We decided to have just an antipasti (appetizer) and a primi, a pasta dish and skip the secondi (entree) as we had breakfast, paninis for lunch and riso (rice) and chocolate gelato for snack. They placed a basket of crusty bread on our table. We asked for olive oil and balsamic vinegar to go with it. We had to pace ourselves since we were having pasta. We all wanted to try the Carciofo alla Giudia; fried artichokes.
We were surprised to see the whole artichoke fried; not just the heart but the entire artichoke. The taste was unbelievable. It was like eating potato chips, very crisp and salty. We were going to ask how they prepared and cooked it (not that they would share their secret), but we forgot to ask.
Our main dish was going to be pasta. Sandi ordered the Rigatoni alla Matriciana; pomodoro quanciale. Translated is rigatoni with tomatoes and pork cheeks. Gary and I had the Cacio e Pepe. We loved our cacio e pepe though it didn't come in a cheese bowl, it was very good indeed. Sandi's dish was delicious as well. She couldn't finish the rigatoni, in fact it looked like like she hardly touched her plate. The reason for this was she ate too much bread. Gary and I scolded her for doing this.
The couple next to us also ordered the cacio e pepe for their primi and the gentleman ordered huge meatballs. I made a comment that it had more color and looked better than Gary's balls (meatballs) the night before. Sandi commented that these balls were big. Gary agreed and said: 'My balls were smaller", in which time we all could not stop laughing.
Gary cleaned his plate, I almost did and Sandi had lots of left over but we still could not pass on dessert. We ordered the Tiramisu and Ricotta with cherry filling and a nice crust. We all enjoyed that one. The tiramisu was a major disappointment. It had no coffee flavor at all. In fact you couldn't tell it was tiramisu that Sandi liked and ate the rest of it.
This restaurant will definitely be back on our list the next time we visit Rome.
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