Agata e Romeo

For our final dinner in Rome, we went to Agata e Romeo. Agata e Romeo is listed as one of the top 10 Rome restaurants in numerous books and foodie websites, but we never got around to going to it last year as we either had other plans or the restaurant was fully booked. On our last evening in Rome, we committed to going to it.

To be honest, I wasn't sure about the restaurant, which is probably why we didn't try harder to go last November. In various reviews I read Agata was touted as being a well-known "TV chef," and that sounded suspicious and potentially unappealing to me -- which is stupid, really, since I love Mario Batali and Jamie Oliver and they are TV chefs of a sort, too. Fortunately, my suspicions turned out to be totally silly. Agata e Romeo uses beautiful, seasonally fresh produce in a wide ranging menu, and its reputation is well-deserved. The restaurant is cozy and specific while being romantic and elegant, run by a wife (Agata) and husband (Romeo) team. Romeo greets you at the door and acts as the warm host and Agata is in the kitchen. At the end of the evening, when we were the only people left in the restaurant (as usual), we had the chance to meet them both and express our delight with the food. Agata and Romeo were both lovely and gracious, and seemed truly pleased that we had a fabulous time.

David and I shared a starter of stuffed zucchini flowers that had NOT been battered and fried, but baked, stuffed with ricotta cheese and placed over a cheesy soup flavored with saffron. For our first courses, David had a "timbale of hollow pasta stuffed with eggplant and smoked scamorza" (pictured above) -- basically, a pasta "log" with eggplant and a soft smoked cheese sauce. This dish was delicious. I, in turn, had grilled scallops wrapped in prosciutto with a garlic and leak sauce. For our mains, I had wonderful breaded loin of tuna and David ate quail. Agata's millefeuille is well-mentioned in various reviews, so this is what we had -- and it was a terrific sweet finish. Agata e Romeo has an extensive wine list, too, and we had a bottle of 1997 Traminer that went fabulously with our food and for our tastes. With dessert David had a liqueur made of hazelnuts and I had a proper absinthe, which was powerful but nice. We had a wonderfully romantic evening, and were pleased with our final dinner choice.

(Agata's millefeuille)

Rome is a wonderful city -- great for foodies like us. It was the perfect few days' holiday after grueling casting weeks in various cities in Europe. In Rome, we got a city holiday with a beach-and-sun-holiday attitude (as well as beach and sun), with plenty of delicious food. Next time we visit Italy, we hope to do a little bit more driving and touring through various places... and learn a bit more Italian.

(In the mean time, I think David has gained back the weight he lost while on his casting tour... and I may have gained some, too... but alas, that is a holiday in Rome!)

A couple more snapshots...

Another photo from our trip to the beach: David playing with Dylan, the cutest pudgiest baby around (he's half Indian, half British). Dylan is held up by Daniel, his godfather and our new Roman friend.

David drinking a fruity, frothy concoction of cantaloupe (rock melon, as Australians call it) and banana. We thought that the drink was alcoholic, but we could not figure out if there was any alcohol in it. The drink was delicious anyhow, and we enjoyed having a sit-down in the Piazza della Rotunda, right in front of the Pantheon (pictured behind David).

Another day of eating around Rome

(Tomoko grinning with delight over a wonderful dish of melanzane alla parmigiana...)

David and I went to lunch in the Da Giggetto, to re-experience the carciofi alla giudia and the melanzane alla parmigiana I ate the first night in Rome. The dishes did not disappoint, and we had a wonderful bottle of Italian Gewurtraminer while sitting outside overlooking the Portico d'Ottavia. It was interesting to be in the Jewish Ghetto during the daytime, which we hadn't done before, and walk around the Portico d'Ottavia and the Teatro di Marcello after lunch.

After lunch, we crossed the Tiber and to Trastevere, where David took me to a little piazza he had gone with the Dirty Dancing crew their first night in Rome. It was a pleasant walk, although the temperature seemed to rise rapidly as the clouds parted and the bright Roman sun shone again. On our return back from Trastevere, we decided to cool down with gelato on Tiber Island and ate on the bridge overlooking part of the river (the Tiber splits into two parts where we were, thus creating "Tiber Island" in the middle).

(David's gelato on the left, Tomoko's more piccolo gelato on the right...)

David, as usual, ate a massive copa of rather rich and creamy flavors: cinnamon, tiramisu, and panacotta.

I, in turn, had a piccolo copa of prugna (prune) and limone (lemon). The prune flavor gelato, more like a sorbet, was fresh and wonderful, with real prune bits. Since I cannot normally eat pit fruits raw (due to a particular allergy -- I can eat pit fruits cooked), the sorbet was a fantastic treat for me, as I could savor the prune flavors in a tasty cool treat without the itchy allergic reaction:

It is very hot in Rome today, so we walked some more, did some shopping (I purchased a carry-on suitcase with computer compartment from Mandarina Duck, and David purchased a cool polo shirt), and now we are back in our hotel room cooling down, chilling out, me having a little glass of limoncello and David Mirto, his new favorite liqueur. We have not decided what to do for our last meal in Rome... but, as we are in Rome, the options are plenty.

Porcini season... and a new obsession

So it may not be the season for carciofi or white truffles (which were in season when we were in Rome last year, in November), but it is currently the season for porcini mushrooms and, boy, are they delicious. Yesterday we went to Matricianella for lunch outside, and I had a fantastic plate of simply grilled porcini mushrooms (pictured above).

I have also discovered a new obsession, one that has replaced (for the time being) my obsession for chicken wings (probably a good thing). My new food obsession is melanzane alla parmigiana -- or eggplant parmigiana. I am hopelessly in love with this dish, and so ate it at Matricianella:

Melanzane alla parmigiana is different than the typical eggplant parmigiana one might find in the US. In the US, the dish often is comprised of bread-crumb covered pieces of eggplant that are fried, then covered in cheese and tomato sauce. Not so here. Here in Rome, I have discovered that melanzane alla parmigiana is a baked dish of eggplant -- not battered -- with lovely tomato sauce and cheese. It is a far superior and elegant dish than one's typical eggplant parmigiana one might eat at an Italian restaurant in New York. I must confess I think I prefer the melanzane alla parmigiana I had the first night -- but the version at Matricianella was lovely and I ate all of it anyway. I must learn to make this dish myself when I return to New York... perhaps organically.

Driving to Capocotta

(David very happy with our cute little convertible car -- the Nissan Micra...)

Sunday, David and I rented a car to drive to Capocotta, a beach outside of Rome. We were meeting our new Roman friends at the beach for lunch and some fun in the sun: Chiara and her roommate Ricardo, their old school friend Andrew from Milan, Elizabeth -- a dancer we met at auditions and an old friend of Chiara -- and her husband Daniel, as well as Elizabeth's friends from London, a married couple with two young children. (Elizabeth and Daniel are both half Brit and Italian.) While Chiara wanted us to rent motos (scooters/motorcycles) to travel to the beach, as the traffic is bad, we prudently declined and decided to rent a car instead (since I don't have my license, a moto would require that David and I ride tandem, and we are simply not that risk-taking). David was ecstatic to drive, and even more elated when we got a small convertible car at Avis.


Once we were able to find our way out of Rome, the drive to the beach itself was easy. We were able to take in he scenery and listen to a collection of great Nu Jazz CDs we'd purchase the day before. We felt quite glamorous and were pleased with ourselves...

(David very unhappy with the traffic and utter lack of any kind of parking in Capocotta...)

...until we reached the beach. We'd been warned that the traffic and parking was a nightmare -- we did not realize just how bad and chaotic it was. There were cars and motos EVERYWHERE, and it seemed a free-for-all in terms of parking. We didn't know what to do, and David, very unhappy and panic-rising, nearly turned the car around to go home. Luckily for us, Chiara came to our rescue and negotiated a deal with a guy who hangs around the road finding parking for cars and/or makes sure double parked cars are not towed by the police. We gave this guy 10 Euro and, voila, we had our convertible parked properly!

In Italy, it is very useful to have an attractive, Italian friend who seems to be able to fix and negotiate any kind of situation.


Once the car was parked, we had a gorgeous and relaxing day at the beach. After a lunch of fresh seafood (simply grilled tuna drizzled in olive oil and lemon, octopus, grilled calamari) and Falanghina (Chiara's favorite wine), we plopped ourselves on lounge chairs on the beach. We swam a bit -- the water was cold at first, but then was lovely once we got used to it -- and generally lazed about on the beach, chatting with our new friends and playing with Jasmine, 3, and her little brother, Dylan, 7 months old.

Chiara and her friends have been tremendously generous and hospitable to us -- they have made our second Rome trip special and specific, and have made sure we felt a part of their community. Whether it's dinner or a Sunday at the beach, or wine or carcioffi (which more than one person have very concernedly explained to me are not in season, as if they would not want me to think that the carcioffi I might eat now would be of the normative standard of the dish when they are, indeed, in season), our Roman friends are terrifically interested in our seeing all the loveliness and colors of Rome as they enjoy their city. And this has made our trip wonderfully memorable, and also, I think we will leave Rome with new friends we'd love to keep in our lives.


TM

Room with Our Roman View

A snapshot of sunset from our fantastic balcony from the Westin Excelsior. (I never did find my battery charger for my digital camera, which means all our blogged photos so far must be taken by my trusty Nokia mobile phone.)

Roman Holiday

(The Westin Excelsior Hotel gave us a bottle of Laurent-Perrier Champagne to celebrate our "honeymoon.")

David and I are in ROMA! And for a holiday, not for work! We truly love Rome, and are ecstatic to be back in this gorgeous city.

David has been in Rome since Thursday for casting -- the final city in his multi-city casting tour. I finished casting in London Thursday, and flew out to Rome on the first plane available Friday morning -- 6:50AM, which meant I finished packing at 2AM, slept for an hour, got ready, and left around 4AM in the drizzling, miserable London dawn. Eleanor traveled to Rome, too, as we wanted to see the final Rome casting day on Friday. Although sleep-deprived and bleary-eyed, Eleanor and I were delighted to leave gray London for sunny, summery Rome. We went directly to the audition venue from the airport, cast until a little after 5PM, and then retreated back to our respective hotels for a bit of a siesta before dinner with the crew. Although there was something strange about finding myself at yet another casting session in a different country (almost masochistic), my casting food consumption looked brighter at lunch time: gone were the terrible chicken slices and pre-prepared buckets of salad from Marks & Spencers (on a good day) or a McDonald's grilled chicken sandwich (on a bad day); at lunch in Rome, we sat down to lovely thin crust pizzas, still hot, and a bottle of Falanghina.

I like casting in Rome.

David has gotten fabulous feed-back from his German casting team (with whom he has been doing this European casting tour), and, indeed, it was wonderful for me to see him working with dancers again. It has only been a few weeks since we last worked together, but I realized how much I had missed his energy and generous spirit as a colleague.

(David working with Italian dancers... they happen to be the petite couple, so David towers over them.)

(Possibly the best carciofo I have ever eaten in Rome.)

(The eggplant parmigiana that makes me think it might just be possible to be a vegetarian.)

Last night, we went out to dinner with the casting crew as well as Chiara, a fierce Italian dance legend who apparently knows and is respected by everyone in Italian show business. She has been helping us with our casting in Rome, and is fabulous. She took us to a great, traditional Roman restaurant, where I very happily ate carciofi (fried artichoke) and eggplant parmigiana, and David ate stuffed zucchini flowers and some sort of grilled fish. We drank a lovely bottle of Roero Arneis. Chiara brought with her ten of her own friends, too, so dinner was loud and merry and spanned over two long tables. After dinner, we were invited to a party at Chiara's gorgeous apartment -- and oh, what fun was had. It was our first Roman house party, and WE LOVED IT. We met lots of lovely people, danced the night away, and decided that we would join some of the people on a trip to the beach this weekend.

Today, we moved hotels -- we left the hotel where David was staying for casting (arranged by work), and checked into the Westin Excelsior Hotel, where we will stay for 3 nights, maybe 4 if we can arrange it with work. We told the hotel that we were on our honeymoon, which we'd like to believe is pretty much true. After all, we only had 3 days of honeymooning when we honeymooned, because David had to get back to work -- then, it stands to reason that we still have some honeymooning days left for us to take. The Westin is great, and we have been given a gorgeous bottle of Champagne (photo at top) and strawberries. We have a great balcony overlooking Rome, and are happily situated. We spent the day wandering around the fancy shops -- I purchased a Missoni bathing suit, which is gorgeous (I have wanted one for some time, and what better city to buy a Missoni bathing suit than Rome?) and David bought swim trunks, as neither of us had brought our swimmers, not having anticipated a trip to an Italian beach.

And so begins our Roman holiday... we hope to eat, drink and rest!