roman pizza – Darden Travels

We needed a lunch before the start of our Vatican tour. Knowing we were going to be around a high tourist spot, we tried to get a bit off of the beaten path. We found Mama Eat. It is a chain found in Italy in several of the bigger cities. No matter, it got high ratings and it was within walking distance of our meeting place for the tour.

Luckily, we don’t have any food allergies, but they advertise ‘two kitchens, two ovens, two chefs and two brigades’ for the separation of their dishes. Nice.

One guess who ordered the soda? That would be me.

I felt like another pizza – why not? Just your basic (?!? ha!) thin Roman pizza crust, tasty tomato sauce and buffalo mozzarella cheese. Waaaaay to big but gave me a chance to eat only the tastiest morsels.

Adrienne’s choice for lunch was a pasta dish with eggplant and creamy tomato sauce.

Eric also choose pasta – that’s all I’ve got. We’ve had so many (great) meals by this point, we don’t remember the specifics. It looks good though. 🙂

It was a nice lunch in a high tourist spot.

Our last meal in Rome was excellent. It was recommended by our AirBNB host and although we did’t have a reservation, we were there right when it opened at 7pm and was given a table.

I will say that researching a bit on the internet before completing this post, it seemed like we were one of the lucky ones. A number of reviews were unhappy with the service (we were not), unhappy with their food (we were not) and treated rudely (we were not).

Our meal started with wine – white for me and red for the other two.

While this was very simple, it was excellent. Bread soaked in (their) olive oil – absolutely delicious.

We ordered two starters, but our waitress said we needed to try the stuffed squash flowers. They don’t look like much but were tasty.

Next up was the Parma Ham – 36 months and buffalo mozzarella. Man! That ham is fantastic.

Along with a steamed Roman-style artichoke. It was tasty but different than the first one eaten on day one in Rome.

Adrienne’s selection was lamb – 3 ways (lamb chop, lamb loin and lamb brain). She really enjoyed all three.

They had a special with chicken (de-boned) and peppers – which was my choice.

Eric had been wanting and waiting for his selection for years – Tripe, Roman style.

And since we didn’t have enough food yet…………we got two desserts to share.

I literally could not eat another bite. Once we got back to our place, I stayed up several hours later then my norm just to let my food digest. It was a great meal – but way too much food.

Ginny

We ate well and continue to find awesome food establishments. Here are three from the first part of our week in Rome.

Four words describe the essence of this restaurant: Tradition, Family, Quality & Artisanship. They are committed to the culinary culture of the Emilia region.

We started with these two and OMG – they were talked about throughout our week.

Desserts shared:

When in Rome – eat pizza! Emma is a restaurant-pizzeria.

Emma was born from a basic concept: to use only raw materials of the highest quality as ingredients of traditional Italian cuisine. Without compromise.

While we’ve had a number of starters with buffalo mozzarella, this ranks the highest – possibly due to the grated Muggine bottarga, or the olives or the tastiest tomatoes. Any and all of those ingredients make.the.dish!

They elevate the thin-crusted Roman-style pizza to a gourmet level with prestigious flours, long fermentation and high-quality ingredients.

No room for dessert, but a bit of dolce to end our meal.

Eric discovered this was ranked fourth for pizzerias in Rome. He made a good choice.

This was a recommendation from our AirBNB host – literally 1/2 block away from our place. That was a good thing. While we were waiting for our desserts to arrive, I got r.e.a.l.l.y sleepy and started to crash. In fact, we left Eric to pay the bill. As you might expect……Eric made friends. They had him taste other types of wine from the region. He enjoyed himself.

These were recommendations from our waitress and they did not disappoint. I was a little sketical of the anchovies, but as long as I choose the smallest and crispiest pieces – I was good. The eggplant cake? Eric needs to make this at home. I don’t like eggplant, period. I loved this.