A good deal of my blogs are about food, because Rome is a wonderful place to eat, and I'm a foodie. I'm always looking for good, cheap eats. I try to avoid touristy stuff for the most part and I really dig small, owner operated establishments. One night, Charity and I were looking around Prati for something to eat, engaging in the age old couples' argument of "what do you want to eat", when we stopped by a pizza place that we had been to before. We looked at the menu and really the only reasonably priced thing on the menu was pizza, which I wasn't really in the mood for (seeing as it had been breakfast and lunch earlier that day). I saw this little cafe' across the street and down the block, called rendezvous or something and I said, "hey, I want to take a look that their menu." As soon as we crossed the street, we passed a little sandwich shop called Panino Divino, one look at the delicious meats inside and I was intrigued. The smiling giant of a man behind the counter looked friendly enough, the place (albeit tiny) smelled great and they were bumping Jay-Z's Empire State of Mind. I looked at the menu for all of 10 seconds and promptly forgot about wherever it was I had intended to go. This was my jam. Sure enough I had a panino that had black pork cheek, smoked cheese and sun dried tomato. Game over. Best panino I've had, ever. Hands down. Since then I try to get back there at least once a week, after all, a sandwich and soft drink only cost 5 euro (crazy cheap). The proprietor Riccardo is a super cool dude and his parter in crime, Manuela is so comforting that I almost forgot I was in a foreign country. Seriously, these guys are cool as heck. The porchetta is to die for, they have salami for days, wonderful bresaola and last time we went in, they gave us a free fish salad (salmon, octopus and some other ocean goodies). I have a special place in my heart for this place and if you come to Rome, you should check it out, I know you'll dig it too. Look, I'll show you:
Cured meats galore!
A small sampling of some delicious cheeses.
A tiny little meat sampler they made for some german dude
Manuela makes faces
Some of those wines date back to the 1960's
A tiny fraction of their offerings (I like the Ciro and the Nero d'Avola)
Myself with Riccardo and Manuela (the food was so good, Constance passed out)
If you're in rome, go find this place, it's just north of Piazza Risorgimento and c'mon 5 bucks for lunch? Can't beat that. This time if you tell them Rocky sent you, they'll know exactly what you're talking about. (and try the hot pepper jam, it is soooooo good.)