Restaurants, Bars, & Dens of Iniquity

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Certainly enjoying food and drink is one of life's great pleasures.

What is more pleasureable, once the works and visits to your tailor are done, to celebrate the good life?

Share your dining experiences, recommendations, recipes, and views here.

[lgcintra]

Ok, I have one to share. Ottavio Ristorante in Rome, near Santa Croce in Gerusalemme. The best seafood restaurant I've been in Rome (been in Rome more than twenty times) -- and for those who know the Eternal City, that's a major remark. Oyster, shrimps and lobster were always superb. The Aragosta alla Catalana (lobster, Catalan-style) is a must. My uncle brought me there some eight years ago. I`ve never ceased to return when in Rome. And, by coincidence, this is the place I tend to come when properly fit by my Roman taylor.

Do not miss the Sgroppino. Not in this lifetime.

Enjoy!

Best,
LG

[storeynicholas]

Restaurants, bars and dens of iniquity? Where to begin

However, the most recent (and not very recent, at that), is this place:

http://www.marius.com.br/2009/

Eat as much as you like and, at once, satisfy both the gournet and the gourmand in you. All-in prices but they make up for it on the drinks and puddings. Still...
NJS

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I've never been to Ottavio and will be sure to give it a try. Good seafood restaurants are rare.

When in Rome, an old stand by of mine is Ristorante Tullio on Via San Nicola da Tolentino near the Piazza Barberini, just off of the Via Veneto.

The location is great for me, near the V. Veneto hotels and its food is reliably good and going here when in the area solves the problem of having to hunt anew for a good restaurant which can be tiresome.

It's very much a men's club at lunch, its customers well dressed Italians. It is noisy, bustling and the tables are closely spaced which gives it a convivial atmosphere. The restaurant itself is about 60 years old, well established and its customers seem to be regulars judging from the hearty personal reception they receive from the restaurant's owners. None of this silly air head, pretty girl receptionist syndrome so common now in NY and London....

Very good Roman and Tuscan food and wine.

And you'll feel right at home and be well received if you are particularly well dressed when you arrive. To me, the real pleasure of bespoke begins when I can dress, relax, feel at home in a simple restaurant and look forward to a leisurely meal of hearty food and wine. This is when it's fun to dress and makes dining a bit more of an occassion and daily celebration. Contentment follows. Along with an espresso and cigarrillo.

Unfortunately, it's often the case these days that if you wish to dress to elevate a simple meal, you will be in the distinct minority. Even in better restaurants. Particularly in the US. Europe is altogether more congenial for the odd man who still likes to wear a tie to eat. But there's no need to lament this state of affairs, it is what it is, and I guess it won't be changing.

As to Brazil, well, I haven't been there in many years but I do remember a wonderful meal there at a grill house in Rio, a few streets behind the beach, Ipanema, I believe.

We had a wonderful grass fed steak, grilled on an open grill, the steak I'm guessing weighed 4-5 pounds, without exaggeration; certainly the largest cut I have seen meant for man. I was younger then and could put away the food. But that was certainly my most memorable steak and we lingered over that meal for hours. It was wonderful. A very casual restaurant, I don't remember the name, and we dressed casually, what else do you do in the warm beachside weather? Other than slake your thirst in caiprahinas, a wonderful invention, as the day progresses. Now I think that we were all supposed to go to a sex show up the road, enthusiastically recommended by our New York travel agent, a very attractive and worldly Brooklyn girl, after our steak dinner but I think that we skipped the show as the steak had been enough excitement for the evening.

Now while you're here for a moment, do any of you have any favorite pasta dishes which you make and enjoy?

I ask only because I have been on a pasta kick this week, particularly trying to replicate the Roman dish spaghetti carbonara, trying daily infact, until it's coming out of my ears, all without success, at least as I remember it made in Rome. Certainly one of the most satisfying pasta dishes I know.

I think that the technique is crucial here, getting the eggs to cook properly and keeping the whole dish nice and hot and that's probably were things go wrong.

If you've got any ideas how to fix matters or recipes of your own for your favorite pastas....

[Costi]

Now while you're here for a moment, do any of you have any favorite pasta dishes which you make and enjoy?

Before I went on, the first answer that came to my mind was "carbonara"
Like any piece of fine art (culinary and apparel included), the simpler it is, the harder to get right! Good carbonara is a rare treat and most restaurants (that put it on the menu because they think it's so easy to make) do a miserable job of it.
I am not much of a cook, but I think I have a talent as I usually get right the few things that I learned to cook. You have it right, the secret lies in avoiding to overcook the egg, but without eating it all raw, either. You can't do it on an electric plate, you need open flame just for a few seconds as you mix the eggs with the pasta and bacon (no cream!). Some recommend putting out the fire before adding the eggs and only using the heat of the pan, but I think that depends on the pan: if you use a good one, with a thick bottom, which retains heat for a long time, it may work. But I get best results with a bit of flame and quick mixing, taking care to remove the pot as soon as the egg BEGINS to coagulate, so the pasta sticks together but the texture remains creamy.
Fried eggs where the white is cooked and yolk remains creamy are another example of too easy a recipe to do it well (I turn up the flame and keep pouring hot oil over the yolks with a spoon, so they cook quickly and keep the savour). A good omelette that is not paper dry is yet another rarity...

[lgcintra]

Uppercase,

I´ve been to Tullio once. My recollection is that it was a great Tuscan restaurant just off Via Veneto, near the Tritone. Old school restaurant -- which is the best to look when in Rome, or in Italy, most of the times: modern houses are normally expensive and the food is not so good as in traditional restaurants.

The steak house your refering to in Rio is probably Mario´s, which is located between Ipanema and Copacabana. In Rio I would recommend Antiquarius and Adegão Português, both traditional Portuguese cuisine restaurants - which is very good in Rio. Mario´s has a new house, same all-you-can-eat style, Mario´s Crustáceos, for sea-food. Non-Brazilians are always amazed by the quantity of food served in these all-you-can-eat restaurants (called "rodizios"). And we´re not talking about cheap food.

Best, LG

[JDelage]

In Venice, I had the best seafood in my life at Il Ridotto. Highly recommended.

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Well, I have put on the obligatory 12 pounds this past month and am on trajectory to reach 15 tomorrow.

There have been many collaborators but certainly Spaghetti Carbonara figures prominently.

I've got to say that pastas are among my favourite dishes and along with grilling meats, well, it is the dish I enjoy making most often: quick, hearty, satisfying with endless variety.

So it's with great frustration that I still can't get the damn carbonara to turn out properly. Not even remotely.

You would think that a simple pasta dish, with only 4-5 ingredients, would be pretty straight forward.

So I think that it is the lack of proper technique, not ingredients, which brings everything crashing down.

The 2 main problems are i) the egg yolks coagulate and ii) everything turns room temperature (chilly) very quickly. At this point, I am not even trying to get a similar taste to what's made in Rome....

Here's my method:
1. bring eggs to room temperature.
2. start to render the fat from the pancetta on medium hot
3. mix egg yolks, parmigiano and cream until consistency is fairly thick
4. when spaghetti is cooked, drain and return to pot
5. add pancetta and fat to drained spaghetti
6. turn heat on high and mix pancetta and spaghetti well
7. take pan off heat and add egg yolk mixture to spaghetti. stir quickly. serve immediately on hot plates.

The problem is that the eggs always turn to looking like scrambled eggs and the whole dish cools down to an unappetizing temperature within 1 minute.

If anyone has any ideas, let me know. Otherwise, I will have to keep trying until I probably reach 20-25 lbs. over my fighting weight.

I think that it would be great fun to see how a professional really cooks pasta, turning out 50-100 covers, always hot, always tasty and satisfying.

In the meanwhile, Natasha keeps me company while I cook.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeP-bJFg1bQ