Best Chef of 2017
At this Roman corner restaurant (big bay windows, terrazzo floors, an open kitchen), Giovanni Passerini brilliantly celebrates the French-transalpine alliance with some damn good dishes: a spontaneous mustard and garden tomato tart with raw cream and an herb salad; exquisite mackerel mi-cuit with a verbena jus and brown butter; appetizing linguine with eggplant en escabèche, buckwheat and smoked eel; perfect monkfish cooked over a wood fire, wild purslane and a parsley sabayon; before the already cult-favorite Bronte pistachio semifreddo with elongated figs and a fromage blanc espuma for the sweet finale. Ordering à la carte doesn’t disappoint either, with options like blue lobster prepared two ways: first, the tail roasted with basil and curried carrots on the side; then lobster claws and coral to go with the world’s best spaghetti. // A.D.
FEELING THIRSTY? There’s a beautiful selection of natural wines: an explosively flavorful white from Marco Giuliani in Abruzzo (€10.50 a glass), a Venetian red from Marco Barba (€7), a volcanic Sicilian white from Frank Cornelissen (€76 a bottle) or an opulent Aveyron red from Nicolas Carmarans (€34). Otherwise, there’s Ma Bitch beer from Ardenne Wood (€27 for 750 ml).
PRICE: Menu €26-48 (weekday lunch), à la carte €51-66, pasta €18-26, shared cuts of meat €57-130.
