Restaurants

Restaurants in Rome; La Tavernetta

December 29, 2009

The last restaurant I’d like to feature from my trip to Rome is a place called La Tavernetta. It’s on a tiny back street near the frenetic, touristy area surrounding the Pantheon. The street is not much more than an alley with almost no traffic; it’s surprisingly quiet for being so close to the center.

When we arrive at La Tavernetta (Via degli Spagnoli 48) it is full inside, but has empty tables outside. It’s chilly, and threatening to rain. But we’re hungry and the €12 lunch menu sounds good so we take our chances and sit under a large umbrella. It does indeed begin to rain while we are eating, but the umbrella keeps us dry and the food and wine warms our bellies.

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Restaurants in Rome; Cantina Cantarini and Armando al Pantheon

November 25, 2009

Cantina Cantarini

This is a place I came across randomly while doing restaurant research for Rome on Chowhound. Usually I troll their message boards but this recommendation came from an article on their site which had the tagline of “You can get a bad meal in Rome.” This however, was an example of what the writer considered an authentic, non-touristy place, so I filed it away in case we were in that neighborhood at some point. On the day we were headed to visit the Baths of Diocletian, we needed somewhere to have lunch and this little spot was only about 5 blocks away.

After a lengthy, hot bus ride across town, one where the bus veered unexpectedly off the map, we walk up to the restaurant and I am praying we will find it open. I don’t have a lot of options otherwise in this area, and it’s already getting late for lunch …

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Restaurants in Rome; Sora Margherita and Dar Poeta Pizzaria

November 11, 2009

Question:
When is a restaurant not really a restaurant?
Answer:
When it’s a “cultural association.”

Sora Margherita
We get a little lost, trying to find this place, wandering in Rome’s Ghetto neighborhood. In fact, we have to stop and ask someone for directions and end up back in a Piazza where we’d just been five minutes before. It’s no surprise because this place has no sign or visible entrance, unless you know what you’re looking for. Stand in the Piazza delle Cinque Scole and look for the doorway with the long red ribbons/ropes (the kind used to keep flying insects out). See it? Then look closer at a metal plate on the wall next to the doorway and you’ll see that someone has hand written “Sora Margherita” on it.

There is a gentleman standing in the doorway, policing all who dare to enter. We ask for a table …

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Restaurants in Rome; Il Fico and Hosteria Da Nerone

October 21, 2009

Rome abounds with fantastic restaurants. Toss a coin over your shoulder (a la Three Coins in a Fountain) and you are liable to hit a decent one. On the other hand, like most cities with an abundance of tourists, there’s no shortage of crap either. This is why it’s imperative you do your homework and don’t settle for the first place with a laminated menu in four languages and a nice view of the coliseum.

The Centro Storico is the “historical center” of Rome and there are literally hundreds of restaurants clustered around the Piazza Navona, Pantheon and Campo di Fiori area. We ended up at Il Fico after pulling out my restaurant list and map and looking for whatever was closest to where we were standing. In truth, that wasn’t Il Fico, but the first place was full without reservations and we moved on, calling Il Fico and asking if they …

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Food in Saigon Vietnam-Days 12 and 13

September 20, 2009

Day 12

Following in Bourdain’s Footsteps

After a sobering hour at the War Remnants Museum, we head for lunch at a place listed in my notes; Bac Hai (25 Ng The Minh Khai St) famous for its Pho and featured by Anthony Bourdain on his show, No Reservations. It’s very good pho, and we’re happy to have some as we’ve been pho-deprived for a couple of days. This bowl of noodles is served with many more condiments and herbs, a different in style from those we had in Hanoi. Our Pho Tai Bap is 20,000 VND per bowl.

Once again, we are on the hunt to find (and try) ass-weasel coffee (also known as Ca Phe Chon). Lori has found the Trung Nguyen shop we had been looking for yesterday, and we go in for our special coffee. David and I order Ca Phe Sua Da and Lori gets hers …

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Food in Saigon Vietnam-Day 11

September 17, 2009

Day 11-Saigon

Cholon Market is the largest indoor market in the Chinatown area of Saigon. We went there with our friend Lori and some local young people she’d been put in contact with before we arrived. We thought this would be similar to our tour with the Hanoi Kids. We were wrong. They spoke very little English and seemed pretty uninterested in talking to us. After taking us way out of town to visit an interesting and very old pagoda, we went over to the Cholon market. The market itself held very little interest (for us) in the main section, but the food parts are always fascinating for me. We wanted to try some of the local food, but the girls we were with looked horrified at the prospect so off we went for lunch…