ristorante.com This domain is for sale

The Italian classics, done properly

What goes wrong, why the method works, and what an Italian would say if they saw you do it differently.

Recipes

All recipes
Thin slices of cold veal covered with a pale tuna sauce, scattered with capers and caper berries.
Photograph: cyclonebill, CC BY-SA 2.0, source

Secondi · Piemonte

Vitello tonnato

Cold veal under a tuna and caper sauce

It sounds wrong in every language and it is not. Cold veal, tuna sauce, and a dish eaten in July because it is cooked the day before.

A plate of sliced tomato with torn mozzarella and basil leaves, dressed with oil and pepper.
Photograph: Victorgrigas, CC BY-SA 3.0, source

Antipasti · Campania

Insalata caprese

Tomato, mozzarella, basil, and nothing else

There is no balsamic in it. Three ingredients, no technique, and a dish that is entirely decided by the tomato you bought.

A bowl of bucatini all'amatriciana in a deep red sauce, dusted with grated pecorino, on a household table.
Photograph: Blackcat, CC BY-SA 4.0, source

Primi · Lazio

Bucatini all'amatriciana

Guanciale, tomato, pecorino

The tomato is the newcomer and the guanciale is the dish. Everything that goes wrong here happens in the first five minutes, before the tomato is anywhere near the pan.

A marble mortar with a wooden pestle resting in bright green pesto, seen from above.
Photograph: AlfonsoLucifredi, CC BY-SA 4.0, source

Basi · Liguria

Pesto alla genovese

Basil, pine nuts, two cheeses, a marble mortar

The blender is what turns it bitter and brown. A mortar grinds; a blade cuts and heats, and basil objects to both.

A piece of braised veal shin resting on saffron risotto, scattered with chopped parsley, on a laid table.
Photograph: Gerda Arendt, CC0, source

Secondi · Lombardia

Ossobuco alla milanese

Veal shin, slow braise, gremolata at the end

The marrow in the middle of the bone is the reason the dish exists, and the gremolata goes on after the heat is off.

Rigatoni alla gricia finishing in a pan, with batons of guanciale and grated pecorino visible.
Photograph: Key West Wedding Photography, CC BY 2.0, source

Primi · Lazio

Pasta alla gricia

Guanciale, pecorino, pepper, no tomato

The oldest of the four Roman pastas and the one nobody outside Rome has heard of. Take the tomato out of an amatriciana and this is what is underneath.

A bowl of spaghetti alla carbonara with cubes of guanciale and coarse black pepper.

Primi · Roma

Carbonara

Eggs, pecorino, guanciale, black pepper

The sauce is an emulsion, and the pan is what breaks it.

A bowl of tonnarelli cacio e pepe with cracked pepper and grated pecorino romano alongside.

Primi · Roma

Cacio e pepe

Pecorino romano and black pepper

Four ingredients and one of them is water.

A steel pan of ragù alla bolognese with a wooden spoon resting in it.

Primi · Emilia

Ragù alla bolognese

The long meat sauce

Artusi gives it in three lines, and the three lines assume you already know what a soffritto smells like when it is ready.

At the table

All guides

Eating in Italy as a visitor, written for someone standing outside a restaurant deciding whether to go in.

When Italians eat, and what is open

The restaurant is empty at seven because it is not open yet. Kitchens keep hours, and they are not the ones you are used to.

The bar, and the two prices

Pay first, then order, and drink it standing up. Sitting down at the same counter can cost three times as much, legally and openly.

Water and wine, and what people actually drink

You will be asked one question about water before anything else. Wine comes by the quarter, the half and the litre, and the house one is usually the right answer.

Aperitivo, and what comes with the drink

A drink between seven and nine that arrives with food attached. How much food depends on the city, and in Milan it can replace dinner.

Pizza al taglio, and buying food by weight

Point at the tray, say how much you want, and it is cut, weighed and priced by the etto. The best lunch in Rome costs whatever you decide it costs.

Asking for the bill, and paying it

The bill does not arrive until you ask, and the waiting is a courtesy rather than neglect. Cards are accepted, splitting is normal, and the receipt matters.

We cook these in our own kitchen in Rome and write down what to watch for: where the method usually fails, why it works when it works, and what an Italian would say if they saw you do it differently. We will never tell you to use pancetta instead of guanciale.