among the numerous Roman food shops that carry a bit of everything--meats, cheeses, bottled & canned goods, wine, truffles, dried pasta, etc.--is Mozzarella Mania. This elegant shop displays what is obviously the result of serious food appreciation and selection.

The wine section in the back can be counted on to provided lots of sybaritic enjoyment. And don't hesitate to ask for assistance.

ValzaniVia del Moro, 37 Tel. 06 5803 792An excellent and longstanding pastry and sweets shop in Trastevere is Valzani. True Sacher Torte, pralines with peperoncino, cannoli, and traditional Roman cookies are all present.

Innocenzi G & GPiazza San Cosimato, 66 Trastevere, Tel. 06581 2725

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Another habitual stop in Trastevere near the outdoor market is Innocenzi G & G, a speciality dry goods store with plenty of hot sauces, olive oils, vinegars, dried pastas, flours, and sweets to make it worth a trip across the Tiber. We first entered its doors 9 years ago, and it hasn't changed a bit. Try the olive oil from Sabina and the Crema di peperoncini.

Il TortellinoVia L. Santini 18/A, Trastevere, Tel. 06581 2733Profumo e sappori della pasta fatta in casa

Having settled in to the apartment just off Piazza Capranica in central Rome, two stone's throws from the Pantheon, we returned today to the old culinary haunt of Trastevere. The first mission, to visit the market there in the square next to the famous seafood restaurant Alberto Ciarla and then to hunt down the pasta shop nearby where once we drooled over golden squares of ravioli rounds of orecchiette. The market was there sure enough, brimming with fresh vegetables, herbs, and fruit, but alas the plain pasta shop with the plate glass window and fluorescent lights has vanished.

A quick enquiry turned up another shop--smaller

but nicer--called Il Tortellino where the signora behind the counter made up a 1/2 kilo selection of 4 different pastas. Truly artisan creations, this shop leaves nothing desired except a return in a couple of days to try four more types.

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Kitchen Stores

House & KitchenVia del Plebiscito, 103 Tel. 06 6794208Searching for some kitchen tools, pots, or dishware to bring back home? Need a pan or chef's knife to augment the horrible selection in your vacation rental? Check out House & Kitchen, a cooking store founded in 1886 and still going strong. Located very close to the Piazza Venezie on the Via del Plebescito, right across the street from the Venezie museum. The shop usually has good deals, and always seems to have a nice selection of espresso machines. Flatware, dish sets, copper & stainless pots, knives, pasta machines, and lot of kitchen gadgets will keep you musing about the possibilities for culinary creativity.

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About the Authors

Vaughn Perret & Charles Leary have worked in the food world for nearly 20 years. Currently the chef/proprietors of Trout Point Lodge of Nova Scotia, a Relais & Chateaux property, they have taught cooking & food in Canada, Costa Rica, and Spain.

Co-authors of The Trout Point Lodge Cookbook: Creole Cuisine from New Orleans to Nova Scotia (Random House), various publications have sought out their recipes, including Food & Wine, Harrowsmith Country Life, South Shore Tastes, and the New Orleans Times-Picayune.

Before becoming innkeepers, Perret & Leary practised sustainable agriculture at Chicory Farm in Louisiana, where they cultivated organic produce, sourced wild foods, and made European style cheeses. They were inducted into the French Guilde des fromagers in 1994.

They have visited Rome on various trips over the last decade, and lived there in 2008.

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