Pierluigi

 

Following in the footsteps of my friend Carol, I rented the same apartment she had discovered several months earlier, just off the Campo Dei Fiore in Rome. As I worked my way around the area and found many restaurants, workshops and stores, Carol and  I kept up an email conversation about our various impressions of the neighborhood and all it had to offer. While strolling down Via di Monserrato, I walked past Ristorante Pierluigi several times, but it was closed. When I finally managed a lunch there, I emailed Carol and asked if she had tried it. She had and on that day saw Secretary of State, John Kerry dining there. That should tell you something about this restaurant; reputable, impeccable, and expensive. Had I known, I may have stopped in without an armful of groceries.

When I looked at the menu, the prices seemed higher than those of other restaurants in the area. Two options came to mind; walk away or stay and see how good the food was. It very likely could be that the restaurant would not have stayed in business, if the food did not warrant the prices. My experiment in probability was a success. Pierluigi serves food that is worth the prices it charges.

I've eaten more than my share of fried zucchini flowers in Italy, but most of them were from Tuscany or Emilia Romagna and were not filled, unlike the version from Lazio. Since they were being sold by the piece I decided one wouldn't spoil my appetite. Because it was stuffed with mozzarella and anchovy, it was not as light as others, but it did pack in quite a bit of flavor for such a small antipasto.

The menu included quite a few selections of fish carpaccio, something I've come to enjoy while traveling in Italy. While swordfish is a favorite, this time my selection was of a fish I had not seen prepared like this before, yellow fin tuna. Delicious, its only flaw was that the serving seemed much too large for one person. The combination of the very fresh fish and the grassy house olive oil was outstanding.

The pasta course was a tonnarelli with a saffron cream sauce laced with squash flowers. Having forgotten about the saffron, the unusual taste was difficult to identify. It was very nice, but I couldn't put my finger on it. After talking with waiter, it occurred to me that I have been overusing saffron in my own cooking and have not experienced how lovely its flavor could taste. I'll be using it with a lighter hand from now on.