We awakened from a deep sleep at dusk and got ourselves ready to go out to dinner. Massimo had suggested a restaurant just around the corner which had Roman style food called Volemose Bene, Osteria Romana. This would be our first dinner in Italy, and I asked the waiter to divide each course into two portions, which he did willingly; otherwise it's too much food.
The restaurant itself was charming, and exactly what you picture in your mind when you think of an Italian restaurant. Local osterie like this one tend to be family-and-friend affairs, with relatives just dropping by to chat and wandering into the kitchen whenever they like. People just pop in off the street, have an animated conversation about the menu, and then leave inexplicably; or sit down, get up and leave for an hour, then suddenly you see them back at the table eating again. Who knows what this is all about. There seems to be no casual conversation, just red hot, intense ones.
I can't remember exactly what we had, because their computer system could not handle the daily chef specials and every item is something different than what you actually had. According to the bill we had thinly sliced raw bass, rigatoni alla carbonara, steak tartare, codfish Roman style, and a Shiraz wine. In reality, we had a plate of mixed Italian coldcuts, pacheri (giant pasta tubes) with a seafood sauce, and roasted whole fish served with Roman style crisp fried baby artichokes and garnished with a fresh salad of greens and cherry tomatoes. We walked back to the apartment and slept soundly.
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