Help me find my favorite dishes in Rome

You may want to try Roma Sparita in Trastevere. They are known for their cheese and pepper pasta, but a friend tried their steak with pepe verde sauce and said it was wonderful. They have traditional Roman food. They also take reservations through their website.

Do you want the good news or the bad news? The bad news is, most of these dishes are not traditional Italian and you won't find them served (at least in such particular forms.) Alfredo sauce is actually an American invention, and any self-respecting Italian citizen views this dish with absolute disdain. In fact, if you see it on a menu you should treat that as a warning that the restaurant is geared to tourists and probably serving up microwave garbage. You'll find artichokes, but as with most ingredients they tend not to make stuff with them when the local goods are out of season. So, sorry to disappoint you there. But! Here's the great news: PREPARE TO HAVE YOUR MIND BLOWN. Find any good restaurant off the tourist gauntlet and they will absolutely serve you plateful after plateful of the best pasta you have ever had. Once you try an authentic pasta grecia, carbonara or l'ammatricana you will be changed forever. You don't need or want a fancy restaurant. Go to a recommended neighborhood place and go to town, ask them what's good! Or go on a food tour, they can be great resources on what to look for, and they're fun too. Do this right, and next trip you will have a different list of dishes you're trying to find! ;)

Pesto is a Ligurian dish, so not likely to be found in traditional Roman or Lazio places. Genoa for that.
Filetto al Pepe Verde is traditionally from Lombardy, which is viewed as the polar opposite to Lazio. Milan is more likely to have it.
Fettucine Alfredo is an American dish, with chicken and mushrooms, more certainly. You might find Fettuccine al burro e parmigiano somewhere in Emilia Romagna where parmigiano comes from, or with grana padano in other places. Fettucine is a Roman/Tuscan pasta format, but butter is not typically Roman.
Spaghetti con polpette isn't really eaten outside of touristic restaurants in Italy. Polpette are an Italian concoction that can be made with nearly any meat, from fish to veal. They really aren't eaten with pasta so much as in a sauce on their own.
Ravioli with Artichoke is a dish from Sardinia. Carciofi is italian for artichoke.

I would highly recommend, when in Rome, eat as a Roman. Let's break down what that means:
Carciofi/artichoke from Rome is world famous, but the season is from February to May. So anything you are liable to get outside of that season will have been frozen or imports, and not the Jewish Artichokes of Lazio. A good way to have them is fried. If you're out of that season, maybe zucchini flowers in the Jun-September or Puntarelle (which is a chicory variant) from November to February.

In place of the Alfredo, consider cacio e pepe, which is a pasta with pecorino romano, pepper and pasta water to make it creamy. The Pec-Rom is the local grating cheese, not Parm-Reg or Grana Padano. If you want something with a bit more going on, Carbonara adds guanciale (unsmoked pork jowl bacon) and egg yolks or whole eggs to the cacio e pepe.

In place of the spag w meatball, bucatini al amatricana is a tomato based sauce with guanciale, white wine and pecorino romano. Sometimes with some spice to it. Bucatini are like thick spaghetti that have had an angel hair pulled from the middle. Much preferred to spaghetti.

For a red meat fix, and an exploration of cocina povera, coda alla vaccinara, which is a braised cow tail. For something a bit more steak like, and less pot roast on awesome, Veal Saltimbocca.

Specialities of Rome also include fritti (all manner of fried things... salt cod, aforementioned zucchini flowers, rice balls, whatever), pizza bianca (which is really a focaccia), and Quinto Quarto cuisine (I don't think you are ready for this based on your interests, but the coda al vaccinara is really a good entrypoint).

And Rome claims the world's best pizza (so does Naples, both are credible heirs to the title). So, yeah, look for that.

I get what you like, but what you like isn't the best of Rome.

As awrzesinski said, these are not Italian preparations. Pesto is served on pasta mostly in Liguria and I've always had it there with a short, fat pasta (cannot remember the name), not fettucini. Alfredo is an American invention and chicken is not done with pasta, ever. Meatballs are meatballs and spaghetti is spaghetti: They do not marry.

I do not eat steak so cannot comment on that dish. Artichokes are eaten only December through May and while I have seen it in lasagna, I have not in ravioli.

Amatriciana is a fine tomato-based pasta preparation with guanciale (pork jowl) that you might enjoy. Most Italian-American restaurant versions can not compare. Carbonara is far superior to Alfredo so give that a try. For home cooking near Piazza Navona, you might get a kick out of Alfredo & Ada on Via dei Bianchi Nuovi. No menus, just the server telling you what they are cooking that day. Closed in August, Sun & Mon, and all holidays.

There is a small taverna and cantina around the corner from each other a little ways down an alley off the piazza, both called Lucifero, run by a family with connections in the region to great truffle and meat suppliers, so locals go there just for beef and for fondue, especially in truffle season. Tourists will order from the rest of the menu, too. Keep in mind that even though tourists are welcome, they operate at local hours, not tourist hours.

http://katieparla.com/lucifero-rome/

From googling tripavdisor I found the following restaurants in Rome which serve my 2 favorite dishes. Are any of these places good?

Filetto al Pepe Verde

Hotel Degli Aranci
4 Fiumi
Piccolo Arancio*
La Bufala Allegra*
That's Amore*
Il Butteri
Ristorante Da Baldo al Quarto Secolo
Arancio d'Oro
Hostaria Costanza
Fuori
Cantina La Barbera
Ciao Bella
Al Peperoncino
Ristorante Pizzeria Rossopomodoro
Santa Cristina al Quirinale
Ca' Maddalena Farm Resort*
Mauro Buonanno

Pesto

Anatra Grassa SRL
Ristorante Il Portico Roma
Chez Richard
Ritorante Maccheroni
Taste of Rome
That's Amore

One good sign in favor of Alfredo e Ada is that they don't have a website.

Isn't Rome the perfect opportunity to find some new favorite dishes?

Emily, I discovered most of these last time I was in Rome! I want to see if there are better places to get them than the places I went last time. I tend to find what I like and stick to it!

Anatra Grassa SRL looks Chiuso. No go there.
A place named in English, I would avoid like plague. So, That's Amore and Taste of Rome. I can't find any mention of Chez Richard.

La Regola is apparently a highly regarded Liguarian restaurant in Rome, so I would go there for the pesto, if I were set on having it. They do a Trofie fatte a mano con pesto fagiolini e patate that sounds pretty good, elevated tradition.

The steak, Lombardian, but something done in France as well... I dunno... I'd read some reviews.

I'm having trouble with this challenge because it's so far from how I'd do it.

There are places in Rome that have Fettuccine al pesto and meatballs on the menu? Meatballs served in a restaurant? Seriously?

I wonder how many Italians would ever eat pesto in Rome with a shape of pasta usually made with fish and seashells. Or how many Italians wouldn't find disgusting the idea of eating meatballs and spaghetti at the same time. It's quite disturbing.

Raviolis haven't been flirting with creamy sauces since the 80s. I don't want to know what a cheesy sauce is, really.

Laurel, the traditional ligurian pasta used with pesto is called trofie. If la Regola has hand made trofie on the menu I wouldn't miss the occasion to taste them.

I don't know who Alfredo is, but pasta made with butter is a dish that Italian mothers used to prepare when their kids had a stomach ache. If you asked "pasta al burro" in a real Italian restaurant, the waiter would also bring at the table a couple of tums.

I am so glad you folks are enjoying feeling all high and mighty about yourselves looking down on me but I know what I like. Thanks to those who took time to take my original questions seriously and respond sincerely.

Maybe what I like is Americanized Italian food. So what? What if... just maybe... the best Americanized Italian food can be found in Rome? A master chef who makes Americanized Italian food with the highest quality ingredients in a nice environment. Are you telling me such a place doesn't exist in Rome? Or you are just too snooty to ever consider trying or recommending it?

We are trying to tell you that the best italian-american food is found in America, not in Rome, because in Rome only american tourists eat it.

La Regola seems a good place, try it.

Rossopomodoro is a chain restaurant, that is surprisingly good. They pretend to make old style neapolitan recipes, with a little luck you could find the "timballo di pasta al forno" there, and taste the great-grandfather of spaghetti with meatballs. It's made with tagliatelle from the day before, cooked in the oven with very little meatballs, boiled eggs and a thick tomato sause. Plus every other leftover into the fridge that could actually run the risk of being wasted. It takes hours to prepare, I haven't seen it on a menu for years.

I will just go to the same place I went last time in Rome then and they have both the pesto and the steak I like!!!

I'm not saying that what you like is junk. I am sorry if that's how you are hearing it.

Your stated dishes include two things that are Americanized versions of things served in Italy, and a bunch of things that come from all over Italy, but not from Lazio or Rome. I am sure these things can be found in Rome, because it is the nation's capital, and it's a huge cosmopolitan city. And really, in the spirit of traveling like a temporary local, I suspect that restaurants that serve other regions cuisines, like La Regola, probably have a local base of customers. Because, if you were a cosmopolitan Roman in the 21st century, you might not want to eat Lazio style every day, you might want the variety that comes with the Risorgimento.

I am only stating that this isn't how I do things. I consider myself to be a picky eater, so I appreciate that you like what you like and want to find better versions of it. I totally get that. It's not how I roll, which is more to find the specialities of a place, and find restaurants that fit my itinerary and look for them on menus. I'm not saying that what you're doing, which is working from dishes to restaurants is wrong. It's just not how I roll. And, if you venture beyond Rome and Milan, it gets a lot harder, as some folks in some places like to eat how their grandparents ate, who ate like their grandparents ate, more or less. That was Modena, for instance, as recently as 15 years ago. A chef started reinventing the classics in ways that made locals want to hang him. And now, it is, by some metrics, one of the finest restaurants in the world. And yet, it's largely tourists who eat there because they still want 50 tortellini to the bowl of brodo.

I'm sorry if you think this is a snooty opinion. I am a bit of a snob when it comes to the food, but I can't tell you what to like. I might urge you to expand a bit, and explore what is local and good (cacio e pepe, carbonara, pizza, fritti, and so on), but if that's not your interest, it's not. Good luck.

@Darioalb: Funny you should mention timpano. Was just at a place here in Chicago, Nonnina, where the owners claim to reinvent things from their grandmothers cookbooks, and low and behold for $36, Timpano della "Nonnina" serving 2-4, taking 30 minutes to prepare. I am guessing that they par cook it, and then finish it a la minute. But, might be more common in the US now than in Italy.

Wife declined my offer to get it, but if we ever have guests, we might take 'em.

Max, yours was not a snooty response. You were helpful. Some others were snooty. Thank you.

Thanks darioalb! Trofie it is!

Anatra Grassa has become Il Gatto e l"Uva. It is very good. We ate there three times last year before we moved.

The Cat and the Grapes has an interesting dish with a pistachio pesto but with shrimp. Dunno if that's a deal breaker.

They have a Danish Filet but it's a different prep than what the OP is looking for.

We just returned frome Rome this week and had an excellent cacio e pepe at Matricianella. Fred Plotkin had recommended it to me and it did not disappoint. http://www.matricianella.it/

We just returned frome Rome this week and had an excellent cacio e pepe at Matricianella. Fred Plotkin had recommended it to me and it did not disappoint. http://www.matricianella.it/

Looks great. For MonkeyFace: The have a polpette alla romana, which can be with sugo, in which case it's spaghetti with meatballs, minus the spaghetti.

They have tonarelli con carciofi, which is a spaghetti cut on a chittara with some kind of artichoke preparation. Not a filled pasta, but maybe a new favorite.

They have the filetto al pepe verde, and they look like they have a nice selection of cheeses from around the country.

Might could work, and Plotkin is a guy who knows how to eat well, with and without the flare that MonkeyFace is not into.

According to this, the original version of Alfredo sauce was invented in Italy.....

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fettuccine_Alfredo

The difference seems to be that it's called Fettuccine Alfredo on this side of the pond, but still often referred to in Italy as "al Burro". At least that's my understanding of the history.

To the OP.....

As the others have mentioned, the best Pesto dishes are found in Liguria / Cinque Terre (where it was invented). That would be a good place to put on the list for a future visit.

We just returned frome Rome this week and had an excellent cacio e
pepe at Matricianella. Fred Plotkin had recommended it to me and it
did not disappoint. http://www.matricianella.it/

Looks great. For MonkeyFace: The have a polpette alla romana, which
can be with sugo, in which case it's spaghetti with meatballs, minus
the spaghetti. They have tonarelli con carciofi, which is a spaghetti
cut on a chittara with some kind of artichoke preparation. Not a
filled pasta, but maybe a new favorite. They have the filetto al pepe
verde, and they look like they have a nice selection of cheeses from
around the country. Might could work, and Plotkin is a guy who knows
how to eat well, with and without the flare that MonkeyFace is not
into.

So this Matricianella sounds pretty great. THANKS! Maybe I will just eat there all 4 nights lol

Good tip--don't go to a place that has nobody sitting in it. Pick restaurants based on the local crowd or buzz.

Also when you're out and about, check out the food people are eating.

That said, we had a great meal at Cantina & Cucina in Rome near Piazza Navona. Also wished we had more time to go to Baccanale on Campo de Fiori. We had tried their stand up take out sandwiches (yum!) and didn't realize they had a sit down restaurant until later. (It was around the coroner on the campo.)

Burn Appetito!

Fettuccine Pesto Filetto al Pepe Verde (Steak with Green Peppercorn
Cream Sauce) Meatballs Ravioli stuffed with some pungent veggie with a
creamy / buttery / cheesy sauce

I want it cooked by a master chef using the finest ingredients and
attention to detail on the cooking, seasoning, etc... I also like to
eat in relatively fine dining establishments

I want to put this, and your other dining threads into perspective if I can. I'm going to be in Seattle in 2 weeks. I'd like you to tell me the names of some fine dining restaurants with master chefs who can offer up the very best file gumbo, crawfish etouffee, Carolina barbecue, and Maine boiled dinner. Can I get those dishes there? Probably. In fine dining establishments with a master Chef? Highly unlikely. Are any of those dishes (although they are well known American dishes), typical of the PNW? Definitely not. If you were asked to recommend excellent food that your area is known for, would you have suggested any of those items?

Kimberly, I went to Baccanale last time and very much enjoyed it! My favorite though was Hostaria Costanza which is a restaurant inside an ancient theater ruins.

I went to Baccanale last time and very much enjoyed it!

Yikes...tourist-trap located apart of tourist destination; breaking one of the cardinal rules of dining as a tourist. Highly doubtful they have a 'master chef using the finest ingredients and attention to detail on the cooking, seasoning' more like a freezer full of pre-made 'food stuffs' and endless table of exhausted suckers who don't know any better.

Frozen foods are so noted on menus in Italy.

The two pasta dishes I've found that were distinctly different (and better) in Rome than the US are Bucatini all' Amatriciana and Spaghetti alla Carbonara.

Amatriciana should have only 5 ingredients in the sauce--olive oil, San Marzano tomatoes, crushed red pepper, guanciale (pork cheek) and Pecorino Romano. The proportions of each are what makes the magic. At Da Giggetto in the Jewish Ghetto in 2010, it was maybe the best pasta dish I had ever eaten. The rest of the meal was forgettable, but that didn't matter.

Carbonara is somewhat similar, but substituting eggs for tomatoes and imported black pepper for crushed red pepper produces something completely different--a silky, slightly creamy sauce that coats the stiff pasta. The guanciale is charred but soft, amazingly. Our first night on the ground this last February in Rome, we dined at Emma Pizzeria, part of the Roscioli bakery empire. Incredible puntarelle salad (stems and leaves of the chicory plant, scored/washed/dried and dressed with anchovy olive oil and pepper, don't miss it!) but the Carbonara was mind-bending. Best dish of pasta since...well, the Amatriciana six-plus years before.

These are the two dishes that the OP should be gravitating towards.

I've never seen pasta with plain butter sauce. My parents represent four regions of Italy and they always splashed hot butter pasta (fettuccine) with hefty doses of fresh-ground black pepper. That's what we kids got, sick or not.

I can't imagine being served plain butter pasta at a restaurant. That's one place I would Not want to be and would hi-tail it out of there!

What about this pasta "Al Burro" I keep hearing about. Supposed to be better than alfredo or a more traditional Italian form? Any restaurants that specialize in "Al Burro"?

You probably won't find it on a restaurant menu, although chefs prepare it for young children upon request.

If plain butter pasta is a special order, I'm Ok with that. But if it's a practice, then I recommend carrying little packets of black pepper and dousing the dish to taste. To answer the OP, hot butter pasta splashed with black pepper is Delicious!

Specializing al burro would be quite odd, given how basic a recipe it is. If you're determined al burro e parmigiano or al burro e pecorino would be with butter and either Parmesan (as close to alfredo) or pecorino romano, which is the local analog to Parmesan Reggiano.

If you wanted something that's maybe a bit elevated, cacio e pepe is pecorino romano and pepper, with some pasta water to make it saucy. That is a bit higher degree of difficulty, and restaurants might have a reputation for it.

Cacio e pepe is yummy!

I would start with some books about "classic" Roman dishes to get a background of the history of Roman food and some pointers as to where to go. You have some interesting preconceptions about price and quality (fine establishments and master chefs are not a prerequisite to get good quality food that's fresh and flavorful), as well as what Romans consider their classic dishes. You can get great food in totally unassuming, mom and pop type simple places.

https://www.amazon.com/Eating-Rome-Living-Good-Eternal/dp/1250047684

https://www.amazon.com/Tasting-Rome-Flavors-Forgotten-Recipes/dp/0804187185/ref=pd_cp_14_1?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0804187185&pd_rd_r=0P6FA4VDXXTDHDNMQDP5&pd_rd_w=IiV6D&pd_rd_wg=D6WWN&psc=1&refRID=0P6FA4VDXXTDHDNMQDP5

I got a similar book for Sicily prior to my trip and it really enhanced my experience, since many of the dishes were indeed regional (there was some overlap with the mainland, but some dishes I've never had before) and had Sicilian names and interesting histories.

You are very welcome MonkeyFace. Make sure to get a look at the wine list they bring you. It's as thick as a Bible (no joke). Another of our favorite meals in Rome was at L'Orso 80. It is in the same vicinity as Matricianella. We had an excellent antipasti of clams and mussels and then an excellent mixed seafood pasta. By this point in our trip we had a lot of meat and were craving seafood. There was only one other group in the busy restaurant that spoke english. Service was fantastic! I hightly recommend! http://www.orso80.it/

I plan to start calling restaurants in Rome tomorrow and ask them the following questions:

Do you serve pasta pesto?
Do you serve steak with green peppercorn cream sauce? Filetto al pepe verde? (peh pay vear day)
Do you serve ravioli?
Do you serve cacio e pepe? (cah chee o ee peh pay)
Is everything home made? Fatti en casa?
What are your operating days and hours in the month of August?

In that neighborhood, try taverna Lucifero for steak as I mentioned above.

For other items, there will be promoters out front of a lot of the restaurants on Piazza Navona and the Campo di Fiori
who will be happy to serve you. It's just that those places are geared towards tourists and one-time customers, so that's why we're being a little snooty -- we want you to find the best of the region rather than go for a flashy version of something familiar. Don't fret about it and I'm sure you'll enjoy just about everything. Especially true if you start with a glass of prosecco and have a nice carafe of house wine as well. You'll find new favorites every time!

I think you are spending more time figuring out your meals than you will spend actually in Rome and Paris! I am also a planner and a foodie, but you seem to be taking the fun out of stumbling upon something great and new for you. I feel you are setting yourself up for disappointment.

Is everything home made?

Sorry but what do you think they're going to tell you? That no, they only have pre-cooked, frozen, microwaved fare? Of COURSE they'll tell you that everything is fresh or be so offended at the question that they'll hang up on you.

Many restaurants also have websites: no need to call them.

I do mean this without an ounce of sarcasm (really!) but I hope you're putting as much energy into what you're going to do and see in Paris and Rome and as what you're going to eat? I can have meatballs at home; I cannot see a 13th-century church with breathtaking glass (Sainte-Chapelle) or what may be the best-preserved nearly 2,000 year-old Roman structure in the world (Pantheon).

"Fatti en casa?" - Monkey, you have outdone yourself this time. Keep it up.

Home made doesn't mean much for restaurants.
Stuffed pasta may be done by an artisanal pasta maker and not by someone working at the restaurant and there is nothing wrong with it.

It's "pasta al pesto".
I see 4 possible outcomes here:

• The place you are calling is named Riviera-something or Liguria-something or Genova-something-else. The person you are talking to will say: "Of course, what do you expect to find in a Ligurian restaurant? Cacio and pepe?" Ligurians aren't exactly known for their patience and their kindness, it's not you.

• The place is called Norma, Trapani, Turiddu or Trinacria-something. You'll get an "Of course, this is a Sicilian restaurant after all" reply. Once there you'll taste the first Sicilian pesto of your life.
  Don't be surprised and do not complain because it's red and not green. Sicilians are known for their kindness and their sense of hospitality, but there are borders you shouldn't cross.

• The chef you are talking to focuses on traditional roman dishes and is proud of it. You'll get a "Are you kidding?" reply and he/she will hang up on you.

• You have called the tourist trap you are looking for: "Of course, would you like to reserve a table?". Then the same guy will go to the nearest supermarket and will buy a small jar of factory made pesto by Buitoni or Barilla brands. You could even like it.