Back to Litro; Grappolo d'Oro

Via Damaso Cerquetti, Roma, November 24, 2017—

WE TOOK A LONG walkabout today, starting with the stroll uphill to the Janiculum and Litro, where we'd dined earlier this week. We wanted to show it to a new guest who hadn't arrived in time for that occasion.

Here I began with the same bruschetti as night before last: anchovies and butter, with lemon juice and a very thin slice of lemon; tomato — simply tomatoes picked dead ripe and canned in water with a tiny bit of salt. Deep, deep color and flavor.

I went on to "Pollo Litro": a boned chicken thigh and drumstick, cooked very slow and long, then quickly to color its skin. It was served with two kinds of mushrooms, also slow-cooked: I'm sorry I can't supply the kind of mushroom; I know they weren't porcini.

     🍷Vino Rosso (Grignolino), "Ottavio", Cascina 'tavijn di Nadia Verrua, Scurzolengo (Asti), ?2016: Characteristic varietal, fruity and edgy, best I've had of this favorite grape of mine
•Litro, Via Fratelli Bonnet 5, Rome; 📞+39 06 45447 639

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WE WALKED ON to Trastevere, because I wanted a gelato — two flavors: Black rice and rose; chestnut and myrtle. These were remarkable gelati, complex and deep in the flavor, just what I expect from this place:

•Fatamorgana, Via Roma Libera 11, Rome; 📞+39 06 58036 15

And then on across the river to make our way to our favorite café, not for its comfort — one downs one's caffè standing at the bar — but for the quality of the beans and roast: with Caffè Doge (Veneto), this is one of my two favorite coffees in the world.

•La Casa del Caffè Tazza d'Oro, Via degli Orfani 84, Rome; 📞+39 06 67897 92

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IN THE EVENING we dined late, our last celebratory dinner with granddaughter and fiancé and Dutch friend visiting. The restaurant was jumping: the table next to us seated twenty-two locals also celebrating a birthday, more noisily than we.

We began with two platters of assorted antipasti: panzanella, polpetti, burratina con alici, baccalà mantecato. (In the photo, the polpetti are at 10 and 4 o'clock: the first made of eggplant and ricotta, the other di bollito, minced meat and vegetables.)

The contessa went on to her favorite baccalà mantecato, the individual serving crowned with a flattened fried artichoke. I moved to agnello alla romana,lamb chine roasted with garlic and rosemary, served with oven-roasted potatoes. Difficult to eat, but delicious, in its forthright, meaty way.

     🍷Prosecco, Ca' dei Zago, Valdobbiadene, 2016: very dry yet fruity, the most Champagne-like prosecco I've ever tasted
Syrah, "Prodigo," Donata Giangirolami (Lazio), 2015: serious, deep, dry, full

•Grappolo d'Oro, Piazza della Cancelleria 80, Rome; 📞+39 06 68970 80

☛RESTAURANTS VISITED, with information and rating: 2016      2015     2017