Treebeard

I love puntarelle too. My Italian grandmother's vegetable garden always had several varieties of chicory and dandelion greens growing. I grew up on bitter greens.

Uma

We had a a delicious lunch at La Piazzetta a few years ago. It's on the corner of Via del Buon Consiglio and Vicolo del Buon Consiglio, near the Forum. Wonderful antipasto spread and
pastas.

julia_t

Just off the Piazza del Popolo is La Penna d'Oca on Via della Penna.

It serves good fresh fish. It is not particularly cheap - in 2007 we had the tasting menu at 55 euros a head, but it was about 7 courses and absolutely delicious.

They are know for their fabulous souffles, which you choose at the start of your meal - I had the lemon souffle with limoncello sauce - heavenly!

There doesn't seem to be a website but there are a couple of reviews here...

http://travel.yahoo.com/p-travelguid...a_d_oca_rome-i

tarquin

La Buca di Repetta
via di Repetta 36

not far from Piazza del Popolo, a classic trattoria, not expensive but everything done properly

primeranoche

The spelling is "Ripetta" (for little riverbank, ripa)

http://www.labucadiripetta.com/

tarquin

Oops - got it confused with Repetto shoes, also a favourite.

primeranoche

Sure you don't mean Gepetto? (Just kidding.)

By the way, puntarelle goes out of season by the end of Feburary, so if sarge56 find it on a menu during his/her trip in April/May, he/she should avoid it (and perhaps the restaurant entirely).

primeranoche

If you are still looking for recs near the Vatican, sarge56, I recommend (and so did the LA Times in 2008)

Sor'Eva in piazza della Rovere

bratsandbeer

Can't recommend any restaurants by the Vatican, however, we did stop in at one restaurant very close to the Vatican and had a bad experience. We didn't pay any attention that the prices weren't posted anywhere. We ordered and ended up with a huge bill. Since then I have read that some of the restuarants in that area do this. Be sure you know where you are going in the area of the Vatican and what the prices are. I don't mind paying a high price for something that is worth it but I don't like being ripped off.

annhig

hi sarge,

addressing you quest for restaurant recs near the colosseum, this is the place we came across when we were exhausted and very hungry after we had done the Dome of st. Peter's, the forum, and the colosseum, all before 2pm:

il bocconcino, via ostilia,23, 00184 rome. 06 77079175

it's between the colosseum and san pietro in vincoli - there were a few tourists, but mainly italians having a good time. we had a great starter of mixed antipasti and a salad, then lamb polpette [superior burgers as DS described them] and a sort of rolled rabbit that was very good, all with heaps of roast pots, followed by tiramisu, a terrific fondante chocolate, and a lovely zabaglione served with longues du chats, [thinking of you all the time I ate it, Maitaitom] all washed down with a very good lazio red at only €3.50 a glass. all this for €98 for three of us - and we didn't eat again all day! in fact, this was just about our most expensive meal, and none the worse for that.

i have other places that we went to that I could recommend but I'm keeping them for the trip report - there'll be no point in me writing it if i give everything away now!

keep up the good work,

regards, ann

PS - we never made cul de sac - we must have walked past it loads of times, but never even spotted it til the last day, when it was closed! gives me an excuse to go back though.

DeborahAnn

Sarge, when we stayed at the Nicolas Inn on via Cavour three restaurants we enjoyed that they recommended to us were in the Esquilino-Colosseum area

alle Carrette, a birreria-pizzeria
vicolo delle Carrette 14 near via Madonna dei Monti 95
open daily 19.00 alle 24.00

La Taverna dei Fori Imperiali
via Madonna dei Monti 16

and after two weeks of eating Italian food we visited

Baires-Ristorante Argentino
Via Cavour 315
where the lamb was delicious

I'd also love to see your google map of restuarants as we will be in Rome May 22 - 30th.

have a great trip, Deborah

sarge56

Thank you, thank you everyone! or should I say, "Grazie!"
DeborahAnn, I'd be happy to share the map. I just need your email address. Send to my email noted in post above.

Bratsandbeer- thanks for the heads up! I'm not inclined to eat anyplace that doesn't have prices listed... unless someone else is paying.

DeborahAnn- thanks for posting the hours. Hadn't thought of that, so I'm going to go back and see if I can find those for all my restaurants.

annhig- thanks. Sounds yummy!

Again, thanks all. Sure do appreciate it!

Marija

Not far from the Colosseum is Taverna dei Fori Imperiali, a great stop. For more details see:
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...ultry-rome.cfm

sarge56

Thanks all for your recommendations. For those of you who requested the map, I've sent it off. Please let me know if you don't receive it. Additionally, I have Il Fico iconed as a gelato place, it should be a restaurant. The special marking for Armando Al Pantheon was because I found it to be THE most recommended restaurant in all my browsings.

I hope you can add/edit to the map to please yourselves!

I will continue to check this posting, so if you have more recommendations or come upon this late, please do submit!

Grazie!

DeborahAnn

Paula, I'm so sorry could you please send me the map again. I just deleted it from my aol address because I didn't recognize the name Paula but I would have recognized sarge56, avid Fodorite that I am I'll send you another request. Sorry!! Deborah

iamq

The braised lamb hearts at Armando Al Pantheon were delicious. So was the fried scamorza (sp) cheese.

tarquin

Thanks for the map, Paula. I went into a sort of dream zooming into familiar areas. It must be eternal summertime in Rome, people are wearing sleeveless frocks.

wrenwood

bookmarking, great thread!

celticmoon

bookmarking also, for upcoming trip to Rome in April.

sarge56

celticmoon and wrenwood- if you'd like the google map with several dozen recommended restaurants on it, just email me at [email protected]. I'd be happy to share.