Perilli on the via Marmorata is located in Testaccio, a hill built of ancient Roman pottery shards. Perilli serves what has to be the best pasta carbonara in town. It is rich and full of flavor. Testaccio was, in the not so distant past, the site of Roman slaughter houses, and animal offal - the quinto quarto, or fifth quarter (the carcases of animals were cut up into quarters and the less desirable fifth quarter went to the workers - the prime pieces went to the aristocrats) are typically served in the local restaurants; try Perilli's pasta alla pajata, still-milk filled calf intestines. Perilli waiters are courteous, competent and friendly, and seem to be of another time, as does the restaurant. And there are very few tourists.
Next door to Perilli is Volpetti, an exceptional delicatessen with delicious hams, salami, cheese and prepared foods. Comfortably seated, you can eat the prepared dishes around the corner at Volpetti's tavola calda on the via Alessandro Volta. And before lunch, and after Volpetti, you can visit the Testaccio covered market, almost free of tourists.
La Campana, on the vicolo de la Campana, is said to be Rome's oldest restaurant, once frequented by Michelangelo. It is always full of both Italians and tourists. Try the artichoke cooked in the Jewish fashion, deliciously crisp for it is fried twice. Also have the delicious ravioli stuffed with artichokes and served in a tomato sauce.
Armando al Pantheon, right by the Pantheon, has become too well known. It was written up as one of the best "bistros" in Rome in the Nespresso magazine, and so has become too famous, but the food is very good. I love the tagliatelle with chicken livers.
All three restaurants serve puntarelle, a seasonal salad, with anchovies and olive oil. Puntarelle is quite chewy and most unusual. When I ate at Armando yesterday there were more tourists than locals.
I went to Naples for the day and ate lunch in what has to be one of the most delightful restaurants in Italy. Full of locals, I was the only tourist. I found the restaurant a few years ago by asking a local artisan where he ate. The Cantina degli Antichi Sapori, via Santa Lucia (remember the song?), is located near the sea in sight of Vesuvius. I started with a freshly-made-that-day mozzarella, creamy and full of milk, with sliced fresh tomatoes, basil, and a few leaves of arugula. I asked for salt and the waiter forbade me to use salt on mozzarella - only pepper and olive oil. Then spaghetti alla vongole, little clams, little tomatoes, garlic, and hot red pepper flakes. And a bottle of Lacryma di Christi, a fruity, flavorful white wine from the region of Vesuvius. Everyone is very friendly. On the other side of the room is the salumeria, where you can buy all kinds of hams, sausages, and cheese, as well as wine and the world's best dried pasta, Setaro, made just outside of Naples, and rolled between bronze plates, which makes any sauce adhere better to the pasta than it would to pasta rolled in stainless steel. Here a kilo of the pasta costs less than 4€; in Avignon it costs more than 16€. If you have a craving while you are in Rome for the vanilla cream filled, slightly chewy, multi layered Neopolitan pastry called sfogliatelle, go to Il Fornaio on the via dei Baullari, near the Campo di Fiori.
Where do I stay in Rome? Always at the Hotel Due Torri, a small three star hotel of charm, on the vicolo del Leonetto, named after the well-worn stone lion on the facade. The building dates from the 17th century. In the 18th century it became home to various cardinals, one of whom went on to become Pope Leo no-one-knows-what number. When the cardinals left for the Vatican, the hotel became a bordello and remained one until 1953, when the bordellos were closed by law. The hotel, in a very chic, quiet and calm part of Rome, is a ten minute walk from the Piazza Navona, the Pantheon, and the Piazza de Espagna. The staff are especially friendly and helpful and all of them speak English. And the rooms are lovely, even if some of them are small. Those on the top floor have terraces. You can see a photo of Mme. Giordani, the owner of the hotel, with Chouchou, her chihuahua, who goes everywhere with her. The hotel welcomes dogs.
And November is a fine time to visit Rome, for it is porcini mushroom season - they are enormous - and the restaurants grill them and even add them to pizza.
Now I have a new favorite restaurant, La Berninetta, recommended to me by Mme. Giordani, who told me the best pizza, with a paper thin crust, was at Berninetta. I wouldn't know, for I had salt cod fried in a light and crispy batter, a dish whose origins are in the Roman Jewish tradition. There is a splendid spread of antipasti and desserts. The owner and his son are eager to see that you are happy in their restaurant. La Berninetta is just across the Tiber from the hotel, on the via Pietro Cavallini, named aftter a 13th century fresco painter whose work you can see in Santa Cecilia in Trastavere. The son told me that it was a "simple kitchen"; it is certainly a delicious one. Last night in Rome and I returned to La Berninetta where I began with antipasti - white beans, porcini in olive oil, anchovies, various cooked greens, fried eggplant, roasted red and yellow peppers, an artichoke alla Romana this time, cooked onions - at this point I had to stop - and an exceptionally good pizza margherita made with bufala.
A note on coffee in Rome: Both the Caffé Greco, near the Spanish steps, and the Caffé Sant'Eustachio near the Pantheon, have excellent coffee, but do as the Romans do and drink your coffee standing up at the bar. You will pay far less than if you sit at a table and you will avoid the tourists.
Notes on the photographs. The top photo - look at those arichokes - is of the antipasti - before they are all out on the table - at La Berninetta. The third photo is of the Hotel Due Torri; you can see the well worn little lion. And the bottom photo is of a window at Volpetti.
No comments:
Post a Comment