I am new here, so forgive me if this has been a topic in the past. I saw a post of "your one thing to do in Rome," and it got me to thinking. What are your favorite Trattorias in Rome? I have read the restaurant reviews, and they are wonderful, but I wanted to get others opinions. No need for a detailed review, but an address would be nice if available.
Thanks.
Posts: 26 | Location: College Station, TX | Registered: 21 September 2009
On behalf of your moderators and fellow travelers, could we get some of you enthusiasts to post restaurant reviews for these favorites? It would be a great help to future Rome visitors, and it really doesn't take much time.
Grazie!
Judy
Posts: 3962 | Location: Berkeley, CA | Registered: 22 March 2005
Okay - so this got me wondering - what "counts" as a trattoria? Is it by price? Feel? Some unquantifiable judgment? Curious, before I pony up with a suggestion.
Thanks everyone for the responses. I have been to Rome once and did not yet know about Slow Travel so I was not able to benefit from all of your great insight. I am really looking forward to my next trip in March. I will be armed with much more (and better) information!!
Posts: 26 | Location: College Station, TX | Registered: 21 September 2009
Okay - so this got me wondering - what "counts" as a trattoria? Is it by price? Feel? Some unquantifiable judgment? Curious, before I pony up with a suggestion.
Perhaps Maureen Fant will comment about the definition of trattorie, which is stated in the above URL. And, since the original poster asked about "trattorias", perhaps he knows what a trattoria is.
Peter
Posts: 1632 | Location: Essex Fells, NJ and Longboat Key, Florida | Registered: 21 July 2002
The definition I have always heard is pretty much what was referenced in the link you provided. Around here, we would call it the 'mom and pop' kind of restaurant. I obviously didn't spell the plural correctly though.
Posts: 26 | Location: College Station, TX | Registered: 21 September 2009
Hmm, how do you pick just one? I guess the one we return to repeatedly is the Trattoria Morgana, in via Mecenate. We stumbled upon it several years ago, wandering around the neighborhood after visiting the church of San Clemente. We especially like going for lunch when it is filled with local business people.
Another vote for Da Giggetto (noted for fried artichokes and stuffed zucchini flowers) and La Fraschetta we have eaten at both and would/have gone back
Another recommendation is Taverna dei Mercanti (mixed grill)
Sit outside for Da Giggetto and Taverna dei Mercanti when the weather permits
Okay - so this got me wondering - what "counts" as a trattoria? Is it by price? Feel? Some unquantifiable judgment? Curious, before I pony up with a suggestion.
Perhaps Maureen Fant will comment about the definition of trattorie, which is stated in the above URL. And, since the original poster asked about "trattorias", perhaps he knows what a trattoria is.
Peter
Eccomi!
The usual definition of a trattoria as a small family-run restaurant is ridiculous. Most restaurants in Italy are small and family run, including those with Michelin stars, but a Michelin-star restaurant is not a trattoria. Nor does the word trattoria in the name of the establishment necessarily mean anything. The name may be the old name of the premises while the style may be very new -- as, for example, when a new generation takes over. So what is it?
A trattoria is essentially a neighborhood restaurant, not a destination restaurant, and it usually specializes in typical, traditional dishes, though that is changing.
The trattorie that get a great deal of attention from guides and journalists and websites are practically out of the category, not true trattorie but more ristoranti. For want of a better term, I call these "trattoria plus."
The food at a trattoria is usually good but not so outstanding that you would take a taxi across town for it. They're like the water fountains -- wonderful, but you use the one near you; there's nothing to be gained from traveling to a different one. When an establishment has emerged from the pack to the point that foreigners send e-mails three months ahead to book a table, it has lost its character as a trattoria, though many do make a successful effort to stay true to their roots and not put on airs.
The traditional trattoria is usually casual and frequented by habitués who usually order their favorite dish, which the owner knows. The menu is usually typical of the locality, though you do find trattorie that specialize in the cuisine of another place (Milan has many Tuscan trattorie, for example). They usually have wine by carafe and a short, poorly presented wine list (e.g., names of maybe a dozen wines but not producers). They are more likely to buy their desserts from Antica Gelateria del Corso than to serve Mamma's homemade torta di mele.
Modern casual restaurants can claim to be trattorie if they emphasize eating over drinking and/or grazing and show some sensitivity to typical local cooking.
Your basic holes in the wall are trattorie, as long as there are tables and someone acting as a waiter. At the point where the wine becomes very good or hired staff outnumbers blood relations or even where the tables are carefully set or the bread is something you can't buy at the corner store or where most customers arrive by car or taxi, a trattoria is evolving into something else.
In any case, the term is used loosely, especially in the centro storico, which is becoming ever less typical than the more anonymous peripheral neighborhoods. Often, yes, it is a "feel" that makes an eatery a trattoria. But what must be present is a casual, preferably traditional atmosphere and a good component of dishes that a local person remembers his mother or grandmother making.
Maureen, it seems then by the mere act of discussing these establishments here, or deeming them "worthy" of a visit, we are removing them from the trattoria category and moving them into something else.
Is it splitting hairs to make a distinction between a trattoria and and an osteria? (Or a "hosteria", as they're sometimes called?)
I recently ate a place called Hosteria Nerone near the Colosseum, focusing on the saltimbocca alla romana, which was good but nothing extraordinary. When we asked for the check, the waiter said, "Cash or credit?", and there followed the customary passage of time. After about a half and hour, my companion said, "I can pay in cash, if that's better," and the waiter calculated the check then and there, from memory. I wonder if we'd be sitting there still if we'd hadn't had cash? (That might be okay. )
Originally posted by luckyduck: Is it splitting hairs to make a distinction between a trattoria and and an osteria? (Or a "hosteria", as they're sometimes called?)
I recently ate a place called Hosteria Nerone near the Colosseum, focusing on the saltimbocca alla romana, which was good but nothing extraordinary. When we asked for the check, the waiter said, "Cash or credit?", and there followed the customary passage of time. After about a half and hour, my companion said, "I can pay in cash, if that's better," and the waiter calculated the check then and there, from memory. I wonder if we'd be sitting there still if we'd hadn't had cash? (That might be okay. )
Getting the check is a whole other topic, and one of the mysteries of life here. At Nerone, it's usually the owner who calculates the bill.
Hosteria, osteria, and other variant spellings are a special case. The osteria is a traditional name for a place with an oste, host, meaning innkeeper, pourer of the wine. It was principally a place to go to drink wine, food being either secondary or even BYO. Many restaurants have it in their name as a carryover from generations past, but it essentially means nothing. Hostaria (or is it hosteria?) dell'Orso is one of the fanciest places in town, while Hostaria Nerone is as close to an unreconstructed old-style trattoria as it's possible to have with a clientele consisting largely of engineering professors and tourists. Osteria has been adopted by the Slow Food guides to indicate the sort of place they like: good wine and attention to traditional local cuisine. Thus when they use the word, we know what it means, but in the name of a restaurant, you still need more information.
Posts: 300 | Location: Rome | Registered: 03 March 2004
I like to compare it to your eccentric uncle. You love him, but hesitate to introduce him to your friends, who may not find him as charming as you do. Likewise a newcomer may not hit it off right away with a neighborhood trattoria -- one reason you often hear the advice to go to the same place several times and establish a relationship.
When I go to Rome (2 or 3 days each 2 months) I go to Felice a Testaccio www.feliceatestaccio.com. It is a typical Roma trattoria and not a restaurant for turists. You can find the best "bucatini cacio a pepe" a very simple kind of past with cheese and pepper but a very acid test for a roma's restaurant. Many others Roma specialties are present (spaghetti all'amatriciana o alla carrettiera and coda alla vaccinara Ciao
Felice was the very favorite trattoria in the March 2009 NYTimes article that perhaps stimulated this thread
I have been to da Felice twice...once in 1998 when it was the rough edged eating place guarded by the formidable Felice who sized you up when you walked up and decided whether you were worthy of being given a table.
I returned last Spring and found that da Felice had been transformed into a trendy, stylish place with English speaking waiters, a comely hostess, an English-language menu and tables filled with tourists. It was hard to believe it was the same place...the food was good but not remarkable.
Personally, I don't think that it qualifies for the "trattoria" designation any more.....
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