Don’t do it 2-3 days in advanced. If you do it now you should be able to get into most if not all of them.
Have you eaten there for lunch? I’m still trying to get somebody fluent in Italian to make a reservation for me. But if I’m unable to I was thinking lunch in the middle of the week would be easier. Just wondering if they have the same menu items.
I think this is your recommendations - crudo, grilled gamberi rosso, connocchie, cooked antipasto, scampi & whole crab linguini.
Yes. It was so good I went back for lunch.
Same menu but not as lively.
I think there may have been some off the menu specials nor available during lunch.
I had a sculpin pasta during lunch that was also excellent.
I bought a calling card from a liquor store for $2. Called and made reservations in Rome and Florence. Everybody spoke English well enough that I was able to make reservations pretty easily.
Rome - Roscioli and Tempio de Iside
Florence - Sostanza and Il Santo Bevitore
Dario Cecchini on our way to Tuscany
Thanks for all the suggestions. I’ll report back with photos in a few weeks.
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In Florence, I highly recommend Omero over Sostanza. Sostanza is very touristy. Good but touristy. Also they do not use Chianina beef. Omero does/did. The view from Omero is very nice too.
In Florence, don’t miss the Mercato Centrale and the bollito misto sandwich at Nerbone. Get there early. Lines really blew up from 2003 to 2010. I have no idea what it’s like these days. They also serve some nice classics like tripe and tuscan soup.
Roscioli, except for takeout, seemed to me to be strictly for tourists. It’s a deli that they turned into a cramped, uncomfortable restaurant by jamming in a bunch of patio furniture. Their spinoff Emma a block away has an expanded menu in a lovely, comfortable space.
While in that area, stop in at Beppe e i suoi formaggi and get some picnic stuff for the trip north or whatever. They have some great raw-milk French cheese that’s illegal here in the US.
I know that Sostanza and Roscioli are tourist traps. But a lot of people still say its worth going bc the food is still good.
Emma is a lunch destination already on the schedule. If its basically the same as Roscioli with more comfortable seating and good pizza then maybe we’ll skip Roscioli. Some of the pictures of all the American people waiting outside for tables is a little disturbing. Same with Sostanza.
I have Beppe e i suoi formaggi on the list from Katie Perla. We only have time to hit up one salumeria/formaggi in Rome. Would you suggest this as the place to go?
I was intentionally skipping places in Florence (prior to Dario Cecchini) that specialize in fiornetina or beef in general. If Omera is open on Sunday (or lunch) we’ll add that to the schedule as most places on my list are closed on Sunday.
If I can fit in 6-7 meals per day in Rome and Florence I’ll be able to eat everything on the list I compiled. They’ll also have to roll me onto the tarmac but it’ll be worth it.
You can get the same food at Emma the tourists get at Roscioli. Same owners, same ingredients, same recipes, longer menu. Don’t miss the mortadella with black truffles.
Grazi. We’re going to skip Roscioli then. Might double up on Tempio de Iside because our dinners in Rome will be 4 days apart and we could probably use a rest between all the pasta.
Why not take a break from all that pasta by having a lil pizza?
http://luckypeach.com/where-to-get-the-best-pizza-in-rome-katie-parla/
Thanks for this list - thats a lot of pizza in 1 day. Will definitely hit up Emma and at least 1 other place in Rome. I have one pizza place in Florence on my list as well.
I plan on eating gelato daily, maybe twice per day. Think if I can mix it up between fruit flavors and choc/pistachio/cream based flavors I’ll be ok in this department.
Sounds like a great plan. Godspeed.
The pizza cacio e pepe at Tondo looks choiceeee.
Katie Parla’s pizza crawl seems more about highlighting the diversity of styles available than finding the best Roman-style pizza.
Bonci (formerly Pizzarium) is my pick of the pizza-a-taglio lunch places, Da Remo for individual-pie thin crust dinner pizza.
Rather than going to the same place twice, why not La Gensola?
Was thinking about Perilli or Armando al Pantheon as options if we go to a restaurant. Tempio de Iside was high on the list based on Porthos recommendation and my wife’s love of all things from the ocean.
Is there a nice place/park close to the St Regis not too crowded to sit outside where we can just picnic with cheese, meats, bread and wine? It’s our last night so we may just want to have something more relaxed.
La Gensola is good when you want something other than pasta. Perilli, you want the carbonara.
This.
One of our finer meals of the entire trip. Sorry but I forgot to take photos. Our reservation was ay 8pm but 9:45 when we left the entire place was full. There were even some people eating at the coffee/lounge tables to the right of the hostess stand.
The gamberi were the best shrimp we’ve eaten. There were 3 choices and we had 2 of each - red gamberi, smaller ones which went by a different name and gamberi scampi style. Each was raw and they all had an absurd amount of roe. The small gamberi had a fluorescent blue type of roe. It was so bright I honestly thought it might have been some type of radioactive by product. Sweet, soft, briny and fantastic as described.
The sea truffle were basically clams. A little larger than the ones we’d eat raw in the US but excellent with a squirt of lemon. The oysters (Belon and some other Mediterranean variety) were salty. Too briny and much larger than the West Coast varieties we generally enjoy.
The linguini with whole crab (was it hairy crab?) was excellent. It was definitely a lot of work but delicious. The sauce was delicate and paired perfectly with the sweet crab. I wish they’d given some of the crab a half crack kinda like Newport Seafood but I know they might have accidentally put some shell into the dish. The only gripe was the amount of work to get all the crab out but a great pasta dish.
We’ll definitely return on our next trip and recommended to everybody.
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Glad you liked it. Did you sit downstairs or upstairs? Was it just me or did you notice a lot of older gentlemen with younger ladies?
I try not to speak too much of the place since they are obviously trying to keep it local and because it would be ruined by an influx of tourists.
Love the brininess on those belons.
We sat upstairs but in the back room. There was a huge table of about 25 Italians next to us. I did notice a older man with a younger lady near us. They ordered a beautiful whole fish which they brought out then filleted.
Does very much seem like a true place for locals. Thanks for the tip.
Somebody did their homework, either that or they just grabbed a list of the restaurants you guys (Robert & Porthos) suggested on these Rome threads.