Thursday, April 29, 2010

Eating myself into oblivion

This past week Skip, my father, came to visit me in Rome. We spent our time eating, discussing where to eat, and digesting our food so that we could quickly eat again!
Ok, maybe not seriously, but we ate A LOT and it was damnnnnnnnnnnnn good!

I will take you through my wonderful week of gluttony meal by meal.
Wednesday April 21
Dinner @ Dar Pallaro
My dad's pilot friend had recommended this restaurant to him for the next time he was in Rome, and my dad's friend passed it on to us. We were told it was a fixed menu and for 25 euro per person you get a nice, filling meal. We were not sure where to eat that night, so we decided to go check it out. As we came upon the restaurant my father and I stopped dead in our tracks and looked at each other. We had been here 3 years earlier with our Rick Steves "The Best of Italy" Tour. Only last time we were there, we were told that the name of the restaurant was "Mama's." Either way, we walked in, sat down, and were soon greeted by "Mama."


Right away food started flying at us. They brought out cold cuts and cheese and olives and bread and fried balls of something and lentils and some type of vegetable that tastes like licorice. I ate it all because I thought that was it. Silly Claire, this is Rome, there is ALWAYS more food! For the second course they brought out carbonara and a rigatoni with a red sauce. Ok, this must be it, so I ate it all. Wrong again. After that they brought out more beans and meat and potatoes and another vegetable. It was so good, but I was SOOO full. Then came dessert. I felt bad that I wasn't eating all of MAMA's food, but I DID NOT pace myself.
From what I have experienced, this was a pretty authentic Roman meal. A few weeks ago, my Italian friends, who have been living in Rome their whole lives, brought me to Arricia for dinner. Over there the waitresses just kept brining out plate after plate. It began with cold cuts and cheeses and beans and bread, then progressed to pasta, then meat, and ended with a nice tirimisu. Oh, did I mention that there was a never ending supply of wine? I love Rome.


Anyways, Skip and I had a lovely first meal at Dar Pallero - go here if you want to eat like a Roman.

Thursday August 22
For lunch, I introduced Skip to the miracle that is FORNO in Campo di Fiori. This is the best pizza I have ever had. They get the sauce to crust ratio PERFECT everytime!

For dinner, we went to GLASS! I had been waiting for this moment for so long and it had finally arrived. My started with a pistacio encrusted scallop with white chocolate sauce, it was heavenly. Then, by compliments of the chef, we received a sort of pureed corn soup with hot sauce in it, delicious as well! For our main course I ordered a coffee pasta. I cant remember what else was on it, but it was a great mixture of flavors. My father got the saffron risotto and it was WAYYY better than what we made in class. It had a date sauce in it that really made it pop. For desert we got a cake thing with passion fruit, so so so good.


Besides the amazing flavors, I liked the portion size of this restaurant. I walked out of their feeling good. The night before, at Dar Pellaro, I was overly stuffed from the amount of food placed in front of me. Grazie, Glass!

Friday August 23
This day, Skip and I did some sightseeing around Rome. For lunch we stopped in the Jewish Ghetto and had some vegetables. I had zucchini cooked in a Jewish way and artichokes baked with cheese, tomatoes, and parmesan. Both very very good.
For dinner, we went back to a Rick Steves restaurant near the Vatican. It was very good, and very cheap! We had pasta cooked in an orange cream sauce. I do not think that this is typical Italian food, but it was still very good!
For dessert, OLD BRIDGE! Now I have been told my many Italians that real gelato is chocolate or nutella, or flavors like that. However, I enjoy the fruit flavors much much more. At Old Bridge there is amazing blood orange gelato! Highly Highly recommended!

Saturday August 24
This was the day we went to the Catacombs. For lunch we just had some snacks at my apt and then we went to Trastevere for drinks before dinner. In the main Piazza there is an "orange Bar." They serve amazing blood orange juice. I got juice, sans alcool, and my father got it with Compari, of course. I think that the juice is so so good that alcohol ruins it. Anyway.... GO HERE, so good!


For dinner we went to Dal Checchino! Skip was a little nervous for this restaurant, but he ended up loving it. We both ordered the Straciatella Soup which was amazing. It got better with each sip. I think this was because the lemon flavors were more concentrated near the bottom of the bowl. The soup is a sort of Roman egg-drop soup with cheese, parsley, and lemon. I will definitely be trying this again before I leave Rome.


For dinner I had Pasta with tomato sauce and Ox Tail. It was very delicious, but the oxtail was chopped up so finely that I could not get a good taste of it.


My dad ordered one of their specialty dishes and received a commemorative plate that is from the Unione that they are part of. He like his meal a lot. It was a braised beef stuffed with carrots, celery, and prosciutto.


For dessert we got a pear cake, YUM!


Sunday, April 25
This day we hung out in Rome and lived la dolce vita.
For lunch we went to Piazza Navona and sat down and had a nice loonnnggggg meal!
I ate the house pasta, Tres Scalini! It was penne pasta in a shrimp and mushroom cream sauce, it was mucho delicioso!


For dinner I decided to cook for my father. I made him my favorite mushroom recipe and pasta carbonara. They were, of course, both divine.

Monday April 26
Today, my father and I got more FORNO bc it is SO FREAKING GOOD
For dinner my dad took me and two other girls to the restaurant in Campo that Federico took us to.
I had something that I have been looking alllll over Italy for. I ordered a pumpkin-cheese mousse pasta dish. I was not sure what to expect, but I have been looking for pumpkin or butternut squash ravioli or something like that everywhere!
When I received the dish, the waitress called it a crepe. It was square with filo dough on the bottom, a sort of noodle on top with melted cheese. Inside was a pumpkin moose filling that was amazing!


Finally, my taste buds had been satiated! I will definitely be going back to this restaurant to eat this dish before I leave Rome!

Tuesday April 27 - Skips Last Night In Town
For lunch we ate at a shitty, over priced restaurant near the pantheon. Just don't.
For dinner my father wanted to go to Dar Poeta in Trastevere. This is a small pizza place that is very very reasonably priced. The pizza is delicious and the crust is unique. It is soft and thin, very very good.
For dessert we went to Giolitti, which is supposedly one of the best gelato places in Rome. I got Kiwi gelato, it was great, but the men who worked there were ASSHOLES! Seriously, I had an unpleasant experience bc I walked away in a bad mood, I resented the fact that the gelato was good because I wanted it to be bad since the servers were so rude to my father and I. I guess thats how the tourist places work, they don't work on customer service bc they get a whole group of brand new tourists each and every day.

Ahhhh ROMA! THank you for increasing my waistline over the past 4 months!

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