Rome Trip Report: Day 9 - Armando al Pantheon

[meels]

CRASH! BOOM! That's the sound of thunder - lightning rips through the grey clouds across the river as we hurry back toward the centro after viewing the Ara Pacis and Mausoleum of Augustus (aside: despite the naysayers, the new Ara Pacis museum is gorgeous). MF (my fiance) insists on snapping pictures in the rain as we go - out on a bridge, back in a side street, darting here and there. We end up wet and cold inside the Pantheon, watching the rain pour through the oculus and drain slowly through the marble floor. We're wet, cold, and hungry - and it's only 6:40pm.

We can see the shuttered window of Armando al Pantheon from the portico; the guidebook says it opens at 7. The clock ticks closer... will it open, or will the storm prevail?? Finally, just at the stroke of 7, a white car dashes up and double parks, and a small man with grey hair runs out brandishing keys - the metal grate is raised, the lights are on - hooray!

MF and I give them a few minutes and then dash over between raindrops at the incredibly unfashionable dinner-time of 7:05. We enter into a single room crammed with about 12 tables, walls decorated with quite decent Pantheon-art, photographs, certificates and newspaper clippings. It's warm, dry, and empty. Ten of the tables have little gold signs on them - "riservato." And the phone is ringing off the hook.

That's right folks - on a Tuesday, in January, if you want to go to Armando you'd better make a reservation... sad but true. As we ate our meal (we'll get there! hold your horses!) the tables filled with groups of americans, germans, and japanese who'd all made reservations, as well as two italian groups. Others had to be turned away, or told to come back after 9.

But these crazy reservations are not unfounded, for the food is fantastic and simple, just what you need on a cold rainy night.

We began with cacio e pepe - just the thing to heat up the tastebuds. I thought there would've been more cheese on it, but nothing seemed to be missing as I slurped my perfectly cooked spaghetti dotted with hot fresh-ground pepper. MF and I split it (because then we can order more courses), which the kitchen did - well, not happily; our waiter didn't seem overly cheerful - but without question. We continued with the lamb chops (abbracchio something) which were seared simply and served with a lemon slice and boasted a rich golden-brown crust. This went well with our incredible carciofo alla romana - artichoke, totally soft and delicious, standing in a pool of delicate olive oil. Oh. so. good. I'm so glad it's artichoke season! (better than the one at Maccheroni, in my opinion - that one was smeared with tapenade, which overpowered the flavor.) We thought about ordering another one, but we went instead with the pere cotta - pear cooked in prune sauce. It's availablilty was apparently somewhat limited; our order spurred a consultation of at least half the kitchen staff including our waiter and the owner, who came back and confirmed that One Pere Cotta remained, which we ordered. A whole pear, cored, seeped in a rich purple sauce, the mealy texture of the pear was firm enough to cut with a knife but melted in your mouth... delicious!

MF ended with a caffe, I just finished up the wine. The house red was tolerable, but not great - might be worth it to splurge on the next rung up (15 euro vs. 9 euro) and their wine list is extensive enough that there's quite a choice. We split all our courses (so, one pasta, one secondi, one contorni, one frutta, one caffe, one bottle of wine, and 2 "pane"), and it totaled just under 50 euro.

A wonderful choice for an excellent "tipico" meal. The menu is especially user-friendly - in both Italian and English, and at the back they have special listings of all their vegetarian dishes and the "typical Roman" dishes for easy reference.

Especially recommended for: everyone! but make a reservation (or arrive early)!

Armando al Pantheon
Salita de' Crescenzi 30
06.6880.3034
closed for dinner saturday and all day sunday

[jen kalb]

It shouldnt be a problem walking in for lunch - if you arrive at the early end of the lunch hour. We did it twice on our last Rome visit.

Its not just the typical dishes that are good here - the special dishes, like guinea hen and duck presenting ancient roman cuisine (is it epicurus?) are also very good. glad you tried the abbachio and the pear.

[jen kalb]

apicus not epicurus, sorry. The roman cookery writer. Guinea hen can be dry - I think the dish we had was cooked in beer (?) and was not. They do have some misfires. I really disliked their saffron flavored pasta (maybe I dont like the flavor of saffron much)

[erica]

Nice report. I have to agree about the artichoke; it was the best I had in a week of eating. Loved the lamb, too.

I was disappoined in the guinea hen/porcini dish; found it kind of bony and not that interesting although it is a special of the house