Got it. Makes sense! We will have to play that by ear as the wifey much prefers seated dining, lol. and Happy wife = happy life.
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well you made to 20 years! can’t argue with success! Do what feels right for your family and don’t have any FOMO!
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You’re only in Italy for a week. You’ll be walking around a lot, working up an appetite. Why not enjoy a serious lunch and serious dinner every day? You might want to have a picnic lunch sometimes just because there are so many great things in bakeries and delis.
The same people own Roscioli and Emma and there’s a lot of overlap in the menus. Emma is in every respect the better of the two, so I’ll never sit in Roscioli’s uncomfortable chairs again, though it’s a good deli.
If you want to eat lunch at a market, I highly recommend Testaccio. One of the best markets and one of the best less-touristy neighborhoods in Rome. While there, also visit Volpetti, one of if not the best deli in town.
Mercato Centrale is next to the Termini train station, a neighborhood I’ll go to great lengths to avoid.
Don’t waste a meal on steak if you don’t like it rare. You can get better beef in the US anyway.
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Totally true
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2nd Tempio do Iside. It was one of our favorite meals in Rome along with Emma. This was an amazing raw langoustine/shrimp? with that crazy blue roe. The crab pasta was delicious but very messy to extract the meat from the crabs
I dream of Santa Trinita gelato. I literally had gelato twice per day in Florence. I tried the place 2 blocks away that seems to get better reviews but I love Santa Trinita. My favorite flavors were various fruits, pistachio and the peanut gelato. Yum.
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Are those scampi (langoustines)? Hard to tell without the shell. It’s worth going out of your way to get those.
(As I said, I’ll go to great lengths to avoid Termini.)
my family is still talking about those blue roe langostines. Posting some of our photos too.
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Ok, you convinced me on La Gensola… Never thought this but we have 3 seafood restaurants booked on our vacation which will hopefully lighten up a few meals.
Super excited about Santa Trinita… I’ve read more than a few descriptions saying it skews less sweet, which is exactly what I want!
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Pierluigi - avoid at all costs
why? i saw “high class gastronomy” and that’s a turnoff for me… nothing wrong with it, but in general, i much prefer low key dining and don’t love the fanciness / fussiness of what gastronomy typically implies.
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I recall lots of horror stories of rude service, improper charges, etc pre-covid on Chowhound.
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I could not agree more strongly or emphasize this more! Do not go to Pierluigi.
Got dragged to Pierluigi by friends. Thoroughly mediocre bordering on poor, bland and unimaginative. Was so pissed I wasted a meal there and didn’t get to go to Tempio di Iside.
Others know Rome better than I, but would second @robert’s rec for Testaccio market. Really good food and a fun lunch.
The only other thing I’d put on your radar is pizza, maybe taglio at Bonci (or wherever people are liking these days) or Neapolitan at Piccolo Buco. And I had a great meal at Trecca, but it’s a bit out of the way and has a very small menu in comparison to De Cesare.
Where are you staying in Rome? and when? Food is very seasonal in Rome so my recommendations vary depending on the date.
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Emma has some of if not the best pizza in Rome. To my knowledge, no one else makes pizza with black-truffle mortadella.
I don’t know that Rome does Neapolitan-style as well as LA. In Rome you want to eat Roman pizza, which comes in two types: a taglio aka rustica, for lunch or a snack by the piece, often sold by weight (Bonci is the king of that styles) to take away, or very thin round individual pies, at sit-down pizzerie many of which are open only for dinner. Emma’s pies are that style and they’re open for lunch.
There’s also the kind of “pizza” that they sell at Forno Campo de’ Fiori and Antico Forno Roscioli, which is sort of closer to focaccia, six-foot-long breads sold by the slice or weight. At the latter they also make sandwiches with them.
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Good point. I didn’t clock Emma in skimming the original post. Was not my favorite (style thing) while there last summer, but I do understand/agree it’s superlative in its category. Was more highlighting taglio, pinsa, and Bonci etc.
I do think Piccolo Buco is better than anything in LA, save maybe Sei. But I get not seeking it out when in Rome and not a hill to die on…
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Hi Robert, we are going in late July / early August and staying at the W. Love your recs so far so keep them coming! Thank you!
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PIccolo Abruzzo is nearby and a lot of fun. You might read up a bit on the cuisine if you’re not familiar with it.
https://www.piccoloabruzzo.it/
In the other direction, if you’re wandering around the Piazza di Spagna / Via del Corso triangle and want a restaurant that’s off the beaten tourist path, Otello alla Concordia.
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Pivoting a bit from food… Dessert! All we know is gelato. I think I have a good handle on Florence (Carabe, Santa Trinita and My Sugar) but what about Rome? What do folks recommend and are there other dessert places I need to be thinking about in Rome or Florence?
Thanks!
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Not really much of a thing in Rome except for bakeries and gelato. Pasticceria Boccione. Fiocco di Neve. Granita di caffe at Tazza d’Oro.
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