Tricolore Panini Gourmet

While walking the streets of Rome after visiting the Basilica of St. John Lateran, we decided we had to eat lunch.  Most places were closed as it happened to be a Sunday.
Gary got his list out and asked us if we were in the mood for very good panini. Panini being a sandwich didn't sound exciting to me but a good sport that I am, I conceded.

The restaurant was called Tricolore on 126 Via Urbana.  It was too far to walk to so we took a cab to that vicinity and walked a little more till we found the place. It was very small. Luckily, a few people just finished eating so we got to sit on small stools facing the wall. The menu had a lot of words like; rye organic flour, natural yeast, tofu, sprouts, organic cane sugar. This was not a good sign. I immediately set myself up for a disappointing lunch.

They did not have any diet sodas. FYI, wine is cheaper than a Coke light but we didn't feel like ordering any alcoholic beverage so we settled for the closest to our soda which was La Nostra Gazzosa, a lemon soda similar to a sprite.

It was time to order our panini. Gary and Sandi ordered the Potato Bread with Beef Cheek and I got talked into the Hamburger. It was the last thing on my mind but our server said they made great hamburgers. We also ordered the hand made French Fries yellow potatoes with pink pepper together with their very own homemade ketchup.  Sandi and I shared the Beef Cheek and the hamburger. The beef cheek was delicious and the hamburger was unlike any burger I have had. I don't really know what made it so special. It was just magic! The fries were also very good with the sweet and tangy ketchup.

We loved this place. They even had a mini delivery truck parked outside; very cute!

Belated Birthday Dinner at Dominiques's Kitchen

It is never disappointing having dinner at Dominique's Kitchen in Redondo Beach. It's been almost 2 years since I celebrated my 60th birthday there.  Piero, my dance instructor choreographed a number to perform and though everyone enjoyed the entertainment, they were impressed with the quality of food.

I found it appropriate to take Piero back to Dominique's for his birthday dinner along with another student of his, my friend Sandi. I have always talked about the fondue with garlic fries so we had to order that as appetizer. They also had an octopus salad and kale with a citrus dressing that was so unbelievably refreshing and delicious. I think they should have that on the menu all the time.

For our entree. the birthday boy ordered the short ribs with mashed potatoes. Sandi had the same thing and I had the sole. I must have forgotten to take a picture of my sole. I split that with Sandi and she gave me some of her short ribs. The short ribs were so tender and full of flavor and went well with the very creamy mashed potatoes. The sole was equally good; on the salty side which I love especially with the lemon.

All 3 of us were super full that the two had doggie bags to take home (none of them have dogs). Dessert was not an option. Since Piero wanted a chocolate mousse and I wanted him to try the baked Alaska, we ordered the 2 desserts to share. There were no complaints on either dessert.

Dominique's Kitchen is open everyday except Tuesdays. The nice thing about their hours is they open as early as 4:00 p.m. which is great because by the time normal people come to dinner, you are done with yours.

Can't Get Over this Croissant

Just came back from Paris and I have to tell  you that the croissant at L'Amande Bakery is really the best. If you can't make it to Paris, get your croissant here in Los Angeles with the 2 locations; one in Torrance and the other in Beverly Hills.

I cannot get over the chocolate croissant which I have blogged about in the past. See previous blog:
http://solittlethyme.blogspot.com/2014/12/chocolate-in-chocolate.html

I ordered the chocolate croissant along with the thick French chocolate. I suggest you pull the croissant apart with your hands and dip the torn croissant into the thick chocolate. There is really nothing like it! Don't make the mistake of ordering the regular hot chocolate which is good but is not good for dunking. My brother did that and then told me he didn't like it since he does not like milk.

I apologize for being repetitive but I just have to share my enthusiasm.

Cote Bistro

Our first meal in London was in a place called Cote Bistro.  This was not on any of our list of restaurants to try but it was the first place that was the closest to us as we walked the freezing streets of London when Gary, Sandi and I could no longer go without food and walk another step in the cold.

It was nice and warm inside. It almost didn't matter what we were to eat.  They had a prix fixe lunch with soup, entree and dessert or you could have just 2 items. Sandi and I ordered the Mushroom Soup and Creme Caramel for dessert. Gary had the Steak Frites. The soup was delicious, thick with a bit of cream. We ordered French bread to go with it. Gary's steak was  flat as a pancake but tasty. The fries were not bad, Gary even thought the ketchup was great.

We ordered dessert. We had the Creme Caramel and Gary had the Apple Cobbler with ice cream. The creme caramel was more like the Spanish flan. We loved it as it was light, not sweet and burnt.

All good things come to an end and it did....it was time to go back in the cold air; our hotel was just around the corner but Gary insisted we walk by the Covent Gardens and so we did and right after that, it was straight home to the ME London.

Settimio all' Arancio

While we were walking the streets of Rome mid afternoon, we came across Settimio all' Arancio. My brother has been there several times, then I remembered that I too was once there. We went in and made a reservation for an early dinner (7:00 pm) since we were leaving Rome early the following day.

We wanted to order something with squid for appetizer and there were several choices. We asked our very patient and helpful server, Fernando what he would recommend other than the Octopus salad with artichokes.  He suggested we should leave it to him and he would prepare something for us. Being our last night, we thought it best to live dangerously and succumb to his creation. We saw the fried artichoke on the menu and we got excited and ordered that since the last one we had from Flavio al Velavevodetto Ristorante was outstanding. The octopus salad was so delicious and Fernando's creation was also wonderful. It was not on the menu, a Millefoglie of squid, endive and anchovies. We couldn't believe our luck! I was so proud of my friend Sandi who only eats calamari if it is fried. She enjoyed both. I guess the little girl is starting to grow up.... The fried artichoke was not nearly as good as the ones we had from Flavio. This was smaller and though very crisp, it lacked flavor.

The pasta dishes we ordered as our entrees were Tonnarelli Pasta with ham, thyme and lemon and the Strozzapretti all' Amatriciana style. The Tonnarelli was light, refreshing and full of flavor. The Strozzapretti was great with the fresh tomatoes and bacon. Since Sandi and I split both, it was really the way to go; a bite of the amatriciana then a bite of the tonnarelli followed by a sip of red wine.

For dessert we ordered Tiramisu and Sandi wanted the Lemon sorbet.  Ferando, again asked if he could make something else. We just informed him, anything would be fine except coffee. He understood and he brought a mixed berry sorbet which was a perfect way to end a wonderful meal. The tiramisu was good but was a bit too sweet for my taste.

All in all this was a wonderful dinner and great way to end our last supper in Roma.

Flavio Al Velavevodetto

We took a cab to Via Di Testaccio 9 in Rome last night.  Even our Italian cab driver had a hard time pronouncing the name of the restaurant; Flavio Al Velavevodetto.  It was a charming little restaurant.

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.

Palatium

Around the corner from the Grand Plaza Hotel on Via del Corso is a restaurant called Palatium on Via Frattina. My brother and I ate there years ago for lunch and loved it so much that we went back for dinner on the same day. That was roughly 4-5 years ago.

We were anxious to see if it was still as good as we remembered. I wrote down the dishes we had from primi to secondi and the 2 desserts we loved. I even wrote down the waiter's name who spoke very little English but managed to communicate everything to us. Our waiter this time looked familiar but I was not sure if he was the same one. I asked him his name and sure enough it was Dado. The menu has changed totally, probably a different chef by now. He was tickled pink when I told him we remembered him from years ago as I also showed him a copy of the list of dishes we ordered.

Since we had a buffet breakfast at the hotel and panini for lunch plus gelato before dinner we decided we would share a primi between the 3 of us. We ordered the Spaghetti with just fresh tomatoes and bacon. All of a sudden our appetites emerged. It was more aldente than any pasta we have had and was very light. We were amazed on how this simple dish could be so good. It's probably the pasta they use and the fresh tomatoes. It was just magical. We also thought we should have ordered a bowl each. For secondi, Gary had meatballs that didn't look too exciting, in fact they looked pale. Sandi had a chicken dish with red peppers. It was just ordinary chicken...end of story. My fillet of trout was very good but nothing out of the ordinary.  Even if our main entrees failed to impress any of us, we all decided it was worth going back just for the spaghetti.

For dessert we ordered a chocolate cake with a cherry filling to share and a tiramisu.
The cake was very moist and had a bit of tartness from the cherry filling. It was delicious though I preferred the tiramisu which was soft unlike most tiramisu that is served in the U.S. This had a strong coffee flavor, light and wowed me and Gary. Sandi didn't even try it since she hates coffee; besides, she was so happy with her cake.

It is too bad that we ran out of time so we will not be able to to go back to Palatium at least on this trip. The spaghetti will have to wait. I just hope they don't take it away from their menu.