obligatory food porn post

Dinner last night involved a long walk, through the Campus Martius, and ending up back near the Tiber, in the Piazza Augusto Imperatore. This is the ugly-ass structure, constructed in classic heavy Fascist style, that Mussolini had built around the mausoleum of Augustus. The piazza sort of crowds the tomb (though, I suppose, no more than the medieval buildings that Il Duce had stripped away from it); on the other side, the controversial Richard Meier structure for the Ara Pacis is going up, still covered in scaffolding.

I wish my photos of the mausoleum had turned out. We were there right at dusk; the sky was fading from rose to purple, and you could see light pouring out of the darkening tomb... It was beautiful, and I (characteristically) spoiled the moment by speculating about how cool an Emperor Augustus-themed horror movie would be: after two thousand years, he's back... for REVENGE! In The Curse of Augustus' Tomb! Coming soon to a theater near you!

Foodie-types who know Rome at all will have already guessed where we ate, at 'Gusto, under the columns that surround the piazza. Because I'm slow on the uptake, I only just now realized that the name is a pun: it means "taste", of course, but it's also a play on the emperor's name:



'Gusto is something like an Italian version of an American theme restaurant, only here the theme is focused sharply on food. Still, it has an "it's a floor wax! no, it's a dessert topping!" feel to it, with a restaurant, a pizzeria, a wine bar, a wine shop, and something like a Williams-Sonoma outlet (expensive cooking supplies, good culinary bookstore), all lumped together in a gastronomic three-ring circus. It's a big place, with attractive, modern decor, lots of wait staff striding purposefully through the room, and a dolce vita-style clientele.

We got a table in the restaurant section, outside under the colonnade, with a nice view of the emperor's tomb. After a glass of prosecco, we got down to bizness, starting with a couple of antipasti for the table. First, an insalata di pesci e verdure (grilled fish, a couple of clams, some octopus, with a sort of mild citrus sauce). From the description, I'd expected something more like ceviche; this was more like, um, assorted cooked fish with some veggies and a light sauce.

Next, polpo verace in amatriciana. More grilled octopus, this served with a classic amatriciana sauce. A great amatriciana, actually, with lots of smoky bacony goodness; I happily sopped up the extra sauce with some bread.



'Gusto's primi and secondi are sort of all over the map, from relatively traditional to completely non-Italian, and I think the rest of our meal reflects this. I ordered lombo di agnello al forno, which arrived with what was described as a pizzetta di patata (to you or me it'd be described as a loose potato pancake, or fried mashed potatoes.) The lamb was medium, but still juicy and with a nice herb flavor:



I don't have a photo of the stinco di vitella, which is a shame, because it was terrific: boneless braised veal shank, unctuous and just wonderful. I don't know enough about Italian cooking to know what they do with shanks besides osso buco; this was really good, if maybe a little heavy for a summer evening. (Though any worries on that front were more than made up for by the immature thrill of learning the word "stinco". Hee!)

Here's tortelli di faraona (I think, but can't remember and am too lazy to check, that that's guinea hen):



And finally, 'Gusto also has a couple of couscous selections, as well as "wok cooked" dishes. This is spaghetti with cabbage (and I can't remember what else; probably some sort of protein? I only tried a little bit of it, and found it okay but not so special). And when they say "wok", they aren't kidding; while most of the dishes are moderate-sized, this one is massive:



Peace, love and noodles, man.

We finished off with a plate of Italian cheeses, served with bread and a couple of honeys. (And not just the ladies sitting at the table next to us! But seriously...) The cheeses were good, but I was a little irritated that we couldn't get a waiter to let us know what they were. There's a pecorino there, and what I assume is a gorgonzola (actually, those were the best of the bunch, though they were all pretty good), but I'm not sure about the rest. I wish I were at the black-belt level of fromagerie that I could tell you instantly what a cheese is, but I'm not; it's nice to have a server, you know, help out with that:



'Gusto is an interesting place. I'd definitely head back to the wine bar, snack on some different cheeses and bites, and try some of their wines. (After the prosecco, we had a pretty decent Falanghina, and with the cheese, a glass of some sort of red wine that I can't remember now). But I'm not sure how crazy I am about what's on offer in the restaurant. I appreciate that they're trying to do something modern, and mix traditional elements with the non-traditional (tempura baccala, for example). But I don't know how well it works in practice. Take the octopus in amatriciana: both of the elements were pretty good. But I don't think the dish gains a whole lot from mixing them together. I suppose there might be sort of a joke in serving long, skinny octopus tentacles in a dish where you'd expect spaghetti or bucatini; however, that only gets you so far. Still, it's a fun place, it's great for people-watching, and it's nice to eat with the spirit of the first emperor watching over you.