Day 15: Rome
Sunday was a very hot day. Unfortunately air conditioning on buses and trains can be hit or miss in Rome. It was warm in the orange line subway but thank god it was only a couple stops to the Spanish steps. Despite the heat, we knew right away we needed to run up the steps just like Rocky. At the top is a nice view of the streets below. Judging on how much less crowded it was up there, you could say most people would just take a selfie at the bottom of the steps and move on.
We escaped the madness and found a little cafe / bar called La Buvette. It's quite common in Europe to have places open as a cafe in the morning and bars in the evening. Though it appears Europeans drink either or regardless the time of the day. Following the Romans, we ordered the traditional negroni and a newly discovered spritz called the Hugo. For those who are not familiar with spritz, typically it's comprised of prosecco, sparkling water and some type of liquor like aperol or campari. Jackie finds aperol to be a little bitter. The only difference with Hugo is you replace the aperol with St Germain, an elderflower liquor to make it sweeter. Replace the oranges with mint and what we got is a new favorite drink.
The first pizza place called Antico Forno Roscioli is associated with Roscioli Salumeria con Cucina, where we ate dinner on Day 14. They are known for two types of pizza, the ultra thin crust and the thick roman style similar to the Sicilian. The eggplant with cheese was decent but the sauce lacked the bold flavor we were looking for. It's kinda sad to say but our hometown Via Vento's Sicilian and even Corpolese's tomato pie are better. Since we only tried one style, we can't speak for all the other pizza slices. But for now, we say stick to their deli / salumeria and just skip their roman pizza.
Not far from the Spanish steps is Trevi fountain, another mad house, crowded with tourists. There is nothing more that we hate than huge crowds, especially filled with stupid, ignorant people. We quickly threw our coin in the water, even though we know we will return to Rome at some point in the future. It was until later that evening we discovered that with the coin in your right hand, you toss it behind your left shoulder. It was very amusing....just watch the video on our Instagram.
Our next food stop was Stefano Callegari's Trappizino. This well established chef and entrepreneur started a pizzeria called Sforno back in 2005. He then focused on street food, particularly a style that combines the simplicity of pizza with classical Roman dishes. Thus the Trappizino was born. Imagine eating a sandwich that is made from pizza dough, stuffed with Italian ingredients like artichokes or meatballs. The eggplant or parmigiana di melazane trappizino possessed the bold red sauce we were looking for earlier.
We also tasted another local favorite called suppli. Like the arancini, the suppli is a deep fried rice ball with "surprise" ingredients like porchetta, sausage or just simply cheese. We cut and separated our little ball to reveal gooey cheese with ragu sauce in the middle. Very good. We wonder how this suppli stacks up to other restaurants in the area. It seems every culture and country has their own fried ball variation like croquetas in Spain or croquettes in France.
The heat was really getting to us after lunch. So we headed back to our airbnb to hydrate and refuel. In Giada's guide to Rome, she points out a special restaurant that serves lasagna, roasted pork and eggplant parmesan on certain days. We decided to email them to see if we can score a reservation. Not even 5 mins, we received a message stating if dinner at 9:30 would be okay? We instantly confirmed and asked if they were serving the roast pork and lasagna that evening. One word reply back: Yes!
It was time for another drink. Jackie did some research and suggested the Blackmarket Hall, about a 15 minute walk from our place. When we arrived, there was a sign stating that current location is closed and has moved about 50 meters down the street. In the past, we have ventured far to a few restaurants and bars to only discover they are closed without any warning or notice online. At least we just had to walk another 150 feet or so to see what the Blackmarket had to offer. Upon entering this very old building, the host directed us downstairs to a unexpected hip bar filled with leather lounge chairs and pictures of famous jazz performers like Louis Armstrong and Billie Holiday. Yearning for a familiar drink, Jackie orders a Moscow mule with Titos, yes this bar has Titos. I on the other hand wanted an Italian cocktail other than the usual aperol spritz or negroni. The bartender was really intrigued. You can see the wheels spinning in her head. She probably took a good 5 minutes, looking at all the bottles in front of her for some inspiration before starting the experiment. What she came up with was a cocktail she never made before. Without revealing the entire newly created recipe, there was gin mixed with a spirit called strega, cucumber syrup, bergamotto which is a liquor made from lemons in Calabria and lime juice. The balance was spot on. Even Jackie who despises gin said you can't really taste the notorious strong alcohol.
As we chatted with the bartender a little more, she stated her dream is to move to Austin, Texas with the owner and open a bar similar to the Blackmarket. She explained how difficult it is to open a bar in an old city like Rome, a place full of regulations and outrageous fees. That is why so many foreigners aspire to move to America to start a new life and better themselves. It is truly inspirational. We thanked the bartender for a wonderful time and suggested she called the new cocktail creation, Kevin in Rome. That is very good, she replied.
Rushing to La Tavernaccia thanks to a very late bus, we made it 5 minutes after our scheduled time. The hostess was not concerned at all. From what we have read and heard, it is very typical of Italian locals to arrive late to reservations. Naturally they were backed up and we had to wait anyway for our two top. Next to us was a gentleman from Copenhagen, Demark who asked us if we would be interested in trying some wine. Like us, he travels often and likes to sample local food and drinks. He doesn't like to be wasteful and we don't mind taking some glasses of wine off his hand.
We later found out the lasagna was sold out but because we emailed and inquired about it earlier, the chef saved a slice for us. We ended up returning the favor and provided our Danish friend half of the lasagna. We were hand gesturing to each other how fine the pasta and wine were. Along with the excellent pasta, the leg of roasted pork was super crispy, with a strange, yet delicious earthy note to it. The eggplant parmesan was cooked very similar to the lasagna, so we actually could have done without it.
Although there were some mishaps, we were overall satisfied with our first full day of Rome. It was nice meeting individuals who share our passion for food and travel. There is so much you take back with you when you explore a new area and culture. Rome is beginning to look like a city, too big to take on for such a short amount of time.