Il Peperone

If you find yourself on the Via Veneto in Rome and are strapped for cash, but hungry and in need of a meal, Il Peperone may be just the ticket for you. The food is not classically Roman nor is it the best you'll ever have, but it's adequate, filling, and most importantly inexpensive compared to every other restaurant on the street.

The above photo is not of a Cesar salad, although it does employ some of the basic ingredients. The anchovies were very tasty however this salad could have been so much better. Most salads in Italy fall short on inspiration and few if any have onions, an essential ingredient for flavor enhancement.

The suppli or arancini were not hot enough to allow the cheese to melt thoroughly, so it would be pulled thinned out like thin telephone wires (long story), but they were good enough to eat, so eat them I did.

Of everything offered on their menu, Il Peperone did best with their pasta courses. I selected the farfalle (butterfly) pasta that we Americans usually refer to as "bow ties", because I had yet to taste a pasta sauce made with fresh tomatoes. This selection also introduced zucchini to the mix and that was also appealing to me, since it seemed more like a recipe made at home, rather than at a restaurant. It was a decent selection and it was filling.

My dinner companion selected Spaghetti Bolognese that he never seems to go wrong with, and it was also a decent rendition of a classic recipe, though not the best ever made nor tasted. In a pinch we'd come back here, but with so many great Roman restaurants, it will not be any time soon.

http://www.ilpeperone.it/

Via Vittorio Veneto 97

00187 Rome Italy

Tel 064884592

il peperone@ilpeperone.it