Housing Italy: Rome - Restaurants

Restaurants

Outside Central Rome

La Pergola
Address: Via Cadlolo 101
Price: Over 120,000 lire - CURRENCY CONVERTER
Credit cards accepted: AE, DC, MC, V.
Phone: 06-35091
A grand view. A grand restaurant. The conjunction is not automatic--but in this case, both elements are imposingly present. From this elegant rooftop restaurant of the Cavalieri Hilton--built on Monte Mario, one of the highest of the hills overlooking the city--a fabulous view of Rome whets your appetite for imaginatively prepared cuisine. Wraparound windows and mirrors ensure that everyone gets a panoramic view of the city's skyline. And if you can take your eyes off the vista you will find a distinctively Italian ambience, with frescoes and a Tuscan garden theme featuring lattice-work and potted lemon trees. The menu changes with the seasons and might include pasta with shrimp and arugula or breast of guinea hen on a red-wine-and-onion confit. Order à la carte or from three special menus, priced at 85,000, 105,000, and 135,000 lire. Then have an after-dinner drink in the adjacent bar and try to spot the constellations in the Roman sky. You may dine outdoors in fair weather. Jacket and tie.

Le Jardin
Address: Hotel Lord Byron, Via Giuseppe De Notaris 5
Price: Over 120,000 lire - CURRENCY CONVERTER
Credit cards accepted: AE, DC, MC, V.
Phone: 06-322-0404
Located in the Parioli residential district, this restaurant is famous for its chichi crowd. It's in the exclusive Lord Byron hotel, itself a triumph of studied interior decoration. The imaginative menu is a tempting compendium of seasonal specialties served with newer-than-now nouvelle style. If they are on the menu, try the risotto with seafood and vegetable sauce or the fillet of beef with morels. Reservations essential. Jacket and tie.

Coriolano
Address: Via Ancona 14
Price: 70,000-120,000 lire - CURRENCY CONVERTER
Credit cards accepted: AE, DC, MC, V.
Phone: 06-442-49863
The only tourists who find their way to this classic restaurant near Porta Pia are likely to be gourmets looking for quintessential Italian food, and that means light homemade pastas, choice olive oil, and market-fresh ingredients, especially seafood. The small dining room is decorated with antiques, and tables are set with immaculate white linen, sparkling crystal, and silver. Although seafood dishes vary, tagliolini all'aragosta (thin noodles with lobster sauce) is usually on the menu, as are porcini mushrooms in season (cooked according to a secret recipe). The wine list is predominantly Italian, but includes some French and California wines, too. Jacket and tie.

Abruzzi
Address: Via del Vaccaro 1
Price: Under 40,000 lire - CURRENCY CONVERTER
Credit cards accepted: V.
Phone: 06-679-3897
Here's a simple trattoria off Piazza Santi Apostoli near Piazza Venezia that specializes in the regional cooking of the mountainous Abruzzo region, southeast of Rome. Tonnarelli (square pasta) is served with mushrooms, peas, and ham or with a meat sauce. Baby lamb is another classic regional dish.

Perilli
Address: Via Marmorata 39
Price: Under 40,000 lire - CURRENCY CONVERTER
Credit cards accepted: No credit cards.
Phone: 06-574-2415
A bastion of authentic Roman cooking and trattoria atmosphere since 1913, this is the place to go to try rigatoni con pagliata (with baby lamb's intestines)--if you're into that sort of thing. Otherwise the all'amatriciana and carbonara sauces are classics. The house wine is a golden nectar from the Castelli Romani.

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