Spaghetti alla Carbonara
Monday, 3rd May 2010 | 12 Comments
I had a great meal at Al Pompiere in Piazza Cenci in Rome on Saturday. The place was packed for Primo Maggio and the wait for our food seemed interminable, but it was worth it. The spaghetti alla carbonara was excellent: the pasta was perfectly al dente, the guanciale was salty and cripsy, and the eggy condiment was pleasantly light (or so I convinced myself).
Al Pompiere
Via di Santa Maria de’ Calderari, 38 – Rome
May 3rd, 2010 at 12:45 pm
Love Pompiere, but hardly ever remind myself to go there. Thanks for the prompt!
Ciao
May 3rd, 2010 at 12:57 pm
I dont eat pork so I wouldnt know about the taste of carbonara, but my friends who love this dish say that Maccheroni and Perilli in Testaccio make a luscious carbonara.
May 3rd, 2010 at 3:00 pm
Now that’s a carbonara worth its salt(iness)! It’s positively glistening, isn’t it? Or as Lidia Bastianich would say, “It’s smiling at you!”
May 3rd, 2010 at 3:53 pm
@Elenora It’s a great place to bring friends and clients who want very good cucina romana. I spared my guests the horror of watching me eat coda alla vacinara with my hands and stuck with the pasta.
@Shayma what do you thing of Maccheroni? I cannot stand that place. I’ve never had it Perilli but I’m open to that.
@Tom it WAS smiling at me. I love LB!
May 3rd, 2010 at 7:54 pm
Or as Marco would day – “It was winking at me” (“Mi faceva l’occhiolino”). That’s so much cuter!
May 3rd, 2010 at 7:58 pm
I remember this restaurant…we had a very nice meal there a few yrs ago with some of your friends – must visit again!
May 3rd, 2010 at 8:05 pm
@megan that is adorable
@Mamma Parla yes we did and yes we should.
May 4th, 2010 at 6:47 pm
oh gosh. i adore it. (are we still friends? tee hee) i love their ravioli w fiore di zucca, their trofie alla norma and trofie al tartufo nero. and my friends love Maccheroni’s carbonara. have made trips from London just to have their carbonara again! their service is a bit uneven, but it’s my go-to restaurant- even for guests. what was your experience like?
November 14th, 2010 at 2:01 am
[...] serves two of my top 20 dishes in Rome: burrata with semi-sundried tomatoes and one of the best carbonaras around. Neither disappointed. Nor did the four types of prosciutti (heavy cured pork consumption [...]
December 13th, 2010 at 12:46 am
[...] a near pure guanciale diet one week in November, and a general, unrelenting obsession with carbonara, amatriciana and gricia. I thought reflecting on some of the best pork moments of this year might [...]
July 1st, 2011 at 11:04 am
It’s funny but I went to Il Pompiere in May and my husband wasn’ t a huge fan of their carbonara treatment… I thought it was good but I think he might like his a little less “light” feeling and that may also be my preference.
my lamb with artichokes was good but my uncle was so-so on his ravioli. The fried starters were fantastic though, I think it goes back to your post that you have to order the right things at Rome restaurants.
I haven’t been going to Da Giggetto anymore since people have convinced me there are much better places to eat but I really am fond of that ghetto spot, stubbornly. I’ve also had some good meals at Sora Margherita but it sounds like you think the quality there has gone downhill?
July 1st, 2011 at 12:37 pm
the ghetto is such a tough place for food! i know a lot of visitors to rome want to eat there in order to taste the cucina ebraica, but the quality of every single place (even my beloved Nonna Betta) has declined. on the subject of Sora Margherita, yes it has gone downhill and how! the place is wildly overpriced and the quality of the ingredients could not be worse (a recent dish of inedible pajata comes to mind!). such a shame:( Pompiere is probably the most dependable of the lot, though i know there is much debate over the execution of their carbonara. as you say, it is a matter of preferences!