Lots of Street Food!

Today was the day I was really looking forward to. We had booked a “street food stroll” by a Roman blogger. She was born to an Italian mom and an American dad (sounds like a great 80’s sitcom for all sorts of crazy trouble). She moved to Italy when she was little and has been there ever since, though you wouldn’t know it from her accent. We met up with Eleonora at 3:00 PM and began our education on Roman street food. Keep in mind this isn’t hot dog stands or any other crappy American fare; this is what is eaten in Rome on the run. We started in the Jewish Ghetto, a name it has carried since the Renaissance. I guess they are known for their fried fare, and we sampled a fried artichoke. This was heavy duty, not battered, just straight up fried. It had a unique taste and a wonderful crispy texture. While Eleonora admitted some leaves were a bit leathery, others had a potato chip-esque flare. As with steamed artichokes, the best part was the heart, though I was shocked to learn that the stem was equally good. Julie didn’t really care for this sample. We stopped at a Jewish bakery next that was making limited food due to the upcoming Easter holiday. We tried some macaroons, which I normally don’t like, but I loved their delicate fluffy texture. After a bit of a history lesson about what went on during WWII, we moved on to a wonderful gourmet shop (think Tony’s Meat Market for Italians). Speaking of Tony, this place was featured in Anthony Bourdain’s “No Reservations.” It had all sorts of cheeses, meats, oils, vegetables, and wine. She procured us a taste of fresh buffalo mozzarella with semi-dried tomatoes. You read me correctly, semi-dried, not sundried. The tomatoes are dried or somewhat dried with oil and other herbs. This was amazing. Definitely Julie’s favorite stop and maybe mine. Next we went to the bakery that was related to this place. They are known for their bread, obviously, and their pizza, which is sold by the weight (One of the bakers there claimed that some of the bread was requested by Prince William and Kate for the royal wedding. Our guide said we could choose to believe that if we wanted). The pizza was a very thin crusted pizza with simple toppings. Quite delightful as well. On to try some Suppli. Suppli is made of rice mixed with a tomato sauce wrapped around a ball of mozzarella then fried. This was also quite tasty and filling. Next we stopped at the oldest chocolaterrie in Rome. They were busy making tons of Easter chocolate, particularly really large chocolate Easter eggs that apparently have prizes inside. Some were as expensive as 100 Euros! We sampled a little bit of chocolate, which wasn’t bad, but it’s hard to impress me with chocolate. Since we had nothing to drink, we tried some espresso. This place was really busy and we only got a tiny cup of espresso, which was maybe a tablespoon and a half. Eleonora told us we’d be up all night with it. I swear it made me sleepy. We’re almost done, I promise. We moved on to a pasta making shop that we found out supplies several restaurants nearby and even some residents. You might visit them if you were having a lot of company over, and you didn’t want to make a lot of pasta. Lastly, we got to visit an authentic gelato place. How do you know it’s authentic? Well, they have a sign from a government organization that ensure the quality of the gelato. They periodically check in on the restaurant to make sure they are using the right ingredients. They also respond to complaints from customers. Who knew this existed and can I report Dairy Queen for all sorts of grievances? I tried pistachio gelato, which I never would have if Eleonora didn’t tell me it was the most authentic she had ever had. It really did taste like pistachios. Julie had the wild strawberry gelato, which she claimed was much better than the day before. We bid Eleonora “arrivederci” and went on our way.

Fortunately, we were able to obtain reservations for dinner tonight at the gourmet food shop we went to earlier that day. It was such a neat place, and we essentially ate at the back of the deli. We definitely ordered too much food. We ordered everything at once and started with buffalo mozzarella and burratta. Then, I had the pasta carbonarra and Julie had fettuccine with shrimp and pancetta. Still eating, I had the beef carpaccio as well. Note that we tried to order the cheese plate, but our waiter (nicknamed Giorgio by Julie) said that would be too much. I wanted to tell him that we were from the land of too much, but he probably figured that by our choices so far. We befriended a couple sitting next to us (nicknamed Jay and Gloria, from Modern Family, by Julie because of their similarity to them[Julie nicknames everyone]). Julie offended the male by asking him if he was British because of his accent. He corrected her that he was an Aussie.

SIDEBAR (as made famous by Julie) - Really Aussies? You're offended that you're mistaken for a Brit? You're offended that we misunderstood an accent from the Isle of Criminals for one from the Isle of Manners? C'mon, be happy we didn't think you were Canadian.

Giorgio was not happy that we could not finish any of our orders, but like Americans, we love to waste! I asked for a "digestivo," and received a very interesting herbal drink that Eleonora had recommended earlier that day. It was different and I couldn't place any of the herbs even after Giorgio explained to me that it had herbs in it. He didn't understand Julie's question of what kind of herbs. It's possible I drank liquid marijuana or other "herbs," which would explain the large rabbit that tried to attack us on the way home.

To answer Andrew's question, Italians eat pastries for breakfast. Think My Favorite Muffin but without all of the crappy muffins.

Here's a lot more photos. (Can you find Julie on the Spanish Steps?)