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RESTAURANT OF THE WEEK LA CARBONARA First of all, make your dinner reservations early when selecting the most popular restaurants in Rome. We learned the hard way. We got the phone slammed on us several times while trying to secure reservations at some very popular places. But in a way it turned out great because we stumbled upon this little place - La Carbonara. Just as Alfredo invented fettuccini Alfredo at his restaurant in Rome--and that's a fact--spaghetti carbonara was supposedly invented at La Carbonara. Legend has it that nearing the end of World War Two American soldiers entered a little restaurant in search of some grub. The chef told them that he didn't have much in the larder. The servicemen offered up their powdered eggs and preserved bacon, the chef threw in some pasta and cheese and thus spaghetti ala carbonara was born. It's now famous the world over. Whether it got started at this restaurant or somewhere else -- who cares? It still tastes good! Its really a simple dish. You just take some freshly cooked pasta, throw in some egg yolks and let the heat of the pasta cook the egg yolks slightly and then add a few---not too many---bits of bacon. Then salt and pepper to taste and sprinkle a little parmesan cheese on it and that's it. This turned out to be a super little place. And our server made the evening one to remember. His name was Massimo Rizzo. He was funny, helpful and a perfect host for the evening. When you walk in the place you are immediately confronted with a buffet of appetizers spread out on a table. It was a traditional antipasti bar. Tons of various Italian pasta salads, whole braised artichokes, and a dozen or more other choices. I nibbled away at it and found it interesting and good. For my main selection I chose veal saltimbocca. Razor thin slices of veal shadowed by fresh sage leaves and secured with a toothpick. I usually don't eat veal. While I'm not a PETA member I don't really appreciate how baby calves are raised for veal. But I wanted to try a famous Italian veal dish in a genuine Italian trattoria and it was good. My wife chose chicken and enjoyed it. Unlike at some other restaurants we sampled in Italy, this chicken was bigger than a sparrow! For dessert we wanted to sample bonafide tiramisu and it was very good. Certainly a lot different than we get here in the U.S. At La Carbonara, it was simply a small cake coated in powdered chocolate with a sinfully rich later of butter cream inside. With wine our fun dinner at this great little restaurant came to only about $60 U.S. I hope you'll try this place when you're in Rome. It's located in a lovely little ancient square. And try and get Massimo Rizzo to be your server. I can't say enough about his zest for life and treating people nicely! La Carbonara is located at Plazza Campo de Fiori 23. Their phone number is 06/686/4783. Reservations are recommended. OTHER RESTAURANT REVIEWS FROM ITALY:
Alfredo's - Rome |
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