As I mentioned earlier, I went to Table Talk diner. Inside it sure has the feel of an old school diner.
I imagine that they have a waitress named Flo… with big hair…
Gloria taking orders for pancakes.
As I was saying, it’s retro inside. One can meets locals. I did. One can chat with passers through. I did not. One can eat there everyday. I met a local who does.
If you find yourself back in the area, and need to get a crab cake, then drop by Table Talk. They got them under “must try.” They even have meatloaf and liver and onions. I may have to go back to try those. Meanwhile, their ham was good!
Virginia ham, bacon, and sausage.
The place needs to be saved. I hope they stay open for years to come.
The bacon looks okay but it’s not crispy because there isn’t enough fat on it.
Well, it might not surprise you that I love bacon. But, it is not all the same. In South Africa, bacon is more on the meaty side and it is more like ham. And it is rarely crispy. [Also, if you want your yolks medium, you will have to ask for soft]. That said, most places in the USA overcook the bacon. I like it meaty and brown.
I used this to advantage when I custom built a “Hawaiian” pizza. See photo below. The pizza is from Holy Dough, the best pizza place in Pretoria (just my opinion). Great crust.
Bacon, pineapple, and mushroom pizza.Bacon in the USA.
How is it possible? I went to a Chinese restaurant with no rice on the menu. China is huge and the food is diverse. In many areas, rice is not the staple food.
The restaurant I went to is called North West Chinese Food. It’s located in College Park in Maryland. The restaurant serves only noodle dishes. Some of them were quite spicy. One of their specialties is knife cut noodles. See them in the first photo.
But, because of demand, the owner is opening another restaurant which will feature dishes with rice.
If you want a small town feel, a historic old European city feel, and still be near a big city, then you will understand why Old Town Alexandria keeps getting voted as one of the best small towns in America. It is really cute. It has free busses and a free trolley from the subway stop. Also, it is on a subway line that connects to two airports.
I just like how quaint it is (oh, and I love the dairy sold at the farmers market — the market is from 1753 and is the oldest continuous farmers market in America. It is every Saturday from 7-noon). Several of the blocks in the heart of the waterfront area have been made pedestrian only. Many restaurants line these blocks and it is a pleasant place to eat, socialize, and people watch. The boardwalk/quay is nicely made and there are both toilets, drinking fountains, and benches all within easy reach.
If you visit, try going during the day and visit the Torpedo Factory, an old factory turned into artist studios and shops. There are also many tours of Old Town, covering history, food, and ghost.
The streets are tree lined and a few still have the original cobblestones. This is an old city so you may need to walk arm in arm on the uneven sidewalks.
Washington, DC is a city that goes to bed early. Most restaurants are open all day and many serve dinner as early as 4 pm. There are even restaurants that close at 9 pm! But if you get here in the middle of the night and need to eat, here are a few places open all day, all night, every day of the year, 24/7. Most of these places are not on the Metro line, but then again, the Metro does not run all night.
Tortas y Tacos Chiquita, 2911 Columbia Pike, Arlington, Virginia. It is a Mexican place located about a mile from the Pentagon.
Mexican place on Columbia Pike.
Kabob Palace, 2315 S. Eads Street, Arlington, VA. This is a well known kabob place near National Airport.
Yechon, 4121 Hummer Road, Annandale, VA. This Korean barbecue restaurant is large and humming at 3 am.
Tosokchon, 7031 Little River Turnpike #21D, Annandale, VA. A Korean restaurant hidden in the strip mall behind Shilla Bakery.
Steak ‘n Egg (24 hour on Saturday only), 4700 Wisconsin Ave NW, Washington, DC. Located way above Georgetown, this all day breakfast place is famous. After a renovation, they now have a bit more seating.
Bob and Edith’s is a diner that has various locations.
Ihop is a fast food pancake restaurant. All day breakfast and pancakes piled like cake available all day.
McDonalds. Some are open all day but in the DC area, this tends to be the ones out on the highways.
Denny’s is a breakfast chain that also serves food throughout the day.
Subway is a sandwich chain. Most do not have too much seating.
And a few others on this list from Eater that include Gom Tang E out in Centreville.
Peking Duck is a dish originally from Beijing, China. It is a specially roasted and basted duck, served with wheat pancakes, scallions, cucumber, and hoisin sauce. But some places, it is elevated to gold level. The first written recipe for Peking Duck is from 800 years ago. The complexities of the recipe and preparation can be read here. Our duck was served with sugar and pineapple chunks giving it a tropical and extra luxurious feel. There was also edible gold leaf on top, like a cherry on top. Surprisingly, the half duck portion only cost 48 bucks. It was enough for three people, with the addition of a few extra pancakes and some fried rice.
Private dining rooms lined up like train cabins.
We had our duck at Jiang Nan, in Queens, New York. It is subway accessible, if you want a cheap but long ride. It is located in Flushing, Queens, which is the largest unofficial chinatown in America. Our restaurant had atmospheric private rooms that took us away to a tea house in the Orient.
So good it required a photo.
Aside from the duck, we had shrimp fried rice. It is not as simple as it seemed. A really good fried rice is about the aroma — not of oil but of umami. This one was like a warm hug.
For those who visited or lived in DC back in the day, they will recall going down to Maine Avenue fish market to buy shrimp and seafood from the red roofed open air buildings sitting low down by the water. You could even get them pre-steamed with Old Bay Seasoning and ready to eat. The area was a bit run down and sketchy at night. It was a strange location in DC. But one went there for the shrimp. Or if you were eating at Philips.
Times have changed but the seafood stalls are still there. Other than that, it’s a complete make over. Now The Wharf is an entire outdoor boardwalk built for pleasure by the water. It is a new destination location in DC. If you come to DC, I recommend trying it out.
Go for the seafood, Gordon Ramsey’s sticky toffee pudding, and towers of seafood. If you are not into seafood, there are other options. Even the Irish pub is good!
With the return of visitors to Rome, people are asking me for advice on where to eat. I tend to use Google reviews to look for places to eat. I try to avoid those that have under 4.5 stars.
First, my recommendations out of the famous places:
Pierluigi, Piazza de Ricci 144 (downtown Rome): it is on its own piazza and you can enjoy the people watching. It is a seafood restaurant, but it has the most delicious vegetarian pasta and tiramisu. You will need to make a reservation.
The tiramisu at Pierluigi is a creamy cloud.
Colline Emiliane, Via degli Avignonesi 22 (near Piazza Barbarini): This place makes delicious food. It is the cuisine of Emilia-Romagna (Bologna, Modena, Parma, etc.). Small and with no outdoor seating. But, they have a window where you can watch the pasta being made fresh every day. You have to call to make a reservation.
Tonnorello (several locations in Trastevere): I thought it was a zoo eating there, way overcrowded and the same food you can get most places. If you go at 12:30 pm, you can probably get in to one of the locations.
La Matriciana (across from the opera house, near the Termini train station), Via del Viminale, 44: Classic place from 1870.
Then the less famous places:
Fuoco Lento, Via Flavia 63/65 (in Ludovisi/Sallustiano): Old school waiters, outdoor seating as well, never had anything bad here. It’s my “go-to” place. Open on Sunday night as well. Outside the touristy area so much easier to get a table.
Da Bucatino, Via Luca della Robbia 84/86 (in Testaccio): outside the tourist areas, has outdoor seating, and is an old school place.
Tratteria Valentino (not to be confused with Trattoria da Valentino on Via Cavour, which is also fine.), Via del Boschetto 37 (in Monti): great local place on a side street in Monti. Near Quirinale palace. Hidden in plain sight because they kept the old facade from when the space was a ice shop.
Trattoria Valentino has kept the old “ice shop” signage on the building.
And the not famous:
Osteria del Rione, Via Basento 20 (near Villa Borghese): Just north of the Via Veneto neighborhood, this place is a real local place located in a basement. There is almost no other business on the street, an extremely limited menu (basically what Bruno, the owner, tells you he has), and a set menu for 10 euro.
Il Simposio wine restaurant, corner of Piazza Cavour, in Prati, but just across the river: They serve chocolate as a palate cleanser to desert. They also make good food and can also make all the old fashioned dishes. Actually, all restaurants can actually make the old fashioned dishes.Â
MiVa, Via Ezio 23: In Prati, away from the hordes. Modern Italian-American (in the sense that it’s like a place you would find in the USA) but of course does the classics as well. I like that they have chicken breast and avocado. Their semifreddi is excellent as is their apple pie.
Ristorante Pinseria Da Massi, Via della Scala 34: At the end or beginning of Trastevere. This is one of many good classic eateries in Trastevere. This places makes possibly the best spaghetti carbonara in existence… also, you can get fresh white (nothing but oil and salt) pizza fresh from the oven as your “bread.” Yum.
PRATI Rione Gastronomico, Piazza Giuseppe Mazzini 5: It’s far from the tourists but it’s a large space with plenty of room between tables, and the tiramisu presentation is a form for entertainment.
Forno Monteforte, Via del Pellegrino 129: Cafe, bakery, and oh so cute. Open all day and in a cute street. This is north of Campo di’ Fiore, and a whole world away. Grab breakfast, or sandwiches, or cocktails.
L’officina della pizza, Via Cicerone 22: One of the best places for pizza al taglio (by the slice). Located near a bus stop near Piazza Cavour, this place is open from around 10 (different on weekends) until 11 pm, or so. The most abundant variety, and homemade potato chips, sandwiches, and deep fried suppli (the Roman arancini), is around 1 pm. This is a must visit from many of my guests. The mushroom pizza and the fresh zucchini with stracciatella (the soft stringy creamy part of a mozzarella) are popular, but I like the ham and cheese.
The entrance of Osteria del Rione.The carbonara at Osteria del Rione is one of the best, if not THE best.
Lastly, I recommend one place outside Rome (near the airport) Osteria dell’elefante, which I wrote about before.
The best pickle I’ve had in Italy but is it worthy of a Michelin star? Signum.
Some of the worst meals I’ve had in Italy have been in fancy expensive Michelin star restaurants. Some people get super excited about Michelin stars and deem those restaurants better than others. I do not get it. The Michelin star system started out as a way to get the tires worn out. Italy does not need these fancy restaurants. Actually the Michelin star system has nothing to do with how fancy the restaurant is but solely the food, cooking, and constituency of those things. The general public seems to not know this. Michelin is not even all over the world yet (they say that they are taking is slowly). Michelin has not reached South America yet. Imagine that! There are restaurants in Lima that should have a star, but Michelin hasn’t gotten there yet. If consistently making good food was really the reason to give a place a star, then many more would have them.
Eggplant parmesan with anchovy from Mamma Santina, Salina. Not by a Michelin chef. But stellar nonetheless.
The food in Italy is already natural, local, and delicious. The various types of Italian cuisine (there are many) are based on local, simple, and delicious. Michelin seems to go for innovative, expensive, and small portions. Add to that how hard it is to get a reservation at a Michelin star restaurant, and it is just not my idea of a good food experience. Some of the finest dishes I’ve tasted were not by a Michelin star chef.
One thing that many people like about small portions is that it allows them to try many things and it is a form of portion control. You can try that anyway in Italy. The portions of appetizers and first courses are not necessarily that huge. Or share with a friend. Most restaurants will even split the dish onto two plates.
Bao at the Michelin star chef’s place, Signum.
The last Michelin star restaurant experience underlined why Italy doesn’t need Michelin Star restaurants. One of the dishes “invented” was a bao, a steam Asian style bun. But it wasn’t as good as the authentic ones and I do not think it highlighted the ingredients. Then we had an appetite stimulant of pickles which were the most sour I have had in Italy. I can see how this was innovative for Italy where sour is not sour. One dish was a roasted escarole (half an escarole head). It cost 38 euro.
Caponata at Signum. One of the normal dishes there.
I guess my biggest peeve with these restaurants is that they are so pricey and pretentious. Most of the places on my list are not expensive, and not pretentious. Nothing makes food taste bad like attitude.
The current system where restaurants are listed in the Michelin guide is just like Yelp or TripAdvisor. The guide in Italy is Gambero Rosso. The Michelin guide is separate from a chef earning a star, of which there are 367 (318 have one star) in Italy. I am glad when a woman gets a star but I don’t think that makes the overall system better. The Michelin guide badge is a round red sticker that you can see on many restaurant doors alongside the ones for TripAdvisor.
I tend to use Google ratings because I like the democracy of the system. It relies on average eaters reviewing places and not a specialized team of experts who want to wear out your tires in France. In Italy, most restaurants make consistently good food. Or consistently bad. Try them for yourself.
When I was writing about Polignano a Mare, I realized that maybe there was another perfect Apulian town that I overlooked. I suspect that there are many perfect towns in Apulia (Puglia in Italian). Here is one that I really liked and where I’ll be going back, Otranto.
The restaurant is in the shade of the cathedral.
I was so distracted by the perfect restaurant in Otranto (Peccato di Vino), that I forgot about the beach and the rest of the town. It has those things as well.
There is a fort.
We took a quick moto taxi/tuk tuk ride to get a good overview and my driver was playing disco and dancing the whole time.
A world away from the disco taxi was the elegant cool wine restaurant which I might put on my list of places to try in Italy…
Our visit was short, so I’ll be back, especially to try the restaurant again. I might have been biased last time because the owner greeted us warmly with cool refreshing prosecco. She also called us beautiful which we appreciated considering how sweaty and bedraggled we looked.
The classic Apulian dish of bean puree and chicory.
Can a celiac eat pasta, pizza, and gelato? Is a trip to Rome even possible?
First, learn the basic phrase for without gluten — “senza glutine” (sen-za glue-tea-neh) in Italian. While there are many dishes that do not include gluten, such as rice dishes, cross contamination can be a problem so it’s a good idea to explain that you have an allergy. Celiacs is “celiachia” in Italian and the “ce” at the start of the word is pronounced as a “chay” so it’s “chay-lee-ah-chee” but you can show the restaurant this phrase from Celiac Travel which explains that you have celiacs and that you cannot eat food made with wheat or wheat products.
Sono affetto da celiachia (intolleranza al glutine), devo seguire una dieta assolutamente priva di glutine.
Qualsiasi cibo contenente farina/amido di grano (frumento), segale, orzo, avena, farro, spelta, kamut e triticale può causarmi gravi malori.
Luckily, the Italians are obsessed with gut health, so they will feel the tragedy for you, and they will understand. Now, on to the places in Rome where you can eat!
Restaurants:
Mama Eat Lab (100 percent gluten free) – They also have another restaurant called Mama Eat but it is not 100 percent gluten-free.
The Italian chocolate brand even makes gluten-free chocolate
Read a really good article here. Much of this list is from that site (which includes information about AIC — gluten-free accreditation). This site also rates the places. I also looked at this site which gave a good roundup of gluten-free eats in Rome but more importantly, a list of gluten-free eateries at the airport!
This wine tour is now on my “M’s Adventures Tour” of Rome. The wine tasting at Cantina Castello di Torre in Pietra is a “must” (so punny, sorry, not sorry) on the tour.
It was cleaning day when we were there.
So why another wine tasting? Didn’t I just write about another? Yes, read about it here. The background to all this wine tasting is this. I had a visit from a friend who is a wine enthusiast/expert who came to Italy for a round birthday. I had this wild plan to go on a wine tasting for every decade of his life. He told me that we didn’t have to go that wild, and that surely we would drink wine every day. We almost did. But, we only did two official wine tastings. Which keeps more in line with his celebration, once again, of his “21st birthday.”
Outdoor grill for warmer weather.
Torre in Pietra has an elephant as its logo because prehistoric elephant bones were discovered here when the castle owners expanded the tuff caves in the 1500s.
The reason for the elephant theme.
The vineyard is located north of the international airport (layover? go for a lunch) and cost 35 euro by uber from inner Rome. It is off in the countryside so a bit hard to find.
Castle tower.
The location is also used as wedding destination and includes a chapel just for that reason. Castle, wine, chapel, it’s got it all.
The four wines that we had.
One can go just for lunch but for 40 euro, we had lunch and a wine tasting. All four wines were from their own vineyard. One was bubbly, one was white and two were red. I think. Christian, the manager, presented them and poured while he explained about them. I don’t recall too much about the wines because I’m not a wine nerd. The vineyard is located near the coast so the grapes benefit from the salinity of the air and soil.
Appetizers of meats, bean puree, tomato, porchetta, and plain with olive oil.
After tasting all four wines, Christian said that he would take the white away to the fridge to keep cool. When my friend asked if we keep one of the wines on the table to have with our lunch, Christian responded, “they are not for looking.” We did not manage to finish four bottles of wine as there were only two of us.
The main dining room.
The lunch was the massive appetizer board, carbonara, and tiramisu. The appetizer board included house made porchetta, allowing one’s guests to try that specialty as well.
Cement aging containers. Unusual. Ask about it.
The really good thing was that we started with the meal and the wine tasting before going on a tour of the aging room. This tour does not include walking in the vineyard (no touching grapes) but it does include the bottling area, the aging cellars, and the lunch. The day that we went, it was a drizzly cold wet day, but as we were inside the dining room, we were cocooned in our wine drinking hug.
Christian, the manager (has a degree in agriculture and wine), is half Danish and half Italian, making him this combination of efficient and warm. When you communicate with him before, he is not overly responsive but once you get there, he is immensely warm and friendly.
Christian speaks, Italian, Danish, English, French…
After the lunch and the tour, we bought wine and olive oil. We had house olive oil during lunch and immediately asked about it because the aroma was so heady.
IGT is a lower ranking than DOC but on the way.
Winery hours:
Monday to Saturday 8:30 a.m. – 6:30 p.m. Sunday from 09:00 to 16:00
Osteria hours:
Lunch every day, no Wednesday. Dinner on Friday and Saturday.
As mentioned, the place is also a regular restaurant, Osteria dell’Elefante, so they have a full menu. As I said, this is now on my “must” list so I look forward to going back.
Cork tree on site.
As you wait for your ride (we took a taxi back for 55 euro), we enjoyed the company of the pet donkey, Arturo, the burro.
