Italy: all things food and wine-related

[lisiamc]

On 10/6/2023 at 11:48 PM, cuterlmt said:

I've read through a good number of the posts here and have some specific questions.

We will be staying at Albergo Santa Chiara. We are looking for restaurants for lunch/dinner in that area as we'll be staying there a few days pre-cruise. We do not drink alcohol. And we'll probably stick to mostly non-meat dishes. I don't think I can get my husband on board to eat pork cheek, although I might try it. He likes shrimp, so any pasta with cheese and shrimp, he would probably eat. Pizza is fine, and gelato of course. And if there's a fried artichoke around, I might try it. 

The hotel serves breakfast, so I imagine the only treat we might have after breakfast is one of the filled croissants I've heard about. So mostly afternoon/evening options. Husband will not eat sandwiches, but will eat bread, or pizza. We do not eat a ton of food, so we may split dishes (if allowed) or like a place that has appetizer size meals or we can opt for appetizer pasta or something.

We'd like a place that isn't too busy (if that's possible). We'll be there the 2nd week of November. 

Thank you all for sharing your information! It has been great reading about your experiences and jotting down notes for our visit.

 

As cruisemom42 says, it will be possible to get pasta with cheese, or pasta with shrimp, but asking for cheese with your shrimp will definitely get you the side-eye, and possibly an impassioned explanation of why that is a crime against food. 😁
 

For a smaller meal, it is possible to order just one or two courses. You could share an antipasto and then also share a first (generally pasta) course, or share a first course and a salad. No one will mind that you’re not having three or four courses each. Ordering something like one tiramisu and two spoons will also work well.  

[ninjacat123]

20 minutes ago, lisiamc said:

As cruisemom42 says, it will be possible to get pasta with cheese, or pasta with shrimp, but asking for cheese with your shrimp will definitely get you the side-eye, and possibly an impassioned explanation of why that is a crime against food. 😁
 

For a smaller meal, it is possible to order just one or two courses. You could share an antipasto and then also share a first (generally pasta) course, or share a first course and a salad. No one will mind that you’re not having three or four courses each. Ordering something like one tiramisu and two spoons will also work well.  

This is what DH and I plan on doing at most dinners.  Neither one of us are big eaters and you can't take leftovers home (I know, tacky😉) so I'd rather finish what we have and have a smaller bill at the end of the meal.

[slidergirl]

If you have Armando al Pantheon on your list, be sure you make your reservation as soon as possible.  This is definitely NOT a walk-in place.  

[slidergirl]

Some people are Rick Steves fans so I thought I'd mention that he has a book put out this year, Italy for Food Lovers.  

[Haljo1935]

On 8/12/2023 at 11:22 AM, Anyislandwilldo said:

We are headed to Italy next year for a cruise.  I remember reading somewhere this cruise will allow you to bring wine on board in almost every port to be consumed right away.  Is this correct??

Yes, we just did it on our Oct 29 - Nov 9 cruise r/t Rome on HAL.

[ninjacat123]

41 minutes ago, Haljo1935 said:

Yes, we just did it on our Oct 29 - Nov 9 cruise r/t Rome on HAL.

And we brought 2 bottles of wine on at every port Oct 18-28 on Carnival Pride. Plus a bottle of rum and vodka🍹😁

[desibee]

Just a note for anyone looking for food options near Termini that my parents are currently in Rome staying at the Guardian hotel at Termini and they reported to me today that they ate at La Famiglia on via Gaeta and it was "awesome.  we are so stuffed we are waddling back to our room."

 

Apparently it's tourist friendly and prices were very reasonable too although my mom did say the area was not so pretty to walk through.

[Haljo1935]

3 hours ago, desibee said:

Just a note for anyone looking for food options near Termini that my parents are currently in Rome staying at the Guardian hotel at Termini and they reported to me today that they ate at La Famiglia on via Gaeta and it was "awesome.  we are so stuffed we are waddling back to our room."

 

Apparently it's tourist friendly and prices were very reasonable too although my mom did say the area was not so pretty to walk through.

Thanks for the recommendation. We will try it in a couple weeks.

We used Termini as "base camp" walking there daily from our hotel then going out to whichever sites we were seeing and would say none of that area is pretty to walk through. Just hope it's safe - we did it it for 3 days just a couple weeks ago and will do the same when we return. 

[bennybear]

We stayed once near Termini and didn’t like the area.   We much preferred staying near campo di Fiori.   It felt a much safer area to explore in the evening.  

[ninjacat123]

1 hour ago, bennybear said:

We stayed once near Termini and didn’t like the area.   We much preferred staying near campo di Fiori.   It felt a much safer area to explore in the evening.  

We were happy at Roma Central Guest House👍

[Host Bonjour]

Ciao tutti!

 

So we have the holiday mingle board open and there's the beginnings of a *chef's kiss* cookie topic so you know I got to thinking about everyone here.

 

Maybe there's not always a consistent stream of conversations about dolci, there's the gelato chat and the tiramisu chat, so there has to be some holiday cookie chat. That leads me to believe there may be fans of rainbow cookies, pizzelles, pignoli cookies (ok not for everyone), cannoli (not a cookie but not open for debate in this topic 😂 ), the honey balls aka struffoli, (also not a cookie, but you tell that to a Sicilian!).

 

If you have any Italian, American, Polish (don't know how to spell it but they have a classic), Filipino, Dominican, Greek, any type of holiday/seasonal recipe, or restaurant fave/memory, you'd like to share, please do! The festively shaded link ⬆️ to the topic is available in the first line of this post.

 

There's an adorable gingerbread badge on offer for anyone who contributes. You can almost taste the little hands...ok that's probably weird. 🍪😂

 

Hope everyone is well, warm (or cool in the southern hemisphere) and if traveling over the next few weeks, go safely. 🎇✨

 

 

Colleen

 

 

[marazul]

Gambero Rosso's best trattorias and restaurants in Italy for 2024

The Gambero Rosso magazine is the Michelin Guide or Bon Appetit of Italy.  Every year it rates and issues awards to all sorts of eating establishments from fine dining to wine bars. The awards are ranked from one to three, with three being the best.  For 2024 it awarded "Tre Gamberi" (Three shrimp) to 36 trattorias and "Tre Forchette" (Three forks) to 47 fine dining restaurants.

 

The Tre Gamberi winners for Rome are:

L'Arcangelo Vino e Cucina

Armando al Pantheon

Da Cesare

Grappolo d'Oro

 

Here is a link to the full article for the Tre Gamberi trattorias: 

https://www.gamberorosso.it/notizie/notizie-ristoranti/le-36-migliori-trattorie-ditalia-per-il-gambero-rosso-tutti-i-tre-gamberi/

 

Here is a link to the full article for the Tre Forchette fine dining restaurants:

https://www.gamberorosso.it/notizie/notizie-ristoranti/i-47-migliori-ristoranti-ditalia-2024-con-le-tre-forchette-gambero-rosso/

 

In each article, the restaurants and trattorie are grouped by Nord (North), Centro (Center) and Sud (South) Italy, and listed by region within each section. Rome is in Lazio, Florence is in Toscana, both in Center Italy. 

 

For more categories, you would need to buy their guide book and/or subscribe to the website or magazine.

Edited January 5 by marazul

[ninjacat123]

5 minutes ago, marazul said:

Gambero Rosso's best trattorias and restaurants in Italy for 2024

The Gambero Rosso magazine is the Michelin Guide or Bon Appetit of Italy.  Every year it rates and issues awards to all sorts of eating establishments from fine dining to wine bars. The awards are ranked from one to three, with three being the best.  For 2024 it awarded "Tre Gamberi" (Three shrimp) to 36 trattorias and "Tre Forchette" (Three forks) to 47 fine dining restaurants.

 

The Tre Gamberi winners for Rome are:

L'Arcangelo Vino e Cucina

Armando al Pantheon

Da Cesare

Grappolo d'Oro

 

Here is a link to the full article for the Tre Gamberi trattorias: 

https://www.gamberorosso.it/notizie/notizie-ristoranti/le-36-migliori-trattorie-ditalia-per-il-gambero-rosso-tutti-i-tre-gamberi/

 

Here is a link to the full article for the Tre Forchette fine dining restaurants:

https://www.gamberorosso.it/notizie/notizie-ristoranti/i-47-migliori-ristoranti-ditalia-2024-con-le-tre-forchette-gambero-rosso/

 

In each article, the restaurants and trattorie are grouped by Nord (North), Centro (Center) and Sud (South) Italy, and listed by region within each section. Rome is in Lazio, Florence is in Toscana, both in Center Italy. 

 

For more categories, you would need to buy their guide book and/or subscribe to the website or magazine.

Looks great, thanks for sharing!  Does the site have a translation button for English?  Asking for a friend...😉

[marazul]

15 minutes ago, ninjacat123 said:

Looks great, thanks for sharing!  Does the site have a translation button for English?  Asking for a friend...😉

Of course. 😁

 

No, there is no magic button.  However, in this case it is easy to understand the listings. Just scroll down the page to find the names of the restaurants.  For example, here is the listing for Toscana.  It just names the restaurants and the cities.  Da Burde is the only Tre Gamberi award in Firenze (Florence); Futura Osteria is located in Monteriggioni:

 

Toscana

• Da Burde - Firenze
• Futura Osteria - Monteriggioni (SI)   [SI is a district within Toscana]

Edited January 5 by marazul

[VA Emily]

We try to take food tours wherever we travel.  While in Rome in December, 2023, we had a fantastic food tour via a golf cart.  Our English speaking guide made Rome come alive through food.  We booked the tour with Eating Europe.  I discovered this tour on TripAdvisor.com.  This is a “can’t miss” tour!

[slidergirl]

I'll vouch for Da Cesare in Rome.  It's outside of the Centro Storico but extremely easy to get to.  It's at the end of the #8 tram line at Casaletto.    It is a casual place and it's outside looks belie the yumminess inside.  The appetizer of fried gnocchi in cacio e pepe is to die for!

[carolinetodd]

Does anyone have a suggestion for lunch in Florence?  I'm not looking for a quick slice or sandwich grabbed between museums, but a leisurely meal somewhere with a little charm.  Among my band of Philistines are some who are church-averse and/or definitely not into renaissance painting, some with bad-to-terrible knees, so we've managed to agree on the Galileo Museum near the Uffizi, the Bargello Museum, Mercato d'Ambrogio, and maybe the gardens at Villa Bardini.  I'd love to find a place not far from these, not super-expensive, but needn't be bargain basement, either.  Any experience with Teatro del Sale?  I thought it sounded entertaining.

[marazul]

46 minutes ago, carolinetodd said:

Does anyone have a suggestion for lunch in Florence?  I'm not looking for a quick slice or sandwich grabbed between museums, but a leisurely meal somewhere with a little charm.  Among my band of Philistines are some who are church-averse and/or definitely not into renaissance painting, some with bad-to-terrible knees, so we've managed to agree on the Galileo Museum near the Uffizi, the Bargello Museum, Mercato d'Ambrogio, and maybe the gardens at Villa Bardini.  I'd love to find a place not far from these, not super-expensive, but needn't be bargain basement, either.  Any experience with Teatro del Sale?  I thought it sounded entertaining.

Trattoria Cammillo is a classic. Cross the Ponte Vecchio and turn right on Borgo San Jacopo.  It is a couple of blocks down on the left.

[-Lew-]

51 minutes ago, carolinetodd said:

Does anyone have a suggestion for lunch in Florence?

 

We visit Trattoria Zà Zà for lunch whenever we're in Firenze.  It never disappoints...

[Host Bonjour]

On 1/5/2024 at 5:21 PM, marazul said:

For 2024 it awarded "Tre Gamberi" (Three shrimp) to 36 trattorias and "Tre Forchette" (Three forks)

 

Love that you included the Italian translations! Appreciate the post and I think there are two restaurants on this list that are faves of our friends on here, è vero?

 

Don't recall seeing Arcangelo or Grappolo mentioned but I'm sure it's come up at some point. Gosh now I'm hungry/ho fame! 

 

Hope everyone's year has gotten off to a great start 🙂 

[Host Bonjour]

On 1/5/2024 at 5:28 PM, ninjacat123 said:

Looks great, thanks for sharing!  Does the site have a translation button for English?  Asking for a friend...😉

 

Which browser do you use? Google will almost always ask if you wish for a page to be translate and/or automatically translate if you check yes when the pop up appears. The browser will auto-translate any page you visit when it detects a language that isn't English. The others (Safari, Firefox, Bing) probably do it but I rarely use them–it might require changing a setting to trigger the translation so I'm not sure.

 

Like many others on this board, I can manage with Italian, but it doesn't go so well in every language so Google translate works wonders! Don't count on it for literary accuracy (yet) but it's generally adequate for travel info.  

[slidergirl]

If you want to grab a sandwich or charcuterie board with beer or wine, La Prosiutteria  is a nice casual spot.  Or, head to Mercato Centrale upstairs and let everyone pick from the various food stalls.  Those 2 are my usual go-to's in Florence.

[marazul]

Street food in Florence

For the tourist on the go. There is a great upmarket panini and schiacciatte shop in the middle of Florence. It is half way between the Duomo and the Uffizi. The sandwiches are takeout or eat in.  Of course, there is wine and beer too. It is called Retrobottega.  Here is the website.  It is in Italian, but it is very small with mostly pictures and a map at the bottom.

www.retrobottegafirenze.com

Edited January 29 by marazul

[1cruise2U]

On 1/8/2024 at 9:39 PM, VA Emily said:

We try to take food tours wherever we travel.  While in Rome in December, 2023, we had a fantastic food tour via a golf cart.  Our English speaking guide made Rome come alive through food.  We booked the tour with Eating Europe.  I discovered this tour on TripAdvisor.com.  This is a “can’t miss” tour!

do you remember the name of the tour sounds wonderful.

[VA Emily]

VIP Rome Golf Cart Tour With Eating Europe - it is a great food tour.