My First (and probably last) Taste of Donkey and Other Culinary Highlights: A trip Report of Rome, Florence and Venice.
May 28th, 2007, 12:19 PM
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I'm really enjoying this report. I'm usually more anxious to read about Paris, but this is great. I was in Italy about eight years ago, Rome, Florence, and Venice and the only place that really "grabbed" me was Venice. Your report is making me re-think this.
May 28th, 2007, 12:46 PM
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I'm so enjoying writing this report, reliving all the great food! Here's the next installment:
The next day was Vatican day. I’ll write more about our experience there later in the report and stick to food for now. We spent the morning in Vatican City and then walked about 15 minutes to another of Franco’s wonderful recommendations, Osteria del Angelo, via G. Bettolo, 24 Prati 06-372-94-70. Here’s a quote from Franco about this restaurant: “– My favourite restaurant is a simple, casual, rustic osteria serving hearty, ingeniously prepared food: surprise!, as this is normally Rome's worst area for eating out). The owner is a former (famous!) football player, and the waiters are his like, so the social graces there may seem a little rude. This is one of the last osterie in Rome where you're getting a set menu in the evening, which doesn't exist in any written form; you can't choose much, you're getting whatever they have prepared for you (there is a choice between two or three pasta courses, and sometimes between two main courses, they'll tell you by word of mouth). You can't skip a course. You can't choose the wine, it's included in the price, and it's their house wine. Everyone pays the same price (25 Euros per person for dinner, which is incomparably cheap for a four-courses-dinner in Rome). And if you're ordering a coffee after your meal, it will come already sweetened TO THEIR TASTE. All this may be strange, but the food is simply gorgeous; for me, it's maybe Rome's best kitchen.”
END QUOTE
We would have loved to come here for dinner, but it didn’t make sense since it’s in an area we wouldn’t be in except for the day we visited the Vatican, so lunch it was.
We had a reservation for 1:00 and we were seated outdoors on a very quiet, neighborhood street. Every table was filled by 1:30 with a mix of tourists and what looked liked local businessmen. The service was quite perfunctory, but the food was delicious. I had the pasta carbonara, rich and eggy (the eggs are extremely yellow in Italy!) with a delicious bacon flavor throughout and DH had gnocchi with baby clams, totally fresh, lots of clams in their shells and also delicious.
We had passed an incredible looking bakery on the walk to the restaurant so we decided to get dolce there. Our lunch, with house wine for one and a bottle of water was 23.50.
There were amazing bakeries all over the place and I took a lot of pictures of pastry. DH calls it food porn! Italian pastry varies greatly from bakery to bakery, some focusing mostly on cookies and the drier, harder kinds of dolce while a few have a wide selection of cream and custard and cheese filled pastries. The bakery on the main road around the corner from Angelo’s had everything and is worth seeking out, in my opinion. It’s called Dolce Maniera, located on Di A. Giuseppe Sgro U. Barletta, 27. We bought 3 outrageous pastries: A cream horn: crispy laters of pastry shaped in a horn surrounding orange flavored pastry cream, a cheese filled croissant, light and flaky pastry filled with dense, sweet ricotta cheese, and a nuttella mille foglie, layers of flaky puff pastry filled with nuttella and frosted with chocolate icing. 2.80 E for all three! We took them up Giancolo Hill and had a pastry picnic overlooking all of Rome! Pure heaven!
The next day was Vatican day. I’ll write more about our experience there later in the report and stick to food for now. We spent the morning in Vatican City and then walked about 15 minutes to another of Franco’s wonderful recommendations, Osteria del Angelo, via G. Bettolo, 24 Prati 06-372-94-70. Here’s a quote from Franco about this restaurant: “– My favourite restaurant is a simple, casual, rustic osteria serving hearty, ingeniously prepared food: surprise!, as this is normally Rome's worst area for eating out). The owner is a former (famous!) football player, and the waiters are his like, so the social graces there may seem a little rude. This is one of the last osterie in Rome where you're getting a set menu in the evening, which doesn't exist in any written form; you can't choose much, you're getting whatever they have prepared for you (there is a choice between two or three pasta courses, and sometimes between two main courses, they'll tell you by word of mouth). You can't skip a course. You can't choose the wine, it's included in the price, and it's their house wine. Everyone pays the same price (25 Euros per person for dinner, which is incomparably cheap for a four-courses-dinner in Rome). And if you're ordering a coffee after your meal, it will come already sweetened TO THEIR TASTE. All this may be strange, but the food is simply gorgeous; for me, it's maybe Rome's best kitchen.”
END QUOTE
We would have loved to come here for dinner, but it didn’t make sense since it’s in an area we wouldn’t be in except for the day we visited the Vatican, so lunch it was.
We had a reservation for 1:00 and we were seated outdoors on a very quiet, neighborhood street. Every table was filled by 1:30 with a mix of tourists and what looked liked local businessmen. The service was quite perfunctory, but the food was delicious. I had the pasta carbonara, rich and eggy (the eggs are extremely yellow in Italy!) with a delicious bacon flavor throughout and DH had gnocchi with baby clams, totally fresh, lots of clams in their shells and also delicious.
We had passed an incredible looking bakery on the walk to the restaurant so we decided to get dolce there. Our lunch, with house wine for one and a bottle of water was 23.50.
There were amazing bakeries all over the place and I took a lot of pictures of pastry. DH calls it food porn! Italian pastry varies greatly from bakery to bakery, some focusing mostly on cookies and the drier, harder kinds of dolce while a few have a wide selection of cream and custard and cheese filled pastries. The bakery on the main road around the corner from Angelo’s had everything and is worth seeking out, in my opinion. It’s called Dolce Maniera, located on Di A. Giuseppe Sgro U. Barletta, 27. We bought 3 outrageous pastries: A cream horn: crispy laters of pastry shaped in a horn surrounding orange flavored pastry cream, a cheese filled croissant, light and flaky pastry filled with dense, sweet ricotta cheese, and a nuttella mille foglie, layers of flaky puff pastry filled with nuttella and frosted with chocolate icing. 2.80 E for all three! We took them up Giancolo Hill and had a pastry picnic overlooking all of Rome! Pure heaven!
May 28th, 2007, 04:58 PM
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Dinner that evening was at La Tartaruga, via del Monte della Farina (06 686 9473) That's a small street that starts next to the church of St Andrea della Valle, immediately south of Corso Vittorio Emmanuelle, near the Pantheon/Piazza Navona area.
This restaurant came highly recommended by many foodie sites, including many recs from Fodors. It was a tiny place with only about 10 tables. I had reserved for 9:00 PM and expected the place to be packed but it was almost empty. All evening only 4 tables filled and one woman, who spoke almost no English, did all the table service. The menu was all in Italian.
I started with the best pasta of the entire trip: Tagliatella e tartuffo. This pasta was creamy, perfectly al dente, and the flavor and aroma of the truffles were exquisite. It was a generous portion but I could have easily devoured twice as much! DH started with carciofo alla Romano con fonduta formaggio. The artichoke was cooked to perfection and smothered in good olive oil and delicious melted cheese. For secondi I ordered veal scallopini with lemon and wine sauce with spinach. The veal was tender, the sauce completely different than that at Lemani in Pasta but equally delicious. Unfortunately, the spinach was disgusting. Unedible, actually. It tasted like canned spinach that had been boiled for 4 or 5 hours. If I had better Italian and felt more comfortable, I would have complained, but I didn’t. I just left it uneaten on my plate.
DH had broiled sirloin with Trevasano chicory, which was delicious and cooked perfectly rare. We passed on dolce but had two espressos. With house wine for one, the bill was 87.50 E (25.50 for the truffle pasta, worth every bit!) I would recommend this restaurant with some reservations. Everything but the spinach was quite good, but that spinach really was off-putting
We walked back to Trastevere and found great gelato at La Fonte Della Salute, via Cardinale Marmaggi 2. I had dark chocolate and profiterole (vanilla ice cream with profiteroles and chocolate swirl) and DH had nutella swirl and strachiatella (chocolate chip.) This was excellent gelato, although not quite as good as Giolitti.
Another installment tomorrow I hope!
This restaurant came highly recommended by many foodie sites, including many recs from Fodors. It was a tiny place with only about 10 tables. I had reserved for 9:00 PM and expected the place to be packed but it was almost empty. All evening only 4 tables filled and one woman, who spoke almost no English, did all the table service. The menu was all in Italian.
I started with the best pasta of the entire trip: Tagliatella e tartuffo. This pasta was creamy, perfectly al dente, and the flavor and aroma of the truffles were exquisite. It was a generous portion but I could have easily devoured twice as much! DH started with carciofo alla Romano con fonduta formaggio. The artichoke was cooked to perfection and smothered in good olive oil and delicious melted cheese. For secondi I ordered veal scallopini with lemon and wine sauce with spinach. The veal was tender, the sauce completely different than that at Lemani in Pasta but equally delicious. Unfortunately, the spinach was disgusting. Unedible, actually. It tasted like canned spinach that had been boiled for 4 or 5 hours. If I had better Italian and felt more comfortable, I would have complained, but I didn’t. I just left it uneaten on my plate.
DH had broiled sirloin with Trevasano chicory, which was delicious and cooked perfectly rare. We passed on dolce but had two espressos. With house wine for one, the bill was 87.50 E (25.50 for the truffle pasta, worth every bit!) I would recommend this restaurant with some reservations. Everything but the spinach was quite good, but that spinach really was off-putting
We walked back to Trastevere and found great gelato at La Fonte Della Salute, via Cardinale Marmaggi 2. I had dark chocolate and profiterole (vanilla ice cream with profiteroles and chocolate swirl) and DH had nutella swirl and strachiatella (chocolate chip.) This was excellent gelato, although not quite as good as Giolitti.
Another installment tomorrow I hope!
May 28th, 2007, 05:48 PM
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Report is great. I make my first trip to Italy in 3 weeks.....
Since my first two days are a Saturday and Sunday I'm a bit worried on what will be open or closed from everyone's list...
I'm sure we won't starve. We can live on Gelato it sounds like!
Since my first two days are a Saturday and Sunday I'm a bit worried on what will be open or closed from everyone's list...
I'm sure we won't starve. We can live on Gelato it sounds like!
May 29th, 2007, 05:35 AM
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GranthamMommy, we arrived on a Sunday. Lemani in Pasta in Trastevere is open and fantastic. Ask your hotel to make a reservation for you a couple days ahead!
Now back to my report!
The next day is Wednesday. We have a busy day of sightseeing and for lunch we grabbed food to go from a little corner place near P. San Giovanni in Laterno. Spinach pie, sold by the weight. It was delicious. We ate it on our walk to the coliseum. In the late afternoon, before our 5:00 PM reservation at Borghese Gallery, we were starving and we had a horrible, dry pastry bought from one of those deadly carts in the Borghese gardens. Whatever you do, don’t ever buy any food from those carts. 9 E for a water and 2 awful pastries! We didn’t realize that there is a rather nice little café right in the gallery that you can get refreshments from before your appointment time. We discovered it when we went to pick up our tickets 15 minutes before our reservation time and did have a coffee there before touring the museum. The pastries looked lovely and they had sandwiches too.
After the Borghese, we walked to our restaurant (with a stop at the Trevi fountain for an hour) for dinner at La Scalinata. It is located between the Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain on Via S. Andrea delle Fratte 32, Tel. # 06-69-94-20-67. Thanks to Girlspytravel for this great recommendation! The place has a lovely ambiance, very friendly and helpful staff and delicious food. We had a reservation for 9:00 and the place was packed with a mix of locals and tourists.
We started with stuffed zucchini blossoms, filld with mozzarella and anchovy, battered and deep fried. Crispy, oozing cheese, the salty fish flavor a perfect foil for the rich cheese. Absolutely yummy! For primi we had tagliatelli with wild boar sauce and cacio e pepe. The pasta with boar sauce was one of my favorite things that I ate on the whole trip. The sauce was slightly sweet with a meaty, tomato flavor and lovely chunks of boar meat, very tender and porky. You have to try this dish if you go to this restaurant. The pasta with pepper was also quite good, not as peppery as the one at Lemani in Pasta, but creamy and delicious.
For secondi we shared a huge plate of grilled liver with grilled eggplant, portabello mushrooms, arugula and balsamic vinegar. I’ve never had liver grilled before and it was fantastic. An amazing charcoal flavor but the liver remained tender and moist. A fantastic dish.
Dolce was a cherry crostini, too sweet for my taste, the cherry jam very thick inside a almond flavored, slightly dry crust. It would have been improved with a scoop of good vanilla gelato, but we were so full by this point it really didn’t matter. With house wine for one, a bottle of water and 2 espressos, the bill was 45.50 E! This was a wonderful meal and I highly recommend this place.
Now back to my report!
The next day is Wednesday. We have a busy day of sightseeing and for lunch we grabbed food to go from a little corner place near P. San Giovanni in Laterno. Spinach pie, sold by the weight. It was delicious. We ate it on our walk to the coliseum. In the late afternoon, before our 5:00 PM reservation at Borghese Gallery, we were starving and we had a horrible, dry pastry bought from one of those deadly carts in the Borghese gardens. Whatever you do, don’t ever buy any food from those carts. 9 E for a water and 2 awful pastries! We didn’t realize that there is a rather nice little café right in the gallery that you can get refreshments from before your appointment time. We discovered it when we went to pick up our tickets 15 minutes before our reservation time and did have a coffee there before touring the museum. The pastries looked lovely and they had sandwiches too.
After the Borghese, we walked to our restaurant (with a stop at the Trevi fountain for an hour) for dinner at La Scalinata. It is located between the Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain on Via S. Andrea delle Fratte 32, Tel. # 06-69-94-20-67. Thanks to Girlspytravel for this great recommendation! The place has a lovely ambiance, very friendly and helpful staff and delicious food. We had a reservation for 9:00 and the place was packed with a mix of locals and tourists.
We started with stuffed zucchini blossoms, filld with mozzarella and anchovy, battered and deep fried. Crispy, oozing cheese, the salty fish flavor a perfect foil for the rich cheese. Absolutely yummy! For primi we had tagliatelli with wild boar sauce and cacio e pepe. The pasta with boar sauce was one of my favorite things that I ate on the whole trip. The sauce was slightly sweet with a meaty, tomato flavor and lovely chunks of boar meat, very tender and porky. You have to try this dish if you go to this restaurant. The pasta with pepper was also quite good, not as peppery as the one at Lemani in Pasta, but creamy and delicious.
For secondi we shared a huge plate of grilled liver with grilled eggplant, portabello mushrooms, arugula and balsamic vinegar. I’ve never had liver grilled before and it was fantastic. An amazing charcoal flavor but the liver remained tender and moist. A fantastic dish.
Dolce was a cherry crostini, too sweet for my taste, the cherry jam very thick inside a almond flavored, slightly dry crust. It would have been improved with a scoop of good vanilla gelato, but we were so full by this point it really didn’t matter. With house wine for one, a bottle of water and 2 espressos, the bill was 45.50 E! This was a wonderful meal and I highly recommend this place.
May 29th, 2007, 07:52 AM
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All pastried are NOT created equal are they. I bought what looked to be a delicious big chocolate covered cookie at a bakery in Versailles to have for a snack later that night. I bit into it and my friend asked me how it was, and it was so dry I couldn't even answer her, all I could do is blow crumbs all over my bed. LOL But when you find the good ones, heaven could not be better.
May 29th, 2007, 09:40 AM
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The next day was our last full day in Rome and we originally had lunch reservations for Trattoria Monti but we changed our sight-seeing plans and wouldn’t be anywhere near that area so reluctantly decided to cancel that reservation. Next time in Rome, we’ll definitely go there, as it has been recommended so highly by so many travelers. Oh well. We ended up having the best lunch ever!
After spending the morning in the piazza del Popolo, we took the bus back to Torre Argentina, walked to our B&B for a pit stop and headed out to Testaccio to find Volpetti, (thanks Ekscrunchy!) the most wonderful meat and cheese market in Rome. Wehad planned to buy some thimngs to take home and get sandwishes for lunch. We walked in and were greeted warmly and immediately offered tastes of many different kinds of cheeses and meats. We bought 2 huge pieces of cheese, a pepper parmesan and a romano, both well aged and delicious, which they shrunk wrapped for us to take home, as well as some dried hot red peppers. We then ordered 2 sandwiches to take for lunch and let the guy who was waiting on us decide what to put in them. They were both on huge squares of the freshest foccaccia bread. One sandwich was a scrumptious Italian goat cheese and procuitto, and the other was creamed buffalo mozzarella and spicy salami. Yum.
He then gave us a map and told us that a short walk away was a great place to have a picnic. On the way to the orange tree garden overlooking a fabulous view of Rome, we would pass the keyhole view of St. Peters. We passed a great looking pasticceria, a few doors down from Volpetti and stopped and bought a cheese flled and an orange pastry cream filled pastry for our picnic.
It was a sharp walk up hill, but a beautiful day and we looked through the keyhole, found our way to the orange tree garden and ate those unbelievable sandwiches and pastry overlooking the city. We then walked on and saw an incredible rose garden, all in bloom, and ended up coming out at Circus Maximus. This whole afternoon was an unexpected highlight of the entire trip and I recommend anyone who is in Rome, take time for this experience. Volpetti closed just as we left at 2:00 PM. I think they close for mid-day, as many of the shops do, and I assume they reopen later in the afternoon.
Late in the afternoon we went looking for the gelato in Trastevere that Franco said was his favorite: Cecere on via di S. Francesco a Ripa, 20. There was no Cecere to be found and actually we couldn’t find anything that looked like # 20 on via. S.F a Ripa but a few doors down we found a tiny gelato place with a name I forget and I had the richest chocolate gelato ever with equally delicious pistachio. DH had stachiatella and nicciola. DH didn’t love his but I thought the chocolate was to die for.
After spending the morning in the piazza del Popolo, we took the bus back to Torre Argentina, walked to our B&B for a pit stop and headed out to Testaccio to find Volpetti, (thanks Ekscrunchy!) the most wonderful meat and cheese market in Rome. Wehad planned to buy some thimngs to take home and get sandwishes for lunch. We walked in and were greeted warmly and immediately offered tastes of many different kinds of cheeses and meats. We bought 2 huge pieces of cheese, a pepper parmesan and a romano, both well aged and delicious, which they shrunk wrapped for us to take home, as well as some dried hot red peppers. We then ordered 2 sandwiches to take for lunch and let the guy who was waiting on us decide what to put in them. They were both on huge squares of the freshest foccaccia bread. One sandwich was a scrumptious Italian goat cheese and procuitto, and the other was creamed buffalo mozzarella and spicy salami. Yum.
He then gave us a map and told us that a short walk away was a great place to have a picnic. On the way to the orange tree garden overlooking a fabulous view of Rome, we would pass the keyhole view of St. Peters. We passed a great looking pasticceria, a few doors down from Volpetti and stopped and bought a cheese flled and an orange pastry cream filled pastry for our picnic.
It was a sharp walk up hill, but a beautiful day and we looked through the keyhole, found our way to the orange tree garden and ate those unbelievable sandwiches and pastry overlooking the city. We then walked on and saw an incredible rose garden, all in bloom, and ended up coming out at Circus Maximus. This whole afternoon was an unexpected highlight of the entire trip and I recommend anyone who is in Rome, take time for this experience. Volpetti closed just as we left at 2:00 PM. I think they close for mid-day, as many of the shops do, and I assume they reopen later in the afternoon.
Late in the afternoon we went looking for the gelato in Trastevere that Franco said was his favorite: Cecere on via di S. Francesco a Ripa, 20. There was no Cecere to be found and actually we couldn’t find anything that looked like # 20 on via. S.F a Ripa but a few doors down we found a tiny gelato place with a name I forget and I had the richest chocolate gelato ever with equally delicious pistachio. DH had stachiatella and nicciola. DH didn’t love his but I thought the chocolate was to die for.
May 29th, 2007, 01:13 PM
#31
hi, plafield,
loving the report, especially the FOOD.
your report reminded me of one of he first meals we had in Rome, last year, when we wandered over into Trastevere, having decided that the queue at the vatican was far too long [on easter Tuesday, whod' have thought it?]
it started to rain, and we dashed into the first restaurant we found. as well as great food [can't remember now, except DS's grilled squid!] there was an irish weding party in one corner, and a local woman in the other, who proceeded to put away several large beers, and no food, in the time we were having lunch.
it had terrific atmosphere, and I'd certainly consider staying in Trastevere next time we go to Rome.
looking for ward to the rest of your report,
regards, ann
loving the report, especially the FOOD.
your report reminded me of one of he first meals we had in Rome, last year, when we wandered over into Trastevere, having decided that the queue at the vatican was far too long [on easter Tuesday, whod' have thought it?]
it started to rain, and we dashed into the first restaurant we found. as well as great food [can't remember now, except DS's grilled squid!] there was an irish weding party in one corner, and a local woman in the other, who proceeded to put away several large beers, and no food, in the time we were having lunch.
it had terrific atmosphere, and I'd certainly consider staying in Trastevere next time we go to Rome.
looking for ward to the rest of your report,
regards, ann
May 29th, 2007, 01:37 PM
#33
hi, hausman,
the yellow of the egg yolk is usually due to the feed. If the hens are free-range or have access to out doors, then they will be eating a mixed diet [worms, slugs, grubs,] as well as whatever grain or mash they are given.
however, some commercial chicken feed has something in it to make the yolks yellow, so it's not a guarrentee of their being free-range, unfortunately. somehow, though, they always taste better!
our hens just stopped laying [they naturally stop sometime during the year] and the new ones haven't started yet. I REALLY notice the difference with the ones I buy, even though they are advertised as "free range".
regards, ann
the yellow of the egg yolk is usually due to the feed. If the hens are free-range or have access to out doors, then they will be eating a mixed diet [worms, slugs, grubs,] as well as whatever grain or mash they are given.
however, some commercial chicken feed has something in it to make the yolks yellow, so it's not a guarrentee of their being free-range, unfortunately. somehow, though, they always taste better!
our hens just stopped laying [they naturally stop sometime during the year] and the new ones haven't started yet. I REALLY notice the difference with the ones I buy, even though they are advertised as "free range".
regards, ann
May 29th, 2007, 03:26 PM
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Plafield:
Thanks for your wonderful report!
We too are staying at the Arco del Lauro in October. I booked it after reading reviews on tripadvisor and on fodors. Your review makes me feel even better about the choice!
By the way, did you come from the airport to the hotel - if so, how did you get to the hotel?
Also, I love your food reports. We too are "foodies" and love to find great, though not outrageously expensive food. We'll use some of your restaurant recommendations as well.
Thanks again!
Carol
Thanks for your wonderful report!
We too are staying at the Arco del Lauro in October. I booked it after reading reviews on tripadvisor and on fodors. Your review makes me feel even better about the choice!
By the way, did you come from the airport to the hotel - if so, how did you get to the hotel?
Also, I love your food reports. We too are "foodies" and love to find great, though not outrageously expensive food. We'll use some of your restaurant recommendations as well.
Thanks again!
Carol
May 29th, 2007, 04:31 PM
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Carol, Lorenza arranged a taxi to pick up up at the airport in Rome for 35E. We walked out after picking up our luggage and a man was standing there with a card with our name on it and he drove us straight to the B&B. It was great! Ask Lorenza by email about it.
For all you folks waiting for the donkey, it's coming in Florence. By the way, Volpetti had fresh horse meat for sale, hanging with the other meats from the ceiling. Apparently there are plenty of people in Rome who stll enjoy a good piece of horse meat!
Now for the next installmant: That evening, or last in Rome, we decided to eat light and wanted pizza so we went to Dar Poeta in Tratstevere, touted as one of the best pizza places in Rome. NOT. It was jam packed, inside and out with a line of people waiting to get in but their reputation far exceeds the actual product.
I ordered a pizza of potato/sausage and mozzarella cheese and DH ordered smoked salmon/zucchini flowers and arugula. There were no zucchini flowers to be found under the mountain of arugula and very little salmon. On my pizza, there were only 5 little pieces of sausage. With one beer and a bottle of water the bill was 22E. They had charged us for bruchetta that we didn’t order but took it off our bill when we pointed it out.
Someone posted a link to an article on Fodors not long ago about the practice of some restaurants in Italy serving different food to the tourists than to the locals and I wondered if this was one of those places that cut corners for the tourist’s food. It’s hard to imagine that people would keep coming back to Dar Poeta if what was regularly served here was similar to what we got. If I was at home I would have definitely complained, but being a tourist and not speaking Italian, we just ate what we got and left quickly. I suppose some places count on that if they’re stiffing the tourists. But in general, they seemed way too busy to keep on top of what was happening and this was the only place during the whole vacation that brought us a bill before we asked for it.
Fortunately, we were happy to move on and made our way back to La Fonte Della Salute for more gelato, profiterole and nuttella swirl for me, pistachio and eggnog for DH. Sadly, the eggnog was a disgusting flavor, but I was happy to share mine and we went back to the B&B, fueled to pack for the next leg of our trip: Florence.
After an early morning train ride to Florence (more on that later) we checked into our B&B and headed out to find lunch. I had emailed back and forth a bit with someone from Fodors who had raved about a place called Il Ghibbelini, near the Duomo, saying the pasta, pizza, and calzones were to die for, so we set out to find it.
After getting terribly lost (more on that later as well!) we finally got ourselves parked at an outdoor table at Il Ghibellini. The address is Piazza S.P. Maggiore 8/9/10 and the phone number is 055.21.4424 They are closed on Wednesdays. The restaurant is in a 14th century building and the location is lovely but the food is just average. I ordered papparadelle with wild mushrooms and cream, rather bland needing a lot of extra cheese for flavor and DH had a calzone with ham, sausage, mozzarella, and mascarpone cheese. It had a very thin layer of tomato sauce baked on top but it could have used quite a bit more. It was tasty, but nothing special. With wine for one and a bottle of water the bill was 21 E. I would not recommend this place.
For all you folks waiting for the donkey, it's coming in Florence. By the way, Volpetti had fresh horse meat for sale, hanging with the other meats from the ceiling. Apparently there are plenty of people in Rome who stll enjoy a good piece of horse meat!
Now for the next installmant: That evening, or last in Rome, we decided to eat light and wanted pizza so we went to Dar Poeta in Tratstevere, touted as one of the best pizza places in Rome. NOT. It was jam packed, inside and out with a line of people waiting to get in but their reputation far exceeds the actual product.
I ordered a pizza of potato/sausage and mozzarella cheese and DH ordered smoked salmon/zucchini flowers and arugula. There were no zucchini flowers to be found under the mountain of arugula and very little salmon. On my pizza, there were only 5 little pieces of sausage. With one beer and a bottle of water the bill was 22E. They had charged us for bruchetta that we didn’t order but took it off our bill when we pointed it out.
Someone posted a link to an article on Fodors not long ago about the practice of some restaurants in Italy serving different food to the tourists than to the locals and I wondered if this was one of those places that cut corners for the tourist’s food. It’s hard to imagine that people would keep coming back to Dar Poeta if what was regularly served here was similar to what we got. If I was at home I would have definitely complained, but being a tourist and not speaking Italian, we just ate what we got and left quickly. I suppose some places count on that if they’re stiffing the tourists. But in general, they seemed way too busy to keep on top of what was happening and this was the only place during the whole vacation that brought us a bill before we asked for it.
Fortunately, we were happy to move on and made our way back to La Fonte Della Salute for more gelato, profiterole and nuttella swirl for me, pistachio and eggnog for DH. Sadly, the eggnog was a disgusting flavor, but I was happy to share mine and we went back to the B&B, fueled to pack for the next leg of our trip: Florence.
After an early morning train ride to Florence (more on that later) we checked into our B&B and headed out to find lunch. I had emailed back and forth a bit with someone from Fodors who had raved about a place called Il Ghibbelini, near the Duomo, saying the pasta, pizza, and calzones were to die for, so we set out to find it.
After getting terribly lost (more on that later as well!) we finally got ourselves parked at an outdoor table at Il Ghibellini. The address is Piazza S.P. Maggiore 8/9/10 and the phone number is 055.21.4424 They are closed on Wednesdays. The restaurant is in a 14th century building and the location is lovely but the food is just average. I ordered papparadelle with wild mushrooms and cream, rather bland needing a lot of extra cheese for flavor and DH had a calzone with ham, sausage, mozzarella, and mascarpone cheese. It had a very thin layer of tomato sauce baked on top but it could have used quite a bit more. It was tasty, but nothing special. With wine for one and a bottle of water the bill was 21 E. I would not recommend this place.
May 29th, 2007, 05:13 PM
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That evening we had a reservation at Il Guscio (thank you Ekscrunchy!) This turned out to be one our best meals and if you are in Florence you must eat here. It’s on the south side of the Arno in a neighborhood a little off the beaten path in the Oltrarno. Via dell' Orto, 49. phone: 055-22442 (closed Sundays and Mondays, only open for dinner.)
It was a lovely 30 minute walk from our B&B (we walked almost everywhere which allowed us to eat the way we did and not gain a pound over the whole vacation!)
The place is quite small and the staff is very friendly. Reservations are imperative as the place was completely full and they were turning people away. The night we were there, there was a party of 16, a big Italian family having a celebration dinner. Most of the patrons were locals with one party of tourists from England who were drinking a number of serious bottles of wine. The whole atmosphere was festive. Very casual, but festive.
We started with the house special antipasti, a plate with a wild mushroom terrine, a packet of robiola cheese baked in filo dough drizzled with real balsamic, and a slice of eggplant with tomato and mozzarella baked in a filo basket. Fantastic. We then had an order of bistecca Florentine. It’s sold by the weight here, a minimum of 1 K, (2.2 lbs) for 40 E. They brought out the piece of meat they were going to cook for us and what a gorgeous piece of beef it was. They cooked it perfectly rare, intense grilled flavor on the outside, tender and juicy inside. It was so good we almost finished this ridiculously huge piece of meat! We also had an order of spinach, the best spinach I’ve ever eaten, dripping good olive oil and redolent of garlic. Mmmm. I can still taste that dinner.
Il Gucio offered a number of very fine wines by the glass as opposed to just a house wine so my husband was able to have 2 glasses of a very special wine (I don’t drink alcohol) that were a perfect compliment to the steak.
Even after eating all this food, we managed to stuff in one dessert between us and it was scrumptious. It was fresh cooked pear and almond paste in puff pastry with a scoop of rich chocolate gelato all drizzled with a dark chocolate sauce. Two espressos were the perfect cap to a most wonderful meal. With a bottle of water the bill was 78 E. Highest recommendations for Il Guscio!
It was a lovely 30 minute walk from our B&B (we walked almost everywhere which allowed us to eat the way we did and not gain a pound over the whole vacation!)
The place is quite small and the staff is very friendly. Reservations are imperative as the place was completely full and they were turning people away. The night we were there, there was a party of 16, a big Italian family having a celebration dinner. Most of the patrons were locals with one party of tourists from England who were drinking a number of serious bottles of wine. The whole atmosphere was festive. Very casual, but festive.
We started with the house special antipasti, a plate with a wild mushroom terrine, a packet of robiola cheese baked in filo dough drizzled with real balsamic, and a slice of eggplant with tomato and mozzarella baked in a filo basket. Fantastic. We then had an order of bistecca Florentine. It’s sold by the weight here, a minimum of 1 K, (2.2 lbs) for 40 E. They brought out the piece of meat they were going to cook for us and what a gorgeous piece of beef it was. They cooked it perfectly rare, intense grilled flavor on the outside, tender and juicy inside. It was so good we almost finished this ridiculously huge piece of meat! We also had an order of spinach, the best spinach I’ve ever eaten, dripping good olive oil and redolent of garlic. Mmmm. I can still taste that dinner.
Il Gucio offered a number of very fine wines by the glass as opposed to just a house wine so my husband was able to have 2 glasses of a very special wine (I don’t drink alcohol) that were a perfect compliment to the steak.
Even after eating all this food, we managed to stuff in one dessert between us and it was scrumptious. It was fresh cooked pear and almond paste in puff pastry with a scoop of rich chocolate gelato all drizzled with a dark chocolate sauce. Two espressos were the perfect cap to a most wonderful meal. With a bottle of water the bill was 78 E. Highest recommendations for Il Guscio!
May 29th, 2007, 05:44 PM
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plafield: I am salivating waiting for the rest of the food report. I think I know where you are going with the donkey as we wandered into a place that served donkey when we were in Florence. Didn't like the atmosphere or the menu so we left before ordering our meal but we laugh to this day about the burro with polenta (ass and grits to those of us in the South) that we saw on the menu.
Bring on the next installment please.
Bring on the next installment please.
May 30th, 2007, 03:15 AM
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In the morning, our B&B sent us to a little café for our included coffee and pastry and it turned out to be a fabulous little place with the freshest cornetto and excellent espresso and cappuccino. It was a 2 minute walk from the Relais Grand Tour. It’s called Nabucco wine bar, located on via XXVII Aprile, 28. A great place for breakfast or a glass of wine and a snack later in the day. There are tables outside and also indoor seating and the owner is extremely friendly. Lots of locals having their coffee at the bar (it’s always less expensive if you don’t sit down) but ours was included in the cost of our room so we sat outside each morning and enjoyed our fresh pastry and coffee.
After an early morning visit to the Uffizi, we stopped at Riviore, an elegant bar patisserie across from Palazzo Vecchio on Piazza Signoria. It supposedly serves the best hot chocolate in Florence. It’s a great place for sitting outside and watching the people in the Piazza Signoria, and you pay for the privilege, but hey, it’s vacation and it was great to rest our feet after the museum and have fabulous people watching for an hour.
Neither DH nor I wanted hot chocolate so I had an espresso and he had a cappuccino and we shared an order of profiteroles, which were rich and delicious, a very generous serving! The bill was 15 E.
For lunch we had intended on trying Quatro Leoni for their famous pear and asparagas ravioli, but decided, after our stop at Riviore, to skip a sit down lunch and go to the Central Mercato and have one of Nerboni’s famous boiled beef sandwiches. What a great decision. We found their stall in the huge indoor food market and lined up to order our sandwiches. There’s a guy that stands there just slicing a huge hunk of boiled beef all day long! What a job. He slices it, slaps it onto a big, bulky roll and asks what kind of sauce you want. Both DH and myself had both sauces, a green pesto like sauce and a bright red hot pepper sauce that will cause smoke to come out of you orifices now and maybe a bit later too!
After you get your sandwich you find a seat at one of the 4 or 5 communal tables and dig in. The juice from the meat soaks into the bread and every bite is heaven. The two, huge mouth watering sandwiches were 4.50 E. They also had some delicious looking pasta dishes and wine and other beverages for sale. We bought a water to cool the heat of the pepper sauce. What a delicious lunch and fun experience.
After our sandwiches, we moved on to the Baroni booth to buy some goodies to take home. I wanted to buy some real balsamic vinegar and some good olive oil. We were treated to a vinegar tasting and bought some balsamic vinegar that was older than 35 years, sweet and thick and very special. 85 E for a little bottle, but worth very cento. We also bought some balsamic for salad dressing, a bottle of very special olive oil, a small jar of truffle honey to eat with the cheese we bought at Volpetti and at another booth I bought some dried porcini mushrooms.
It’s been wonderful to have brought these things home. Last night, our kids came home to see our pictures and hear about our trip and I made an antipasti plate of fresh roasted peppers, grilled Italian eggplant and zucchini, and arugala dressed with the great olive oil and salad balsamic. We had a plate of thin slices of the two delicious cheeses we bought, with Italian bread, truffle honey, and drizzles of the aged balsamic. Then I tried my hand making the pasta with black pepper. I couldn’t get that smooth creamy consistency we had in Italy but it still tasted great. It was such fun and a special treat to be able to share the food and the memories. My husband opened a bottle of wine he brought back from the trip and the party was complete. Almost like being there… well not really!
More coming soon!
After an early morning visit to the Uffizi, we stopped at Riviore, an elegant bar patisserie across from Palazzo Vecchio on Piazza Signoria. It supposedly serves the best hot chocolate in Florence. It’s a great place for sitting outside and watching the people in the Piazza Signoria, and you pay for the privilege, but hey, it’s vacation and it was great to rest our feet after the museum and have fabulous people watching for an hour.
Neither DH nor I wanted hot chocolate so I had an espresso and he had a cappuccino and we shared an order of profiteroles, which were rich and delicious, a very generous serving! The bill was 15 E.
For lunch we had intended on trying Quatro Leoni for their famous pear and asparagas ravioli, but decided, after our stop at Riviore, to skip a sit down lunch and go to the Central Mercato and have one of Nerboni’s famous boiled beef sandwiches. What a great decision. We found their stall in the huge indoor food market and lined up to order our sandwiches. There’s a guy that stands there just slicing a huge hunk of boiled beef all day long! What a job. He slices it, slaps it onto a big, bulky roll and asks what kind of sauce you want. Both DH and myself had both sauces, a green pesto like sauce and a bright red hot pepper sauce that will cause smoke to come out of you orifices now and maybe a bit later too!
After you get your sandwich you find a seat at one of the 4 or 5 communal tables and dig in. The juice from the meat soaks into the bread and every bite is heaven. The two, huge mouth watering sandwiches were 4.50 E. They also had some delicious looking pasta dishes and wine and other beverages for sale. We bought a water to cool the heat of the pepper sauce. What a delicious lunch and fun experience.
After our sandwiches, we moved on to the Baroni booth to buy some goodies to take home. I wanted to buy some real balsamic vinegar and some good olive oil. We were treated to a vinegar tasting and bought some balsamic vinegar that was older than 35 years, sweet and thick and very special. 85 E for a little bottle, but worth very cento. We also bought some balsamic for salad dressing, a bottle of very special olive oil, a small jar of truffle honey to eat with the cheese we bought at Volpetti and at another booth I bought some dried porcini mushrooms.
It’s been wonderful to have brought these things home. Last night, our kids came home to see our pictures and hear about our trip and I made an antipasti plate of fresh roasted peppers, grilled Italian eggplant and zucchini, and arugala dressed with the great olive oil and salad balsamic. We had a plate of thin slices of the two delicious cheeses we bought, with Italian bread, truffle honey, and drizzles of the aged balsamic. Then I tried my hand making the pasta with black pepper. I couldn’t get that smooth creamy consistency we had in Italy but it still tasted great. It was such fun and a special treat to be able to share the food and the memories. My husband opened a bottle of wine he brought back from the trip and the party was complete. Almost like being there… well not really!
More coming soon!
