Pasta Time: The Best Of Rome's Culinary Pastime
As a Jersey girl who's grown up with Italian parents, I have pretty high standards for the big three: pizza, pastries, and, of course, pasta. I knew how to make lasagna before I knew how to fry an egg and am part of family that prefers S cookies to sugar cookies any day. It took me years to figure out that zeppoles and funnel cake were the same thing and even longer to admit to my dad that I really, really don't like panettone. Point is, I know my Italian food.
The first time I visited Rome was senior year of high school. I only had three days in the Eternal City and as I was traveling with three friends, we prioritized sightseeing over scoping out the best restaurants. A common misconception is that all food in Italy is good food. It's Italy; the pasta should be better than what we're used to.
This is false. If you're eating in a piazza, at a crowded restaurant on a main street, or at any joint with photographs of its food, you're better off eating in New York City. Not all Roman food is equal. As I’m planning to return to Rome next fall, the below restaurants are the ones at the top of my list whenever I inevitably crave pasta.
On the outskirts of Campo Di Fiori, Osteria Da Fortunata is at first glance a classic tourist trap. Its waitstaff stands outside the restaurant, beckoning for hungry passerbys to take a seat, and its location in Campo de’ Fiori, a popular market hub. raises an immediate red flag. For weeks, I passed this restaurant and ignored the tables of Italian grandmothers wearing white aprons and rolling pasta flour. In fact, I only decided to give it a try when a girl on my abroad program said she'd heard great things. So on my last week in Rome, I hesitantly ordered carbonara with strozapretta, mixing and matching my favorite Roman pasta with a fun noodle shape. After the first bite, a wave of retroactive FOMO on all the meals I could've enjoyed overcame me. While I've always been impartial to a cacio e pepe sauce base, I also enjoyed the few bites I stole of my friend’s amatriciana and in my last week in Rome, I returned to Osteria Da Fortunata two more times. It's always my number one recommendation whenever friends and family ask me about classic Italian pasta.
Nonna Betta has a special place in my heart, partly because it was the first restaurant I successfully knew how to navigate to entirely alone. It’s been two years and I'm still thinking about its fried artichokes, zucchini flowers, and Jewish-style carbonara. Located in Rome's Jewish ghetto, Nonna Betta boasts a warm, cozy feel, and with tables both outside and inside, offers the perfect ambiance for a customary long, long, long Italian dinner. It’s not traditional Roman pasta by any means; Kosher carbonara can't mix pecorino with pancetta. But Nonna Betta replaces the meat with zucchini and the pasta is just as good if not better than the original. When I returned to Rome a few weeks ago, I took my boyfriend here. He still sends me photographs of the carbonara we shared and though he tried making it at home, he said it wasn’t even close to the one we had in Rome.
If you're looking for a local experience, a visit to La Botticella is a must. The epitome of "hole in the wall" La Boticella seats guests in only one, close-knit room, and the first time I visited, the chef was also taking orders and taking the time to chat with everyone who came. It felt like a family's dining room and the pesto pasta, as well as chicken with wine sauce, made me feel as though a grandmother had opened her doors for dinner.
Honorary Mentions: Roma Sparita, Ristorante Salumeria Roscioli