Roma Food

On our first night in Rome we shared our dinner with five under five. This restaurant must have been written up in a book on traveling with children in Italy. We met six-month old twins from Idaho, six-month old Jasper from London, and a three-year old with her eighteen month old brother, also from the UK. Their parents kept apologizing for the noise, and we kept assuring them that we loved it!

We were dog tired on the second night in Rome. We had walked for miles and miles, and it began to rain just as we located the restaurant we wanted to try. Of course, we arrived there an hour before they opened. Our shoulders sagged at the thought of walking for another hour. Serendipitously, there was a lovely bar just next door with big sidewalk umbrellas over their outdoor tables (which were actually large wine casks) and several locals sipping their Chianti. We pulled up our stools and joined them, with a great bottle of wine and free appetizers. Happy Hour specials should never be overlooked. It was a great way to while away an hour and get our postcards written. Though Jim looks as though he was scrutinizing the the great bottle of brunello in a bad way, I think he was just memorizing the label.

Rome is a fabulous city to wander when you are hungry. There are small neighborhood places all over town that have mouthwatering and authentic Roman food. We were able to communicate our glee with this food by making various noises and waving our hands a bit. We had some of  this flatbread pizza, which is sold by weight. The other type of pizza served in Rome is called rotunda, with round and very thin crust. For dessert, we had some homemade strudel containing apples, raisins and pine nuts. Fabuloso! 

One of the highlights of our trip was a visit to Der Pallaro. Highly recommended by Jim and Liz Walker, this place was worth the price of admission. Owner Paola Fazi and her staff live by the philosophy that they know what we need to eat, so we had no say in what we were served. Six courses of food were presented, whether we wanted them or not. We loved the food here (bruschetta, olives, lentils, fennel, arancii, fried meat of some sort, fresh rigatoni with two types of sauces, roasted veal, cold green beans, homemade potato chips, mozzarella balls and Italian cream cake), but the ambiance was the star of the show. Rumor has it that Julius Caesar was murdered by his BFFs in the basement of this place. We were eagerly escorted to the scene of the crime. Paola gives very hearty farewell hugs.

Our final meal in Rome was the most fun. After such a huge lunch, we didn't want a heavy dinner. We read about Pizzeria da Baffetto and decided to try to get in. Remember Studio 54 back in the 80s where people lined up just to enter? Signore Baffeto has nothing on them. We arrived at sixish, as we have a tendency to get turned around in this city of twisting roads and alleys. For once we found the place we wanted with plenty of time to spare and thank goodness for that. We were second in line, with others quickly falling in behind us. At 6:30 the doors opened, and we were seated with a sweet German couple. The doors were quickly shut when the small place was filled. A white paper tablecloth, glasses and silverware were tossed on our table, and we worked with the Germans to set our places.

We sat right next to the kitchen and watched eggs and flour turn into perfectly shaped pizzas. This guy was a clown, but he could really crank out the food! It was fun to watch. The pizzas only cook for about four minutes as the oven was so firey-hot.

Our pizzas were outstanding. Jim's was topped with mushrooms, sausage, onions, artichoke, proscutto, peppers and an egg. Mine was a bit more tame, but only cost €4.


Signore Baffetto looks a bit like the father in My Big Fat Greek Wedding, don't you think? You should know that that the wine list (the bottles lined up behind Jim in this picture) has one less occupant than it did when we arrived. 

You flat out cannot beat the food in this city! We loved every dish we were given and will try to recreate some of them when we get back home.