Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
filled with groups of Italians who crowd into the tiny dining room. Here's how
they order (and you should do the same): Skip the
primi,
which are largely unex-
ceptional, and head directly to the wonderful antipasto bar (you'll spot it as you
enter). There's an extensive dessert menu featuring some of the best tiramisu in
town, so be sure to save room. As with other restaurants in the neighborhood, you
will not get a table on a summer night without a reservation or an hour wait, and
the outdoor tables are the usual magnet for peddlers, beggars, and musicians.
9
(Piazza di Santa Cecilia, 24;
%
06-5800757)
is simply
the best family restaurant-pizzeria in this part of Rome. The owner, Ugo, makes
you feel as if you're a longtime family friend, and the setting, tucked in a corner
of the car-free Piazza di Santa Cecilia, is a great place for the kids to run around
while you wait for your meal or linger over a
limoncello.
This place is packed for
Sunday lunch when the weather is nice and Ugo sets out long lines of tables. His
own family is always anchored there first. On summer nights, reservations are
mandatory, and it's not uncommon to find long lines of regulars milling around
the piazza waiting for a table. But this restaurant is really just as delightful on a
cold winter day, when the fireplace inside warms the intimate lower dining room.
If it's crowded, you may be shunted up to the larger cafeteria-style dining room
adjacent to the restaurant and church, but it's better to offer to wait so that you
can sit down in the smaller dining area below. Pizza here is made in a classic
wood-burning oven; the best is the rughetta with baby tomatoes. The tasty
far-
falle alla ghiottona
(butterfly pasta with Sicilian pesto and pine nuts) for €8 is also
perfect in the winter and the spaghetti
alla vongole
(€10) is spiced with bits of hot
pepper, just the way it should be.
Roma Sparita
€€
Not far away is
Il Ciak
(Vicolo del Cinque, 21;
%
06-5894774),
which
hasn't changed in 40 years, during which time it's been frequented by movie stars
and local celebrities, thus giving it the name Ciak (the sound a signboard makes
when clapped before filming). Note the autographed photo on the wall of Francis
Ford Coppola from the 1970s. Even though reservations are mandatory, there is
always a line of regulars outside who just didn't have time to call. And even if you
did call, they will get the table first. This is a place that many tourists avoid for
several reasons, perhaps most of all because the front windows look more like a
taxidermist shop's than those of a quaint trattoria. It's a restaurant for meat lovers
only, especially those who love wild game cooked, with Tuscan flair, over an open
grill by Sammy the chef, whom you must squeeze by on the way in. Ask to sit in
the back “garden,” which is a walled room covered with vines on the ceiling, away
from the fire, and ask the waitress/owner what she recommends, as sometimes the
game is a little too wild-tasting, depending on the season and origin of the meat.
There is almost no reason to have a
primo
plate here. Instead, try one of the inno-
vative bruschetta offerings like
funghi
porcini paste or hot pepper paste, and just
sip your Chianti while Sammy prepares your feast. Most second plates are around
€12, but they are generous and come with roast potatoes.
€€€
555
(
Via dei
Vascellari, 48;
%
06-5898985; www.giulianobrenna.com).
The food here is origi-
nal and outstanding, and the owner and chef, Giuliano Brenna, has built a culi-
nary reputation that has made him a local celebrity. He is a master, trained at
A worthy splurge is the darkly romantic
Asinocotto
€€€€
