[ROME] — Trastevere is the cool part of Roma where Romans go. Chocked full with students and awesome, affordable restaurants, it’s where you want to head out for a stroll and some grub. Day or night. If you’re zigzaggin’ through Trastevere schtop into the most excellent Ristorante Paris, not 30m from the cathedral S. Maria in Trastevere (which is a cool church to duck into… or even pray, for chrissake).

I’m cuckoo for carciofi. Oh man, just the mere mention of artichokes on the menu and my feathers get all fluttery… almost as if they said “lamb”.😳 If you’re in Rome from Feb-May that’s peak artichoke season and carciofi is on the menu nearly everywhere. Heaven.

They specialize in Roman dishes throughout the seasons, but in Spring, carciofi is dripping all over the menu. I think last time we giddily ordered four different courses of carciofi including this crisp carciofi alla giudia of wonder 🍼. It might be my Brian Williams Memory ™ or the vino, but I coulda sworn we even had carciofi gelato, so that’d be five courses.

Good god it was good, sitting out on the bustling spring street on a three hour lunch, white tablecloths, some shade, endless vino alla spina and course after course of these pokey things.

I heard Anthony Bourdain ate here on his show, so who knows if that killed this place; all those people with their lists… making everyone all grumpy. Let’s hope Guy Fieri never comes here or we’ll really have to put a fork in it. (You know, never thought of it ’til now, but he kinda looks like a fried artichoke…).

Here’s a great article on AFAR magazine on Rome’s Artichoke Obsession.

Last visited May 2006