Reset search
Katie RosenKatie Rosen
SatelliteEdit route
Living in: Bloomfield Hills, Michigan Read more Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
  • TravelerCDMX Mexico City
    Day 6

    CDMX Day 5- 9/23/22 (and departure 9/24)

    September 25, 2023 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 81 °F

    Our last day really started off amazing. I was finally able to contact the driver of the uber where I left my sweater and he returned it to our hotel lobby that morning. Woohoo!! I was flying high and we were very excited for our actividad del dia— the market tour!!

    We woke up and I had a bit of breakfast at the hotel, but Matt held off. I thought some yogurt might settle my stomach, which was still on the fritz. Next stop was La Merced Market, the second largest market in Mexico City. Actually, there was a fire recently which took out another part of the market so it’s currently smaller than it usually is, and it’s still enormous. We met our guide, Fernanda and walked over towards the market, first stopping for longaniza tacos with fresh corn tortillas. When we arrived at the market, we walked through a bit to get to a stand that specializes in cecina tacos topped with french fries (okay!!). Cecina is a very thinly sliced piece of beef from the leg of the cow that is salted and dried in the sun for three days before cooking. I don’t know that our cicina was truly sun-dried, but it sure was delicious. Next was a “diet” quesadilla of squash blossoms and cheese, grilled, but still flavored with lard (lol). Walking around, we sampled all kinds of mole, mango and mamey (think guava flavor with avocado texture), smelled all the fragrant herbs used in Mexican cooking, crunched on some grasshoppers, and stopped for some fresh pineapple juice. Our last snack was tlacoyos, a masa cake grilled and filled with smashed fava beans. Kind of like a tamale but with way more texture and flavor. Fun fact— any time you see “TL” in a word, it generally means it originates from Aztec culture/language. The market was really incredible and we enjoyed it immensely. There’s a saying, if you can’t get it in La Merced (or any of the surrounding merchants in the district), then it doesn’t exist. After spending time here, I am one hundred percent sure that it’s true. [note: this and the taco tour were booked through Club Tengo Hombre. https://clubtengohambre.com]

    I literally had not bought one thing this whole trip and it was making me uncomfortable. We headed to the artisan market, La Ciudadela to see what we could find. (No website, but comes up on google/Uber/etc.) Nothing was really calling my name and we left empty handed. Which is fine, I’m fine, everything is fine.

    Next stop on the natural wine tour of CDMX, was the cutest cafe in Roma Norte, Hugo. We drank some drinks and snacked on calimari, beef tartare with tonnato, and summer squash salad with Parmesan and pistachios. For dessert, basque cheesecake (12/10). We grabbed a bottle to go and headed to the pool where we spent the late afternoon into the evening. Matt “bought a VPN” and was able to steam American Football. To say he was thrilled is an understatement. (https://hugoelwinebar.com)

    For dinner, we went to an Israeli restaurant called Merkava. Immediately, I had a bad vibe. They didn’t have pita! We started with some hummus, their version of Yemeni bread (basically crescent rolls… 😬) and Jamod, a sour soup with meatballs. The soup was decent but I knew the meal wouldn’t thrill. We cut our losses and got the check. After a short debate regarding the merits and downfalls of room service in the lobby of the hotel, we ultimately decided to try and end things on a high note and headed to Canton Mexicali— Chinese/Mexican fusion, but way more Chinese than Mexican. We walked in just after 10pm and certainly weren’t the last to be seated. By the time we got our food, the place was packed with hipsters. Very fun. The food was great, tg. We had dumplings in chili oil, veggie egg rolls, spicy shrimp (actually this was bad), amazing peanut Dan Dan noodles, cucumber salad and crispy beef Mexicali. This totally hit the spot and we left very happy and full. (https://www.cantonmexicali.com)

    This morning we woke up and Matt headed back to Panaderia Rosetta for travel supplies (aka sandwiches and pastries). I had my last hotel breakfast, we met Hector and headed for the airport.

    This was such a great trip. Mexico City is clean and safe, has a amazing food and is super affordable. The hotel pool was very key, we would have likely suffered a bit without it. I will say, the vastness of the city, and the traffic, make it a touch difficult to do a million sightseeing things a day. Maybe if you had a private driver for the whole time and someone who planned your trip down to the minute, you could fit more in, but we still did a lot!! Matt thinks we could have done one less day. I think there was still a lot more to see and do and I hope to come back someday!!    Read more

  • TravelerCDMX Mexico City
    Day 4

    CDMX Day 4- 9/22/23

    September 22, 2023 in Mexico ⋅ ⛅ 66 °F

    Today started off quite lovely. I woke up with a bit of tummy troubles, but of course I powered through. Matt and I decided to have a light breakfast in order to save our appetites for lunch. We walked to Panaderia Rosetta— sister restaurant of the dinner from the other night— (https://www.instagram.com/panaderiarosetta/), which is supposed to have the best concha, a round pastry with a crackly sugar shell. It was good but honestly the least good thing we got bc everything else was SO fantastic. We ordered a corn muffin, which was baked in a corn husk so remained super moist and delicious, then I had a ciabatta with burrata, tomatoes and pesto, and Matt had a baguette with thick roasted pork (prob too rare for others buy it was delish), gremolata and pickles. We seriously are considering picking that up again for the plane ride home. Don’t be surprised if we do.

    We met our guide, Maricela (see pic for contact info) at the Museo Nacional de Anthropologia for a tour which dove into some of the main mesoamerican civilizations and how Mexico went from over 60 indigenous tribes to what remains today. It was truly fascinating. Maybe 2.5 hrs was a SMIDGE long but really, it’s nothing you know anything about. I guess that actually makes it kind of harder to stay engaged, but I did my damndest.

    I said the other day that Rosetta was our most hyped up meal, but I forgot about this one— CONTRAMAR!! (http://contramar.com.mx) As I mentioned, I was def having some issues in the gut health department, but I’d have to be on my deathbed to hold back from eating this meal. We started with the legendary tuna tostadas. They were, as advertised by our waiter, some of the best tostadas (well, he said THE best, but without trying them all, I’m not comfortable making that proclamation) in all of Mexico; a crispy corn tortilla with a layer of chipotle mayo (which i was surprised by) topped with thinly sliced super fresh tuna, crispy leeks and avocado 🤌🏻. Additionally we ordered albondigas de pescado (basically gefilte fish! Not my fave), an amazing soft shell crab taco with melt-in-your mouth flour tortillas, angle hair with clams, and the other most famous instagram dish of all time, a whole fish split and grilled, one side with adobo and one side with a parsley sauce (to me, 💚>❤️!!). It was a fabulous meal and that was thanks in no small part to our prime outdoor table, where we watched the who’s who of Mexico City see and be seen( as well as countless patrons with no reservation be turned away (which made me feel bad, but HELLO!?!?!). I didn’t want to leave, tbh, but I was really pretty unwell. We managed the short walk back to the hotel and headed straight up to the outdoor pool where we lazed away the afternoon. I kinda felt guilty but then not bc we are on vacation!!

    We were supposed to go to another well-known restaurant, Meroma, for dinner but decided we didn’t want such a production, especially since I wasn’t sure about how my stomach would handle things. I did get some
    Mexican lomotil on our way to the pool, which seemed to help, but we opted to a little Italian bistro, Osteria 8, just a few minutes walk from the hotel. Great decision, just what we wanted. Perfect margarita pizza, Cesar salad, spaghetti with cherry tomatoes and rigatoni amatriciana. What more does one need?!?! We are simple people with simple tastes.    Read more

  • TravelerCDMX Mexico City
    11111
    Day 3

    CDMX Day 3– 9/21/23

    September 21, 2023 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 68 °F

    This morning we really took it easy. Another workout for Matt (maybe I should join him one of these days…), and breakfast at the hotel buffet, which was great. We ate way too much then went to meet our guide, David, at the ashkenazi synagogue for a Jewish Mexico City tour. I found him by researching the foremost Jewish authority in the city, Monica Unikel, and stalking her on various social media outlets until she answered me about booking a tour. We walked all around the historic district and he taught us about how Jews ended up her (some fleeing persecution in Spain, some fleeing the holocaust and some just looking for a bit of a better life). The earliest Jews from Spain were mostly eradicated as the inquisition followed with the conquistadores, but many Jewish customs persist in Mexican cultures without be them really realizing it, like lighting a candle on Friday nights. Many Jews converted for public purposes but continued to practice Judaism in secret, they were/are called CryptoJudeos. Another SUPER interesting factoid was about the Sephardic/Spanish speaking Jews vs the Ashkenazis. First of all, the Spanish speaking Jews (which includes not only the Jews from Spanish speaking countries, but also those from middle eastern counties like Turkey and Syria, because they really only spoke ladino which was very similar to the Spanish of the time) had a huge leg up in the language department, and also they were mostly merchants. So they came here and it was basically business as usual and they were able to advance their stations much more quickly and easily. The Ashlenazis were totally fishies out of water. They didn’t know the language and they were mostly professionals, so they had to start over, in a country where they didn’t speak the language, in jobs they had no experience in (informal commerce), so it took much longer for them to gain a foothold. Therefore, the Sephardic synagogue was built much earlier than the ashkenazi synagogue. The whole tour was just fascinating, truly. Two hours flew by. I could have spent all day with this dude, while Matt enjoyed it but was ready to move on with his life. (Monica Unikel WhatsApp +52 55 5507 6908)

    Next, we walked around the Zocalo for literally an hour trying to find the Diego Rivera murals in the National Museum, only to learn it was closed for the day. We were very hot and tired, and definitely did not get into a fight… then we stopped for some AC and an n/a bev on our way to lunch at Lardo.

    Ooooh Lardo. Another amazing culinary experience. I’m really into these restaurants. They’re literally all sooo good. And the service!! The food comes fast and furious, so don’t order all at once. They will keep your water and wine filled at all times and you’ll go through 3-5 forks a meal. I just love it. We had taggiasca olives (my fave), a green salad with citrus and pear, a shaved cucumber salad with lemon and dried shrimp (very umami), pan con tomate with Serrano ham, seafood fried rice (seems to be a very popular dish, on lots of menus, was 💣), and a duck breast with curry sauce, eggplant and romanesco. I’d go back here in a heartbeat. Didn’t even scratch the surface of the menu. Also, good a Italian natural white and Matt had sake (on the appertivo list! It was actually a great pairing!!). (https://instagram.com/lardomexico?igshid=MzRlOD…)

    By then, we’d surpassed our 10k steps and Matt forced me back to the room for a little siesta, which only one of us took. I was happy to relax and read my book for a bit but then the schpilkes hit so we headed back out. We went to Polanco, which is the fanciest of the neighborhoods. We did go into some luxury stores, but somehow they felt kind of depressing. Polanco itself though, is beautiful. We got churros at Churrerìa el Moro (https://elmoro.mx) and sat in a park to get our sugar buzz going. We then went to the W for a drink (why? Idk.), and one more at a random cigar bar, which was nonsmoking on the ground floor and was playing American football so Matt was quite pleased. They did have an espresso machine, and made me a perfect espresso martini which, for me, is actually just espresso and vodka. Quick trip back to the hotel and it was off to dinner. (Never skip a meal!)

    Tonight we went to Sartoria (https://sartoria.mx), which is a more traditional but still modern italian situation. Another great meal with amazing service. One funny thing about this place is that the ceiling is curved so you’re almost in a tunnel, and you can hear the people across the restaurant like they’re sitting next to you, talking in your ear. I kept saying to Matt, “what? What?” And he was like, “I’m not saying anything!” Then I realized it was a gringo across the way. Dishes ordered included: pecorino with honey, eggplant parm (basically eggplant chips with sauce and mozzarella, delish), pea risotto, tagliolini with truffle and spaghetti with tomato pesto with broad beans and castlevetrano olives. It was just great! Again, no energy or need for dessert, and here we are, in bed. About 90 min door-to-door tonight. Lol like I said, the food comes fast!!    Read more

  • TravelerCDMX Mexico City
    Day 2

    CDMX Day two- 9/20/33

    September 20, 2023 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 66 °F

    This morning we woke up gloriously late— kind of. It was about 6:45 here, which is 8:45 at home, so felt like a big sleep in!! Matt worked out, while I showered and did my hair. He got back and we went downstairs for coffee and pastries, gotta use that breakfast credit! The pastries here, so far, have been unreal. We had a cardamom bun with sweetened goat cheese cream, and another kouign-aman style bun filled with dulce de lece, pear and more goat cheese. Coffee was also amaze.

    With our pre-breakfast snack tiding us over, we headed to our breakfast destination but realized we forgot the documuments we needed for our morning activity. We walked to a fedex which was closed, so we ubered back to the hotel to grab them and then ubered to breakfast at Superette (https://www.instagram.com/superette_mx/). We got a hotcakes with bacon and eggs for the table (basically a fancy McGriddle), and Matt had pesto eggs (over easy on brown bread with the most amazing tomatoes and pesto— I ate most of the toms) and I had Turkish eggs (poached eggs in garlicky yogurt with roasted cherry tomatoes, chili oil and crostini). Maybe I’m biased, but mine was the best. Would eat every day. I was SO tempted to have a glass of wine (vacation!) as they had a great selection of natties, but I resisted.

    We got picked up from there and headed to the Frida Khalo house/museum. Unfortunately, I lost my favorite sweater somewhere along the way. Luckily they still make it so I’ll get a new one. Do not despair. Anywhoo. We made it to the museum and took a wonderful guided tour where we learned so much about her life, her process and her relationship with Diego Rivera. From there, we walked over to the Coyoacan market. It was very cool, with tons of food and produce stalls. We picked a spot with a bunch of people and got some pozole to try. Even though basically no one speaks English anywhere, it’s been pretty easy to communicate. The women who were cooking told us the best way to eat the pozole— crema on the baked tortilla with pozole next and cheese on top. Took it to another level. Very good.

    We headed into the town square next and had lunch at Los Danzantes (https://www.losdanzantes.com) which was quite fancy and delicious. The service was on another level. Waiter had your plate and silverware out of the way as you were chewing the last bite of your course. We started with coconut shrimp (Matt can’t not order if it’s in a menu) and a Hoja Santa, which is a pepper leaf stuffed with Oaxaca cheese and smothered in a super citrusy tomatillo sauce. Delicioso!! We also tried their special version on chiles en Nogales, with an ancho pepper instead of a poblano (ancho is a dried poblano) and pink walnut sauce instead of white. It was really quite suite and very spicy so wasn’t a favorite, but the grilled vegetable “salad”, aka a bowl of grilled veggies with olive oil and lime, was grrrreat. Not sure who decided that tapioca belongs there too, but it worked!!

    Our guide, Jamie (street name Jimmy Islands— see pic for contact info) met us as the restaurant to drive us to the Xochimilco canals. Along the way, he gave us lots of insight into how Mexico City came to be (there used to be five huge lakes!), some more info about Frida Khalo and pointed out landmarks visible from the backseat of his CRV. He is very knowledgeable with perfect English, highly recommend as a travel guide. We got to the boat and had a private ride with beer/michelada to drink. On the canals, you can do anything from karaoke to private mariachi to hooking a few boats together and having a huge party. There are restaurants and women cooking in their boats, and greenhouses and other shops along the water. It’s very cool, and takes about 45-60 min there and back, and is about 45 min outside of Coyoacan. Jamie dropped us back off at the hotel and we said our goodbyes.

    After a quick costume change, we headed out to Local 1, a natural wine bar, for a little pre-dinner bev. (https://local1.mx) The space was very cool, and also functions as an art gallery. Great selection of Mexican natural wines. From there we walked to dinner at Rosetta, which has by far been the most hyped up meal of the trip. Because of this, I was very nervous but from the moment we stepped inside, I knew the hype was real. We had made an indoor reservation, because the weather was supposed to be bad, but when we arrived, we immediately knew we wanted to sit outside on the sidewalk patio. We asked if we could wait, and they said of course. They led us upstairs to the third-floor to the cutest bar with the Degournay, or Degournay-esque at least, wallpaper. I had already noticed the Ginori plates on the tables. This was definitely my kind of place! We had espresso martinis, mine was decaf, both on the rocks, and they were amazing. We sat on little stools, overlooking the street, and it was kind of magical. They quickly sat us outside and we started off with thick sourdough bread and a very appropriate (ie large) amount of sweet butter, and a shaved fennel salad with citrus and pomegranate seeds. Next was an incredibly flavorful and somehow vegan minestrone soup as well as a corn tortellini en brodo. Last course was mushroom risotto and pasta with lobster, bottarga and zucchini. Every. Single. Thing. Was. Perfect. I really can’t say much more!! We had absolutely no room or energy left for dessert, so we headed off to bed.    Read more

  • TravelerCDMX Mexico City
    1
    Day 1

    CDMX Mexico City- Day one, 9/19/23

    September 20, 2023 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 77 °F

    Day 1- Tuesday, 9/19/23
    Today we got up super early to get to the airport. Actually Matt got up SUPER early, in the 4’s to work out. We took off for CDMX without a hitch and the flight was super quick and easy. We landed at 11:45 and met our driver, Hector (+52 55 3645 1956, WhatsApp) who brought us to the beautiful Four Seasons. Since we booked the trip through a travel agent, we were upgraded to a suite. A bit outdated, but the room is huge. The hotel itself is gorgeous. There’s a beautiful courtyard with a bar and two restaurants and there’s an outdoor pool.

    Once we checked in and got settled, we headed out to find falafel. Matt had read about El Rey del Falafel, so that’s where we went. About a 20 min walk though some very lovely neighborhoods. I got an amazing cannelle along the way. There’s a bakery every ten feet. We finally made it to our destination. The falafel and slatim were delicious (and glatt Kosher!!). The schwarma was just ok, I thought. After this, we made our way to a natural wine shop for some provisions. Natural wine is huge in
    CDMX!! We walked back to the hotel and tried to go to the pool but only half the seats had shade and they were taken so we went back to the room to change clothes/freshen up/unpack, and drink some Mexican orange wine!

    We were about to leave for a taco tour and noticed that the sky looks gray… Sure enough, although the forecast prior to leaving said not one drop of rain, it now said thunderstorms all night. So we bundled up and headed out to meet our guide Sessi in the historic downtown area. We took an Uber and got a little taste of the legendary Mexico City traffic. Apparently it was extra bad, because there was a march going on, which happens all the time. We arrived and set out to her first destination. The first taco we tried was called a basket taco. They make the tacos and stack them in this huge bin and then pour hot oil and sauce over them to cook them. We try to mole verde and a chiccarones taco. I will admit, these were not my favorite. Pretty soft and not great flavor. The best part was the spicy pickled veggies on the side. Next we stopped at Las Escaleras, where they are just cooking at the bottom of a tiny staircase. This taco was not really a taco. It was a very traditional quesadilla, which are deep-fried here, filled with tons of zucchini flowers and Oaxaca cheese. It was in topped with shredded lettuce and Cotija cheese, as well as some salsa, and it was outrageously delicious. The third stop was at Taqueria el Torito for some thing that Matt and I were a bit skeptical about. Our guide recommended a taco that had a mix of tripe and brisket. Not being a tripe lover, I was put off of a bit, but that ended up being the best taco of the night. They put the tripe and the brisket mix on the flat top and make it super crispy with a good dose of salt before it goes on your taco, topped with cilantro and onions. A revelation, I’m a tripe lover! And so is Matt! Who knew! Next stop was Los Cocuyos, made famous by Anthony Bourdain. We tried Al pastor (not the best I’ve ever had!!), chorizo/brisket mix and cheek tacos. This was really not the best but good, bc tacos. Also, this was an inside sit-down situation, which was very welcome as we had been traipsing around in full downpour heretofore. On our way to our next stop, we had churros filled with cajeta and condensed milk (churros rellenos). Sooo crispy, amazing. We stopped at a historic “canteen” called Tio Pepe’s to have a traditional tequila break— one shot of lime juice, one shot of tequila and one short of sangrita, which is basically a house made bloody Mary mix. I did not partake in this, I had a Michelada, which here is just lime juice and beer, and it was great. Of note, in Mexico City specifically, a Michelada is just that and a Chilada is the one with the Clamato, etc. At our last taco stop, it was tacos guisados— stewed brisket with flat-top melted crispy cheese on top. The DIY condiments included beans (yum), pico and a variety of salsas. The spice level of all the salsas is high, which I am pretty surprised by!! Or maybe I’m just surprised by my spice intolerance.

    We were full but not rolling by the end of the tour, so considered going to (a second) dinner, but we were really too wet to sit anywhere so we went back to the hotel and literally passed out immediately. Guess we were tired!!    Read more

  • Italy 2022
    Day 9

    Day 9, Part 2/2– Final Tour, Last Supper

    June 25, 2022 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 72 °F

    After lunch, it was total crash city. We both took a nap for about an hour before waking up refreshed and ready for our walking tour at dusk. We felt like we’d been walking past so many things, but had no idea what we were looking at, so I booked this tour last minute!

    The tour started at Trajan’s column, one of the most well preserved landmarks from that time. We went to the monument of the unification of Italy which is a HUGE white marble building that literally was built with no other purpose. Today, part of it is a museum, but many Italians are still embittered by its existence. Interestingly, it was just within about the last 100 years that all the regions of Italy became one country. Naples, Sicily, Tuscany, etc were historically separate. The tour guide gave us bits of info as we walked and landed at St Ignatius Jesuit church (Chiesa di Sant'Ignazio di Loyola) which is remarkable because also though they ran out money to finish building the dome, the man who painted the ceiling made it look like there is one! In fact, the whole ceiling is an optical illusion, making it look much higher than it is. Next stop was the Trevi Fountain, first set to be built in 19 AD, but finally completed about 200 years go. We walked over to the Pantheon, the oldest remaining structure of the Roman Empire still standing in completion. And still in use! Very wild. Lastly, we visited the Piazza Navona and learned about the four rivers fountain. It was the perfect bit of sightseeing to cap off our time in Rome.
    https://www.viator.com/tours/Rome/Rome-at-Dusk/…

    We were feeling a bit of food insecurity regarding our travels the next day, so we stopped at Il Panino Ingegnoso to get some supplies. It must have been fate, because there was a gorgeous porchetta just sitting on the counter waiting for us. We decided to sample a porchetta, olive tapenade and orange panino as our appertivo. We sat outside and enjoyed a quick drink with this bite as they made us our to-go order. Matt agrees, this combo was transcendent. The orange slices were thin, but with the entire rind included, which were the perfect bitter foil to the salty olives and the fatty meat. 10/10 👏🏻. https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g…

    Dinner tonight was a thoughtful choice by Matt— GS anticipated that we’d have had our fill or Roman fare and made a reservation at Colline Emiliane, which serves food from the Bologna/Emilia Romagna region, and the menu stays true. Not one hint of roman food to be found. This isn’t a revelatory thought, but it really is true that the regions stick to their own food. Of course you CAN find pesto in Rome, or florentine steak, but it’s really not common! We started with tortellini in brodo, which was totally different than the one we had in Florence. The broth was much more unctuous, I doubt it was only chicken. Next we shared large tortellini (tortelloni) filled with spinach and ricotta and finished with a butter sage sauce. Lastly, tagliatelle bolognese. It was the most perfect dish on which to end our pasta tour. Matt had been staring at the dessert case all meal, so I obliged, despite my plans for street desserts after dinner. We tried the lemon meringue pie (in honor of Papa Stan) and strawberry tiramisu, and both were outstanding. https://www.collineemiliane.com/en/

    As we wondered back home, I got the most delicious warm and fragrant roasted chestnuts from a street vendor (I think they’re out of season, but it felt nostalgic from my prior trip to Italy, and they were delicious, so who cares). I was in the looking for gelato artiginale but strangely we didn’t come across one on that walk. As we neared the hotel, I was forced to make a choice. Go generic or skip it altogether. I chose the former. I again went with my favorite, yogurt flavor, and this time got passion fruit as well. My review is this: in comparison to the gelato from the metal cylinders, this definitely has a lighter/fluffier texture, probably from some sort of stabilizers. It certainly isn’t BAD, but you can tell the difference. The yogurt flavor was a bit more chemical tasting, but the passion fruit was divine and I’d get it over and over again, despite the “inferiority” of the product. We went to bed around 11, in anticipation of our 3:30am wake-up— off the ground at 6:30 and headed home to our boys!!!    Read more

  • Italy 2022
    Day 9

    Day 9, Part 1/2– Return to Roscoli

    June 25, 2022 in Italy ⋅ 🌧 50 °F

    We had felt a strong pulling in our hearts to return to Roscioli this morning for breakfast. We hadn’t sampled enough of the pizza, pastries and porchetta, so that’s what we did! We skipped hotel breakfast, and headed back to the forno for tomato pie, potato pizza al taglio with rosemary, cherry ricotta crostata, sfogaltelle (crunchy horns with orange and cinnamon cream filling— the anti croissant), and of course, porchetta. https://www.salumeriaroscioli.com/en/home-english/ No joke, every single thing was a hit. I only wish we could have gotten more!!! It was SO hot but it was actually raining, which was welcome. After breakfast, we headed back to the Campo de Fiori to tie up loose ends. We bought souvenirs and things for home, like the stainless steel cruet Italians always use for pouring olive oil. We went to the deli to buy truffle spread, too. We walked around the Jewish quarter again. Even though it was Saturday and the Judaica shops/museums were closed, it was still cool to see the area functioning on Shabbat. We wound our way over to Trestevere and had some
    Cappuccino (before it was too late!) and more of the delicious fresh Italian orange juice, then back to the hotel to drop everything off.

    In the highest heat of the day, we set back out to try and find the Museum of Pasta. Unfortunately, it looks like it was a victim of the pandemic and it’s closed (hopefully just for now). By this time, we’d were working our appetites back up and walked another 40 min to the smaller, more “deli” offshoot of Bonchi. We heard the porchetta was amazing, but by the time we got there, they were out. They did have pizza, but for some reason, we decided to walk 15 more min to the actual Bonchi Pizzarium. The line was… long. But we’d made it this far, and it was 92f, so we were waiting, god dammit! I guess we should have taken a number right when we got there, but it’s unclear if that would really help you skip the line. Next time I’ll try that though. Anywhoo, after about a 35 min wait, we finally got to the front. The two-family group in front of us proceeded to take, I kid you not, allllll the good stuff. We were dying. In the end, we got a zucchini and sausage pizza, a white pizza with mozzarella and what seemed like pickled zucchini (both zucchini pizzas had sesame, a must going forward), and a tomato ricotta pie, with a bit of basil. It was just so hot, we decided to take the pizza and hop in a cab to enjoy back in our hotel room. THANK GOD IT WAS WORTH THE WAIT. It was seriously like nothing else you’ve ever had. I wish I could give a better description of the toppings, but there’s no signs and everything just moves so fast, but my lord. Idk if the Bonchi in Chicago is this good, but if it is, run, don’t walk. https://www.bonci.it/en/bonci/    Read more

  • Italy 2022
    Day 8

    Day 8, Part 2/2– Lunch, Walking, Dinner

    June 24, 2022 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 77 °F

    This may sound shocking, but after the food tour, we headed to lunch. One of us really limited our tasting on the food tour, one of us did not. Anywhoo, lunch was scheduled at Santo Palato, a small trattoria in a working class neighborhood in rome that has become well known for classic Roman dishes made with impeccable technique. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/16/travel/a-new… We started with a “meatball” of wild boar with a peanut sauce and crostino with pickled scapes. Next was pork neck with the most amazing demi and grilled flat beans and cucumbers; we moved on to quintessential versions of carbonara and amatriciana. We finished with a popover filled with yogurt cream and lightly macerated wild strawberries. It was all divine.

    Lunch necessitated an hour long postprandial traipse through the neighborhoods of Rome to the Villa Borghese. We walked through the “gardens”, but tbh everything is very brown, it was nice though. Our hotel backs up to the gardens, so it was very convenient to end there for a little cool down. It was 91f, after all!

    After we both took ice cold showers, it was of course appertivo time. We enjoyed the beautiful courtyard scenery with a mint julep for Matt and a Paloma for me. I’d say these were the best concorsils we’ve had, but following this we went to a craft cocktail bar in Trestevre called Freni e Frizioni (https://www.freniefrizioni.com/en/), and I had some sort of watermelon soda concoction that blew my socks off (in terms of flavor, not %etoh). There was a full appertivo buffet, but we (mostly) held strong to build up an appetite for dinner.

    [Matt:] After drinks we headed back to Roscioli for dinner, with a quick little detour to walk through a riverside pop-up restaurant/carnival game scene. Cool set up but nothing special. The restaurant space at Roscioli is in their Deli, separate from the Forno/bakery. The Deli counter itself is extensive, filled with meat, fish, cheese and some prepared foods. The walls are lined with wine and liquor bottles, including some harder to find in Italy scotches, vodkas (bottles that we can easily get at home) priced at a significant mark up. Ex: A 5th of Johnny Black was $200.

    [Katie: In general, almost every time you look up a review of a restaurant in Italy, they reviewer will say “this is a no frills place”. I have started to laugh at that comment because almost every restaurant is exactly the same. Table cloth (paper vs cloth), placement, regular plates and silverware (a brand new set of EVERYTHING every time you finish a course), glasses… what more frills should there be?? And all the warrants are casual. They just are. You can come dressed up for your night or you can come in your gym shoes from the day and either are fine. We also found the service to be incredibly kind and accommodating in terms of arriving early or late for reservations, menu translation, order we wanted dishes in, etc. Never a bad experience. Ok— back to Matt’s account]

    We were seated at the back of the restaurant, behind us was a small family of 4 and both Katie and I recognized the dad [Randy] as one of the 90s pop culture “Sklar brothers”. They had short stints and ESPN and we’re part of the commentary talent on some VH1 shows. He was right in Katie’s view and she was concerned he thought she was staring at him. [I was!! I just wanted to look out but I had to look right at/past him! It was torture.]

    Dinner started with a plate of house made meats including the house made salumi (more like a ham), lardo and salami. We also got a massive ball of burrata with house made roasted/dried tomatoes, accompanied by a bread basket (all made at the Forno) with various types of bread. The star bread is their pizza “Bianca” which is basically just pizza dough cooked with some olive oil until crispy on both sides but some how still soft and chewy enough in the middle to easily eat. The little pizza Bianca + burrata/tomato sandwiches you can make were heavenly. For drink we had a bottle of orange wine, which the waiter rolled his eyes at but finally admitted the orange wine he brought us was perfect (if you drink that type of hippie shit). Italians love their tradition and to some that means that wine should be red or white only. We ordered 3 pastas - Cacio Pepe (the star), pomodoro (second star) and butter/anchovy which I (Matt) thought was disgusting but Katie assured me was actually very good. We skipped desert and hoofed it back to the hotel, fighting through throngs of Italian teenagers heading in the exact opposite direction as night two of the concert festival had just let out. Success! [Katie: They had given us a bowl of cherries (Italy has THE BEST cherries) on arrival, so that was my sweet treat before bed 🍒.]    Read more

  • Italy 2022
    Day 8

    Day 8, Part 1/2

    June 24, 2022 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 84 °F

    Today we woke up at Hotel De Russie and had a quick breakfast on a beautiful terrace over looking the hotel courtyard. Pretty solid Italian breakfast with all the normal fixings. We also did some laundry this morning. Next up was 25 minute walk to Piazza Farnese, where we met our tour group for the morning’s food tour (https://www.viator.com/tours/Rome/Small-Group-R…). First stop was the local farmer’s market at Campo de Fiori - if we lived in Rome, this would be a regular stop. The produce looked phenomenal and the stands will actually cut up the fruit and veg for you to take home. The group visited a famous market performer who created his own vegetable cutting tools which are pretty cool! He put on his little show and we then completed the quick visit which is ok because we are going back there tomorrow.

    Next up was a nearby seventh generation, family-owned salumeria (/deli) called Ruggeri’s. We sampled some buffalo mozz, which was the best we’ve ever had. Super flavorful. https://ruggericampodefiori.com We then filled up out water bottles at one of the many Nasoni, which are free water fountains throughout rome, named for the shape of the spout which resembles a nose. If you hold your finger under the water? It will shoot out of a little hole on top of the spout and become a drinking fountain!

    Stop two was a surprise visit to Roscioli which is actually where we planned to eat dinner that evening. Roscioli is a bakery/deli/everything gourmet shop (think high level Italian Zingerman’s). It is also a “Forno” meaning that have a big wood burning oven and in addition to multiple other ovens on site. The bread and pastries look amazing but we were there for the granddaddy of them all - Pizza al taglio. The Roscioli pizza is cut into squares and there are many different kinds to choose from. We had the Margarita and Pomodoro slices, both of which were incredible (this entry is all Matt). So good that we will be going back for breakfast to try other things.

    Following the pizza stop we walked through a “secret” tunnel which originally was the entrance to an ancient Roman theatre. In the tunnel there was a shrine to the Holy Mary, and learned that there are secret shrined apparently hidden all over the city. Romans will often say they are “looking for the holy Mary” when they can find something/someone/etc. we said goodbye to Mary and continued on to the Jewish Ghetto, which is something Katie and I had been looking forward to.

    (Matt falls asleep and Katie takes over:) We entrees the Jewish quarter, a pedestrian-only area with the most expensive and desirable real estate in Rome. We saw gold bricks in front of certain apartment buildings acknowledging any Jewish person who sent to the concentration camps, including information on the date of their return, liberation or death. In one apartment building, there was a brick for a 92 year old gentleman who returned to his home and still lives there today. It was very powerful. I am not sure if this is completely accurate, but the tour guide said that until after WWII, all Jews still had to live in the Jewish Ghetto and needed to be within the walls by sunset. Anyone who married into the Jewish faith was included in this, and there was a significant amount of intermarriage. Of course the housing practices were horribly discriminative, but I imagine that they contributed to there being a thriving culture of business in this section of the city.

    We headed to La Taverna de Ghetto to try some traditional fried treats, which have been perfected by the Jews. Suppli (rice balls with a little “surprise” of melted mozzarella inside) and fried zucchini blossoms stuffed with mozzarella and anchovy were on the menu.

    We crossed the bridge and went through the Isola Tiberina, a small island in the middle of the Tiber River. This is the island where they used to quarantine people afflicted with the Black Plague. A large hospital still exists there today.

    Ristorante Sette Oche in Altalena was the next stop. We sampled amatriciana and cacio e pepe. For me, I do not tire of the classic Roman pastas. I could eat them 10x a day. Which is problematic. Last stop was gelato. I don’t think I’ve discussed this in the journal yet, but there are two main types of gelaterias. The first is the kind with the beautiful mounds of gelato, decorated and enticing. Unfortunately these places are all show and no go. They use chemical stabilizers in the gelato to keep it from melting in the case. What you want to look for is a place where the gelato is stored in covered metal cylinders under the counter. This is the good stuff. Bonus if the place includes “Artigianale”, which means it was made on site.    Read more

  • Italy 2022
    Day 7

    Day 7, Part 2/2– First Dinner in Rome

    June 23, 2022 in Italy ⋅ 🌙 75 °F

    After the fountain, we needed to rest out tooties. Headed back to the hotel for a quick refresh and all of the suddden, it was 9:00! Time for dinner! We went to Il Chianti Osteria Toscana.https://www.chiantiosteriatoscana.it/en/ It was back by the Trevi Fountain area, about a 20 min walk. It goes fast when there’s so much to look at! We ordered panzanella and zucchini carpaccio as well as spaghetti carbonara and a white pork ragu, and a regular salad. We really kept it together and had just a few bites of each pasta, though they were both delicious. On the way home, we stopped for gelato at Il Gelato di San Crispino (famous, but no website!) for a yogurt gelato and grapefruit sorbet. So refreshing, the perfect end to our night <3Read more

Join us:

FindPenguins for iOSFindPenguins for Android

  • 2024© FindPenguins
  • Home
  • About us
  • Blog
  • Group Tracking
  • Press
  • Terms
  • Privacy Policy & Cookies
  • Support
  • Legal notice
  • English