Roman Holiday IV
We are leaving Rome today, heading to London before flying home to Philadelphia tomorrow. It has been a wonderful visit and we are both looking forward to coming back. While we are packing and waiting for taxis and hanging around airports, I thought I would do another post or two.
Remember a couple of days ago I said that all restaurants in Rome were Italian and they all have the same menu and it is the ingredients and execution that separate the sublime from the pretty good? No place we found demonstrates that better than Poldo e Gianna on Vicolo Rossini. Do you see the picture of the buffalo mozzarella and tomatoes above? Everybody has buffalo mozzarella and tomatoes on their menu. I wouldn’t be at all surprised to find buffalo mozzarella and tomatoes at a geleteria (ice cream parlor). Some are good and some are great. This was exquisite.
First off, they used cherry tomatoes, but more importantly, every single tomato was perfectly ripe. I don’t see how you can do that in March. The buffalo mozzarella was creamy and flavorful and after drizzling a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar, you had perfection. And there was no cooking – just perfect ingredients well presented.
Our second appetizer was fresh potato chips, another tribute to simplicity. Very thin chips freshly fried in olive oil and covered with a liberal sprinkling of grated cheeses. They were still warm when they arrived at the table.
As for mains, we had grilled entrecôte (a French cut of steak equivalent to a sirloin or strip) that was grilled perfectly to order in olive oil and a little salt and accompanied by stir fried slivered artichokes. Delicious, but Inreally want to talk about the spaghetti con vongole. Every restaurant has spaghetti and clams and all of the ones I tasted were at least very good. Poldo e Gianna’s were special. Of course the pasta was al dente and it was covered with enough pecorino to add a pronounced sharpness. There were more clams than I have come to expect and they encircled the pasta, which was presented as a small tower in the middle of the plate. So far, so good. Well executed pasta, strong cheese and more clams tan expected. Now add battaglia di muggine, smoked roe from a grey mullet. The roe added a brininess while intensifying all the other flavors in the dish. The best cooked dish I had in Rome (I’m still reeling from the buffalo mozzarella and tomatoes from here and Il Forchetto’s fennel and grapefruit salad).
