Ristorante "da Ottavio", Piazza Navona, Rome, Italy

I went to this restaurant by following a process of choice that was rather instinctive. It was a hot Sunday in early June 2008 in Rome, after many hours of sightseeing and before goint to the airport to catch a flight. I was wandering around Piazza Navona and had rejected most of the places that were open, until I saw "da Ottavio". It attracted me because it was not full of tourists and was projecting the image of a down to earth place. So I gave it a try, and did not regret it.

The exact address is Corso Rinascimento 17, opposite the Senate. The website address is http://www.ottavioalcorso.com/.

The first positive sign was the fact that they have their own house wine bottled. It shows some respect to the customer and the wine. I tried the white and was not disappointed.

For a starter, I selected the "Antipasto di Mare". It was fresh, juicy and tasty, as it should be. It contained octopus, squid, and small shrimp (gamberetti).

For the main course I selected "Fettuccine Fiori di Zucca, Zafferano e Mazzancolle" (flowers of zucchini, saffron and prawns).

The dish was excellent. The pasta was fresh, the quality of the prawns was top, and the saffron with the flowers of the zucchini gave the dish colour and sweetness. Definitely a dish I will try to cook at home.

Overall, "da Ottavio" is a nice place to have a "honest" meal, at a very reasonable price in the center of Rome.

Enoteca Ristorante Vino e Camino, Bracciano, Lazio, Italy

On a cloudy Friday at the end of May 2008, I visited the "Vino e Camino" Ristorante, taking the lead from Slow Food's :Osterie d' Italia.

The restaurant is located in the small town of Bracciano http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bracciano approximately 45 km northwest of Rome. It is in Via Mazzini, in the central Piazza of the town, where the Castello Orsini is. There are a few parking places in the Piazza, so you can your luck there.

The place is also known as "enoteca", due to the nice selection of wines they have.

I started with a selection of Italain Salumi, served with a cold sald of farro, filetti di sgombro e pomodorini. Farro is a type of cracked wheat that is produced in Lazzio. It was boiled and then seasoned in the salad mix. It was juicy and tasty, while the combination of the fish oils with the pomodorini created enough tension in the dish. This was countered by the endless sweetness and smoothness of the lardo in the center of the plate, with the salumi providing intersting diversions.

I continued with a "Passatta di scorfano e maltagliati al nero di seppia". In addition to tomato, I think they used quite a bit of "farro" for thickening the consistency. The dish had a sidekick of pimiento, that went quite well with the taste of the scorpion fish and was soothed by the pasta.

The main dish was "Involtini di lattuga con filetti di cernia e lardo di colonnata". Cernia is stone bass and was already lightly cooked before being used in the involtini.

The combination of lettuce and the lardo is always a winner, but I would have preferred that the lardo is added only after the involtini reach room temperature.

I had chardonnay from Sicily with the meal, and it went surprisingly well with everything. Even the lardo!

The service is nice, friendly, and the place is full of Italians enjoying a good meal with very high value for money. Next to me there was a table of 8 who had the passata and the involtini. We all left together, and their cars' license plates where all Roman.

Given that it takes about half an hour to reach Bracciano from Rome, it is no wonder that the Romans enjoy Vino e Camino's food offerings.

Crassopoleio, Velvento, Polifitos, Greece

I visited the tavern in late April, during the Easter holiday.

This is a tavern in the central square of the very pleasant small town of Velvento, near Polifitos, in Greece. Its name in Greek means a place where they sell wine. This is not the only thing they do.They also sell food.

The tavern offers standard Greek cuisine dishes prepared with skill and fresh ingredients. This combined with the excellent selection of local bottled wines (we had a "Voyiatzis 2004 Red") makes the meal a very good experience.




Some highlights of the dishes we tasted follows.











Fried green peppers, served with olive oil vinegar and garlic. A standard taste.





The stuffed vine leafs (Sarmades in the local dialect) were hearty, tasty and appetizing. In other parts of Greece they make them a lot smaller, with the emphasis being on the taste of the leafs, whereas here the emphasis is on the filling.



The pork knuckle was the best dish of the meal. Tender, juicy, tasty meat that was melting in your mouth, no knifes needed here!


The lamb was tender and tasty, but overshadowed by the pork. Under different circumstances, it would have been the star.



Overall, a place I will revisit.

Special thanks to Haris, who after two years in California has returned to his hometown and enjoys the life of the tavern.

Dimatis Tavern, Aghios Dimitrios, West of Mount Olympus

I visited the Dimatis tavern in late April 2008, during the Easter Holiday.

This is a tavern owned and operated by the Dimatis family, who own a farm with animals a few kilometers down the road on the western slopes of mount Olympus in Greece.

The tavern is in the center of the small town of Aghios Dimitrios, and unless you know about it, you may pass by without any suspicion that this sleepy rural place can offer you immense gastronomic pleasures.

The first good sign of the quality of the place is that they only serve bottled wine, and they know a lot about the local production. We had a Merlot from Naoussa, Vaeni 2004, which was outstanding.

The next good sign is that you do need a menu to order food. There is a menu on the table, but if you indicate that you are a guest and willing to try whatever the Host serves you, you do not need to say more.

The dishes start arriving and you shortly enter a world of solid earty pleasures.

The eggplants and diced onions were melting in your mouth, with strong background tomato and garlic taste, complemented by grated salty yellow cheese (kefalotiri) that has melted on top of everything else.

The mushrooms were grilled and sprinkled with coarse sea salt, crushed garlic, parlsey, olive oil and lemon juice. Perfectioin in simplicity.



The lightly sauteed lamb offals (kidney, liver, lung, heart, sweetbreads) were sweet and mildly acid, and seasoned with salt and oregano. I could not recall in my gastronomic memory a better lamb dish anywhere in the world.

The deer ribs were grilled on charcoal and presented with a slice of lemon and fried potatoes. The meat was juicy and very light, with aromas of oregano and thyme.

The value for money is outstanding.

Epilogue: Go and visit the Dimatis tavern, you will enjoy it.