“The great bard”. 
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What an interesting place. The size, scope, staffing, and experience is closer to the Cheesecake Factory than a Roman trattoria, though the culinary ambitions are high (and mostly fulfilled).
Before getting to the food, my main complaint was the speed at which everything came out. We barely had a moment to breathe.
The squash blossoms were just perfect. Loved the tempura fry.
The suppli were…fine? Like, about what you would find at a typical Roman street cart.
We got a “pizza” that was more of a bread with burrata, peas, artichoke hearts, mint, and about 14 gallons of olive oil. It was quite good.
Then, the pastas. The Arrabbiata was a stunner, but largely because it was so inauthentic. The pasta was more al dente than anywhere I’ve eaten in Italy. The sauce bright, vibrant, and spicy. Really, I would be shocked if anywhere in Italy serves it at this heat level. But who cares? It was downright addictive and original.
Unfortunately, on the other end of the spectrum, the Gricia was a total miss. I think this was just a pure execution failure. Roman pastas really, in my mind, do not work in this kind of environment. It was clear this pasta had been sitting for a few minutes before being served: the emulsion of pasta water, pepper, cheese, and pork fat had broken down, the pasta was not hot, and the guanciale was no longer sufficiently crisp.
Unfortunately no vongole on the menu tonight.
We had the maritozzo and budino for dessert. I agree with Proky’s take on the maritozzo—the brioche was just not right. Too bready. Cream and berries were great.
We loved everything about the budino. All of the textures around it were a treat to eat.
Last, the drinks program was great. Could easily see myself stopping by late night for arrabbiata, wine, and dessert.
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try the meatballs on your return visit - far superior imo.
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The very few street carts I’ve seen in Rome sold only cold food. Do you mean market stalls?
Last time I was in Rome, pre pandemic, there were carts doing suppli in trastevere
Huh, I think that’s new.
I’m happy when I find supplì that would pass for average in Rome!
anybody want a reservation to 
for 2 this saturday at 6pm?
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I’ll take it if you’re still holding onto it.
Did Ahab have a second whale after Moby Dick? My white whale is still out there by this was as close a stab as I’ve gotten.
With @PorkyBelly as my Starbuck, we battled the choppy celebrity filled waters to mixed results.
Fiori Di Zucca (squash blossoms filled with ricotta)
I’ve only eaten this at a handful of other places, but this is the most outstanding version I’ve had. They came out piping hot, with a crisp, thin tempura batter, and the most wonderfully smooth ricotta filling.
Bruschetta di Porchetta (bruschetta with porchetta)
Not fussy but outstanding.
Napoletana (pizza with burrata, anchovies, and olives)
+ 
Yeah, it was a tad salty because of the unnecessary olives, and yes I wish that there was some better ingredient distribution, but damnit if I didn’t love how thin and crispy this pizza was 
Gamberi in Salsa Verde (shrimp with salsa verde)
+
Quite delicious and even though there wasn’t much need for it, I do like that they left the plate with juices/salsa verde for us to try and think of a way to make use of.
Polpette di Coda (fried oxtail meatballs with red sauce and parm)
+
A true highlight–these were piping legitimately delicious. My first one was piping hot but by the time I got to subsequent bites they had cooled off a bit, though still quite tasty.
La Mortazza (kind of like a mortadella and ricotta cheese sandwich)
+
Good, but I also didn’t feel like I got the full force of this dish because by the time we got to it, it was basically room temp.
La Panzanella (a panzanella salad that is really a tomato salad with a handful of croutons)
I still don’t know why we got this solo after they’d cleared all the pizzas and “hot” dishes and I kind of forgot it was coming. The flavor of the tomatoes and burrata were great, but there were so few pieces of bread and the dressing was just pooled on the bottom that it just didn’t hit like other versions of this dish I’ve had.
Spaghetti Cicoria e Bottarga (spaghetti with bottarga and chicory)
I spotted bottarga in the name and knew I wanted to order this, and when we asked our server to describe it to us, they must have said “oceanic” like 4 or 5 times. It was indeed “oceanic” because of the bottarga, and I really enjoyed it. The pasta was curiously clumpy, but well cooked enough and I thoroughly enjoyed it as an end to the meal.
As you might have guessed, we had like 5 dishes come to the table at the same time and it was absolutely overwhelming. We thought that they would course it out for us, but I guess we didn’t communicate that well enough? Some of the dishes suffered for it, but what are you going to do when Paul McCartney and Tom Hanks are having dinner and we’re just two guys 
11 Likes
food was delicious but the pacing was a major fail.
five plates (porchetta, shrimp, meatballs, mortadella, and napoletana) were literally all dropped on our table at the same time. the food barely fit on our table and we couldn’t eat fast enough while everything was still hot. unfortunately, we couldn’t enjoy any of the pizzas piping hot because they were both cold by the time we could get to them. After all of that we finally get the panzanella salad. it was amateur hour.
fiori di zucca - squash blossoms, ricotta romana dop, parmigiano reggiano
expertly fried, loved the creamy ricotta and the pops of salt on the outside.
bruschetta di porchetta - porchetta della casa, finocchietto
gamberi in salsa verde - blue prawns, green garlic salsa verde
next time i’ll save these for felix. half the the enjoyment of this dish is sopping up all the delicious sauce with some of felix’s focaccia, unfortunately there’s no sopping utensils at mother wolf.
polpette di coda - oxtail meatballs, sugo di pomodoro, pecorino romano dop
la mortazza - mortadella di bologna, ricotta fresca, pistacchio di bronte, agrumato
napoletana - stracciatella di burrata, salsa di pomodoro, alici di cetara, olive oil, origano selvatico
the olives on their own were a bit too salt, but spreading the burrata over the entire slice really balanced everything out.
la panzanella - pomodorini, burrata pugliese, basil, market vegetables, pane fritto
didn’t hit the highs of my previous visit, there wasn’t enough of the dressing that really makes this salad pop.
spaghetti cicoria e bottarga - tamai farms puntarella, aglio, olio, bottarga di muggine
there were no mosquitos 
at 
that night but there was definitely a beatle sitch 
no that’s not s irelene virbila.
also in the house, tom hanks, dave grohl, woody harrelson and @rlw. no funke to be seen.
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Is that sir Paul in the background ??
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I was slow to the punchline 
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they seem to course it out into 3 rounds + dessert no matter how many dishes you order, with no break in between the rounds.
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we got 4 rounds, should have been at least 6:
- squash blossoms
- porchetta, meatballs, prawns, mortadella, napoletana
- panzanella
- pasta
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I get the feeling it might be best to eat here at 5:30 on a Wednesday or Thursday.
Or be either Forrest Gump or a member of The Beatles.
They don’t properly course out the dishes for 5/530 reservations either.
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I never had pacing problems on my previous visits, this was the first time.
it’s the same shit for me every time. Like they can clearly see I got 2 pizzas on the table why the fuck y’all bringing me pasta
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