The Unexpected

As a rule in Rome: the places that are the least fancy...sometimes this can border on shady looking...aka. the places where you won't hear a word of English, are as a rule the best. I have eaten numerous meals where the chef in the kitchen was yelling at customers or customers flocked to the open kitchen to tell chefs what they needed (making the role of waiter obsolete)... piu' formaggio, acqua, pane, il conto...all of the small accoutrements that go along with a meal.

Oh, and one more thing, never underestimate the two euro pizza or panini, from just about any hole-in-the-wall on just about any roman street....especially not from the small kebab joints where they slice a flat pizza wherever you tell them to cut, weigh it, warm it, and fold it in half for an easily portable delicious lunch.

From a small fresh deli on the corner off of lungotevere across from castel d'san angelo

As I sat and ate my meal (of only daily fresh homemade pastas) I watched the commotion in the Trattoria Augustus kitchen unfold as they attempted to feed the last lunchtime stragglers before closing until dinner. Never underestimate what a little family home cooking production can produce.