After visiting the Trevi Fountain and the Pantheon in Rome a few weeks ago, we had a wonderful Roman meal at Ristorante Trattoria Antonio al Pantheon (http://www.ristoranteantonioalpantheon.it/) at Via dei Pastini 12. I selected this restaurant, which is only about a block from the Pantheon, on the basis of its many favorable TripAdvisor reviews.
We enjoyed our tasty repast at a nice outdoor table.
During the course of our meal, I had interesting discussions with the owner, Antonio Garbini, and with one of his employees, Nando. They were kind enough to spend time chatting with me despite the fact that they were very busy. Antonio's family has owned this restaurant since 1934.
The restaurant offers many items that are specialties of Rome and of Lazio, the region where Rome is located. We had a delicious and typically Roman meal at a very reasonable price. I saw many items on the menu that I would love to have tried. I would return here in a heartbeat.
Antonio has a home in the Umbrian town of Norcia, which is renowned throughout Italy for its prosciutto and other pork products. I noticed a number of Norcia items on menu. When I mentioned that at the end of the meal, Antonio brought out a free plate of Norcia prosciutto for us to try. It was fantastic. (My wife and I visited Norcia in 2010 and had a wonderful meal at Ristorante Granaro del Monte, the oldest restaurant in Umbria. See my article about our visit to Norcia - http://viaggiviniecucine.blogspot.com/2010/11/norcia-sibillini-mountains-national.html)
Before we ordered our meal, they brought my daughter and me each a free glass of white wine. The Lazio Region, is better known for its refreshing white wines than its reds.
As we drank the wine, I mentioned to Antonio and Nando that I liked red wines and always like to try local wines, but that Lazio was not known for its reds. They told me that there were some very nice reds produced in Lazio. They recommended the 2010 Sesto 21 Syrah. It was very nice and reasonably priced at €25. It is produced by Azienda Vinicola Casata Merge (http://www.casatamerge.it/) about 8 km southeast of Rome.
My grandson and I shared an order of Jewish-style Artichokes (Carciofi alla Giudia) for €11. This dish originated in the Jewish-ghetto of Rome, and is particularly popular during February-April, when the local Romanesco artichokes are harvested. In this dish, the hard outer leaves are removed. Then the remaining part of the artichoke is put in water with lemon juice, seasoned with salt and pepper, and fried. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carciofi_alla_giudia). I loved the dish.
My grandson also had Spaghetti alla Carbonara for €8.
My granddaughter had Insalata Verde (green salad) for €5 and Spaghetti alla Carbonara.
My daughter had Tonnarelli alla Gricia for €9. Tonnarelli is a Roman pasta. The tonnarelli at Antonio’s is house made. Alla gricia means in the style with little bits. The “bits” are small pieces of guanciale, a type of bacon. The other main ingredient is Roman pecorino cheese. This dish is basically like pasta all’Amatriciana without tomatoes.
I had house-made pappardelle pasta with fresh porcini mushrooms and pachino tomatoes (Pappardelle con Porcini Freschi e Pachino) for €12. Pachino tomatoes are a type of cherry tomatoes from the southeast coast of Sicily.
We were also charged the usual cover charge for bread. In this case, it was €1.50 per person.
The total cost of our delicious meal at this great location was a very reasonable €84.
Tante grazie per una cena squisita!
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