Cacio e pepe is a classic Roman dish as served at L’Hostaria Romana
John Mariani
I confess that I haven’t been to Rome since before the pandemic, and it is my intent to now return as soon as possible, not least to visit some of my favorite ristoranti and trattorieas well as check out new places. But here’s the thing about Rome’s restaurant scene: New, especially as novelty, is not particularly regarded highly, although there are a few young chefs pushing into modernist corners in search of Michelin stars (which usually results in half-full dining rooms). Ask a concierge what’s “new” in town and he is likely to recommend a place that opened five years ago.
Second, Roman restaurants tend not to change from year to year, even decade to decade, so that I always feel safe recommending a place I haven’t been to in a while with full confidence it will be every bit as good as I say it will be. Many are family owned, and even if it’s not the original family, another one bought it and maintains it.
ROME, ITALY – MAY 18: A waiter brings the pizzas to the people of the restaurant at Trattoria and Pizzeria Luzzi near Colosseo (Colosseum) after two months of closure, during Italy’s phase two coronavirus (Covid-19) lockdown exit plan, on May 18, 2020 in Rome, Italy. Churches, restaurants, bars, cafes, hairdressers and other shops have reopened, subject to social distancing measures, after more than two months of a nationwide lockdown meant to curb the spread of Covid-19. (Photo by Antonio Masiello/Getty Images)
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Every long-time visitor to Rome has his or her favorites, and many restaurant names pop up again and again in articles. Some of these I recommend below are very well known, some are in season frequented by tourists—who, by the way, keep restaurants worldwide in business.
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So, take my advice, and write back to let me know if some place that’s been serving Roman food for fifty years has somehow gone sadly into decline. Somehow I doubt it.
La Rosetta (8/9 Via della Rosetta), which claims to be Rome’s first true seafood restaurant, has never been challenged on that score since opening in 1966 (before that it was a rosticceria dating back to 1763). Owners Carmelo Riccioli and Romana Colella, now with son Massimo in the kitchen, keep everyone happy with fritture—crisply fried seafood, sprinkled with chopped mint and a squeeze of lemon (30€). This is one of the few places where I really love the seafood pastas, especially linguine con astice, with sweet Mediterranean lobster (35€). Wonderful seafood risotto (33€)! Simple? Impeccably so, but La Rosetta also does many innovative, more complex dishes, like seared red mullet fillets with sage with cardoncelli mushrooms (30€); lobster and scallops au gratin with Champagne and chicory (45€); lobster gratin with Champagne sauce and artichokes (33€); and a “Big Fish and Shellfish Soup” to share (45€).
One of the chefs of the traditional team presents the traditional famous Italian pasta dish “spaghetti alla carbonara”, during a preview for the press on April 5, 2019, one day before the international event Carbonara Day (#CarbonaraDay) in Rome. – The preview consists of three teams of cooking students challenge each other with modified Carbonara dishes, a traditional one, a vegan one and an experimental one. (Photo by Andreas SOLARO / AFP) (Photo credit should read ANDREAS SOLARO/AFP via Getty Images)
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For something much, much older there is the revered and beloved La Campana (Via della Lungara, 41) near the Campo di Fiori. It dates back to 1518, and the room is barebones, always packed with locals. The menu is basic Roman with all the usual pastas, a very wide selection of antipasti alla tavola, and specials throughout the week, including offal, which is a Roman passion. It’s not rushed, but it’s not a place to linger, and you’ll find the veteran staff very eager to please you with whatever you order. The coda alla vaccinara (braised oxtail) with rigatoni (19€) is delicious, as are the fried artichokes (6€).
For an impeccable marriage of the traditional and the new, head for L’Arcangelo (59/61 Via Giuseppe Giocchino Belli) in the Prati district, now ten years old, where Stefania and Arcangelo Dandini show an ebullience that translates into sumptuous renderings of Roman classics like gnocchi potato dumplings with dried tomatoes, salt cod, and mint (13€) ; tagliatelle with dried porcini mushrooms (13€); onion ravioli with herbs and butter and a sweet-and-sour sauce (13€); cheese-stuffed lamb with an egg sauce (18€); and cod and tomato sauce with plums and dried fruit (16€). Don’t miss the terrific Italian charcuterie from artisanal master Fulvio Pierangelini.
La Matricianella (Via del Leone, 4), snug in an alleyway near the Piazza Borghese, has been around since 1957, opened by a family from Amatrice (where pasta all’amatricianacomes from) and owned since 1995 by brother and- ister Giacomo and Grazia Le Bianco, who welcome everyone like family. Chefs Giovanni Fabbrotti, Lorenzo Vannucchi and Stefano Timi specialize in delicately fried foods, twelve of them, like artichokes alla giudia (7€); baccalà (8€) and much else. The tagliolini with truffles (18€) and tonnarelli with a spicy arrabiata sauce (11€) are terrific. For a main course go with the sage-scented saltimbocca (18€) or the grilled lamb sweetbread (18€).
(Original Caption) 7/27/1966-Rome, Italy- Currently in Rome for the filming of Shakespeare’s “The Taming of The Shrew”, Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor dined out recently with Miss Taylor’s children from previous marriages. Left to right at Rome’s fashionable Escargot restaurant, they are: Miss Taylor; Lisa Todd; Burton; Maria, an adopted daughter and Michael and Christopher Wilding.
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The wine list is one of the most comprehensive in the city, especially for a trattoria, and you should visit the wine cellar downstairs.
La Carbonara, set on the gorgeous Campo dei Fiori flower market, gets its good share of tourists, not least because of its name. The restaurant did not invent spaghetti alla carbonara, made with egg and guanciale bacon—they actually use penne, not spaghetti—but they have certainly perfected it (14€), along with other Roman pastas like cacio e pepe(14€), cannelloni (14€), gnocchi with oxtail (14€) and ravioli stuffed with cod and pumpkin sauce (14€). The grilled lamb chops called scottaditi—finger burners—you pick up with your fingers and chew off the bone (18€). And they have fried lamb’s brains with artichokes (16€). There’s also a fine array of antipasti displayed, and the service staff couldn’t be nicer to a traveler.
The Fazzi family opened L’Hostaria Romana (via del Boccaccio 1 ) near the Trevi Fountain 60 years ago, then turned it over to the Camponeschi family in 1979. There are two floors, one overlooking the street, the other below ground in a room scrawled with thousands of graffiti names and praises. Always make a reservation because the place is always jammed by those who love bucatini all’amatriciana, spaghetti alla carbonara, tonnarelli cacio e pepe, paccheri alla gricia and ravioli ricotta e spinaci. There is also baby lamb, which feeds on the mint of the Roman hillsides, tripe in a tomato and cheese reduction, oxtail alla vaccinara stew, and, as is common in Rome, “Quinta Quarto” specials specific to the day, like pasta e fagioli on Tuesday and pasta e ceci on Friday. (Current prices are not listed on line but pastas are around 10€.)
trastevere
People sit on a terrace of a restaurant in the district of Trastevere, downtown Rome, on August 7, 2016. / AFP / ANDREAS SOLARO (Photo credit should read ANDREAS SOLARO/AFP via Getty Images)
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The Trastevere neighborhood, across the Tiber, almost comes as a quiet shock after the loud bustle on the other side. Within winding streets are scores of wonderful trattorias, including Antica Osteria Da Giovanni (Via della Lungara, 41), not far from the Vatican, with only about six tables, plus one oddly placed in the kitchen. It’s been there since 1951 and is a two-man show—the amiable owner, who waits on every table, and the cook in the back. The menu is very simple, whatever’s good that day you want to eat. All four pastas are, believe it or not, still 5€, all the main courses 6€. The long-simmered meat ragù is lavished over ravioli, and the roast rabbit is excellent, tender and suffused with rosemary.
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