2016 ITALY Rome 26 - Lunch at a Jewish Spot

Al Pompiere was our luncheon destination, serving typical Jewish Roman cuisine. It opened in 1928 and has been run by the Monteferri family since then. It is located on the first floor (second floor in U.S. terms) of the Beatrice Cenci building.

This house belonged to the Cenci family in the 1600s. Beatrice was beheaded for killing her father who abused her. Although public sympathy abounded for Beatrice, the pope had her beheaded, some say, so that the church could seize the family fortune. (From Trip Advisor.)

Above is their cute logo. Looks like a bottle of Chianti putting out the roast chicken fire?!

Below is their entrance. Then you go up one flight of stairs. One story was even a challenge at this point in our day.

 

The dining room was lovely with a muraled ceiling and dark wood and marble trim. Also lots of aged and quaint paintings on the walls. We sat family style, altogether at one long table.

Here's friends Sandy and Lynn seated across from us.

Chef Nicoletta's specialties and delicacies included carciofi all jiudia (Jewsish style artichokes), fillet of cod, and zucchini flowers, as well as typical Roman cuisine of Tonnarelli pasta (with cheese and pepper), spaghetti carbonara (with cheese, egg, pancetta / Italian bacon), bucatini all'amatriciana (red sauce, pork jowl, chili flakes), and oxtail stew. There were also lots of veggies for the three veg heads in our group.

Here are some photos of our plates today. Not sure what this first one was.

 Fish fillets.

 Oxtail stew.

 Pasta trio.

And the all-time best artichoke dish I ever ate. The leaves are somehow gently spread out and then deep fried. May look a little burned, but not at all and not oily, just yummy. Deep fried zucchini blossom on left.

This lady lived across the street from the restaurant. If I lived here I would way 500 pounds within a week.

We got back to the hotel about 15:00. Dinner was on our own. Mike could not take another step, but I was anxious to continue the wander on my own.