ESCAPES: Budapest, Hungary

It had been quite a few years since my last foray into Central Europe, and though I'd previously hit many beautiful and interesting cities in this part of the world -- Prague, Vienna, Berlin, Split -- I had yet to make it to Budapest. So with a couple of my girl friends, we planned a long weekend in the heart of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire, replete with market visits and spa indulgences for which the city is justly famous.

It was a monumental birthday for Elizabeth, and our friend Jessica (with whom I've globe-trotted before) and I wanted to celebrate somewhere new -- for all of us -- with her. We'd been aiming for Morocco, but came up short and too last-minute in the planning process, so an easy jaunt to someplace nearer to our home bases (east coast U.S. and Rome) was the ticket. We came in the full-fledged spring season. In Hungary, this meant both torrential downpour rain and glorious sunny blue skies replete with fluffy cumulus clouds, creating a cartoon-like backdrop of a sky for viewing castles and gothic architecture, bridges and spas. The city itself is divided by the Danube into Buda, the hilly landscape to the west, and Pest (pronounced "pesht"), the flat urban center of the city where most of the living and working is happening these days. And Budapest is very happening.

We stayed at the beautiful Corinthia Hotel Budapest, which is a gorgeous, grand building in the heart of Pest. Besides the standard city hotel rooms, the Corinthia also owns an adjacent building which is more of a condo complex, where mini apartments with a central courtyard are a charming alternative, offering the conveniences of a top-notch hotel with the comfort and space of an apartment rental. Ours had two bedrooms and two baths with a kitchen and living/dining room -- which turned out to be important when I came down with a nasty sinus infection. I was able to have my own space and not infect my girlfriends or keep them up at night (at least, not too badly) as I was sneezing and coughing all night long. In the main hotel, the lobby and restaurants encourage lingering, and the Royal Spa is a stunning Art Deco building, constructed in 1886, with a 15-meter pool under its stained glass roof as its centerpiece. Of course there are all of the usual spa treatments on offer (massage, facials, etc.), as well as free use of the pool and whirlpools of varying degrees of heat. On a cool rainy night, when we didn't feel like venturing out into the city streets, we took comfort in the spa bathing process, the ritual of cool to warm to hot and back again, the change in temperatures bringing a flush to our cheeks. We then scurried back to our spacious room in plush bath robes and slippers, and ordered a comforting room service dinner, and just relaxed. We had been out already, and we had more nights to spent eating and drinking our way through Budapest. That night, it was all about unwinding (and some serious catching up with the girls).

Budapest is a great city for wandering. It's got monuments and many points of interest, and Castle Hill in the Buda section, on high and overlooking the Danube, is one of its most visited sites. It's a good idea to do this part of the city on foot, so you can wander around at will, check out Buda Castle, the Fisherman's Bastion, and the beautiful Matthias Church. Gellért Hill is also on the Buda side, and overlooks the Danube with a precipitous drop downhill. Along this hill's fault line, many of the city's medicinal springs emerge, and supply Budapest's most famous, historic Gellért Spa and Rudas Baths. People from all over the world have been coming here to "take the waters" since the 13th century.

Back in Pest, you can visit the city's Museum of Fine Arts, pictured here, to view one of the greatest collections of Old Masters paintings in Europe, or the Hungarian National Museum, featuring items of historical significance to Hungary...and even Beethoven's piano. It's also in Pest that you'll find the world's third-largest parliament building, its neo-Gothic architecture dominating the riverfront. You can happily meander along the cobblestone streets, window shopping (or actual shopping). There are any number of beautiful outdoor markets that seem to pop up around every other corner. Part of my friend Jessica's mission was to find unique items in these markets to turn into or inspire jewelry, so she was up early and combing those markets on the daily. I preferred a more laid back approach, but found some interesting items, including an all-natural solid perfume which I carry in my purse with me always. I also came across something I'd never seen before: tool-shaped chocolates. I'm not sure why they exist, I just know now that they do exist. And, um, I guess I'll eat chocolate that looks like a wrench -- why not, right?

The Danube is wide and lovely, and a boat tour on the river will allow you to see many city landmarks from a different vantage point than on land. It's a great way to see Budapest's famous bridges up close (and underneath), too, like the Chain Bridge and the Elisabeth Bridge. Also worth seeking out are the Shoes on the Danube exhibit, a public art memorial commemorating the victims of the Holocaust. Sixty pairs of iron shoes form a row along the river bank, representing the Jews who were shot into the river during World War II.

A stroll around the city center will take you to St. Stephen's Cathedral, a beautiful structure set on a grand square. Construction began on the church in 1851 and took 50 years, and it is Budapest's largest church. Nearby, and certainly within strolling distance, is a serene outdoor park with modern infinity pools and lots of outdoor benches and steps and cafe tables where you can sit and bask in the sun, if you're lucky enough to enjoy nice weather in Budapest. We were, and there were countless open-air food sellers who lined this promenade-park, from traditional stalls hawking sausage with peppers, duck with purple cabbage, and all kinds of Hungarian sweet treats...to indie-style producers of organic jellies and vinegars, dips and things on sticks -- a little bit of Brooklyn in Pest.

A little further down the main boulevard from St. Stephen's and this open air mall, you wander into the Central Synagogue complex of Budapest, what is the largest Jewish synagogue in Europe, and among the largest in the world. The neo-Moorish Central Synagogue once served one of the most populous and dynamic Jewish populations of any city in the world. Inside, the soaring ceilings are hung with chandeliers that look like models of clusters of atoms, and a color theme of red and rich gold (both the yellow color and the gilded stuff) throughout. It's a very grand place, and you can imagine, while standing inside these walls, what it must have been like during shabbat services at the turn of the 20th Century.

The synagogue also has a small museum in an upstairs annex, and features various pieces of artwork to commemorate the Holocaust. The most interesting of these is the "Tree of Life" in the yard behind the synagogue, designed by Imre Varga in 1991. The tree stands over the mass graves of Holocaust victims from '44-'45, and the metal "leaves" on this tree are carefully inscribed with some of the names of the hundreds of thousands of victims.

The Dohány Street Synagogue (as it's also known) is the entree into the Jewish quarter of Budapest; like so many former Jewish ghettos of European cities, this nabe is now a trendy part of the city center boasting lots of bars and pastry shops, and restaurants both traditional and modern. In the "old school" category, you can get some great Ashkenazi/Eastern European Jewish food at Macesz Bistro. The usual suspects are there, including matzo ball soup, latkes, cholent (now that's old school!) and even hummus, as well as stick-to-your-ribs meat dishes, like leg of lamb on stewed chickpeas with paprika. They even feature light fish dishes (sea bass and the like), and to counter that, a very rich goose foie gras pate' with sun dried apricot. To satisfy a sweet tooth, you can stroll along in the Jewish quarter and stop in at any number of pastry shoppes for that central European tradition of an afternoon tea-and-cake break.

But what was the food scene like, I wondered, in a Central European capital whose glory days seemed to be behind it? As it turns out, it's a mash-up: one part Eastern European/Soviet communist nostalgia kitsch, one part former empire cafe' society; on the one hand, euro-modern, on the other, old school European. What does this all mean? Well, it means visitors have their choice. They can indulge in the comforts of babushka-made, stick-to-your-ribs goulash, duck, cabbage, and dumplings (available in restaurants and as street food, too). They can enjoy cutting-edge cuisine served with professionalism and expediency (though alas, this may be harder to find here than in most European countries). They can enjoy coffee, tea, cakes, and savory bites in grand cafes with all of the old world glory of this category of establishment. And, most particular to this part of the world, visitors can partake in ruin pubs and other Soviet-era spots that have been given new life via nostalgia. 

KOLOR, where we enjoyed a lovely lunch, was a funky restaurant-bistro hybrid that serves sandwiches and salads and classic dishes. Sadly, it's closed now, but the OG of ruin pubs, the first one to really open to success nearly 17 years ago, is Szimpla, now settled in the old Jewish quarter. They do the standard pub grub -- burgers, wings, salads -- plus classics like goulash. And the setting is unique. It's definitely a worthwhile venture to seek out a ruin pub at least once during a stay in Budapest, if for nothing else than the cultural relevance. The unique ambience is an added bonus.

Central Market Hall (Feny Utca) is a 19th Century covered market in the tradition of grand market halls of the past -- but it's a bustling scene nowadays as well.

You can get a hearty, casual lunch within the market, and shop for fruit and veg, meats and cheeses, sausages and pork products aplenty, and pastries and breads. The star products of Hungary, however, are its famous paprika (star ingredient of paprikash), and its Tokaji wines (known as Tocai in northern Italy). Beyond this organized market, there seem to be a preponderance of street fairs and markets all around the city, particularly on weekends, so probably finding them by happenstance is the way to go.

As for fine dining, we had some really nice experiences in Budapest. KIOSK is a funky restaurant and bar housed in a warehouse-like setting on the banks of the Danube, hard by the Elisabeth Bridge -- which looks amazing at night when it's dramatically lit and requires that you crane your neck to see it in full, looming large overhead.

Inside the space, there is a long central bar set with gorgeous, oversized floral arrangements that soar towards the super-high ceiling, and there's an upstairs level as well, in a loft-like layout. But the main dining room is at the center of the action, and the menu is a trip through updated plays on Hungarian standards. When we dined there, we enjoyed a smoked trout salad with mache and beetroot tartare, pictured here. Other "greatest hits" include chicken paprikash, roasted duck leg with red cabbage, and the fish dish I selected, which was a pike perch fillet with a barley salad and zingy green sauce. Lots of mushrooms, sunchokes, grains, and rich delicacies like foie gras pepper the menu offerings. We left full and satisfied.

Our "push the boat out" meal during our trip was at Aszú Étterem, an elegant space with arched ceilings and backlit glass walls with designs that look like amber and marble, plus detailed cut gilded wood dividers, and baroque-sputnik-style chandeliers. The design of the place, from the entrance to the bar to the bathrooms was just cool...as was the service, but in a very professional way. The wine list was amazing, offering wines exclusive to the restaurant itself. The somm recommended an interesting tokaj (their specialty, of course) for us to sample, and we were off! I began with a goose liver pate with grape jelly and must essence: simple and perfect. We also tried the beef tartare with black garlic, marinated onions, and fried crispy onions on top. Third on the starters was a wild mushroom veloute' with long-ripened cow's milk cheese, which was a big hit with my friend Jessica who can't get enough of pureed anything.

For our main courses, we selected the catch of the day, which was seared snapper fillet with a fennel-broccoli cream with apple.
We also ordered a very tasty, modernist, and sophisticated version of chicken paprikash.

And we indulged in a rich, gorgeous saddle of venison with a celery root puree, marinated mushrooms with a rich brown glace, and potato gnocchi fritters. Of course the presentation was impeccable throughout, and everything was full of flavor and tasted of the season, and of where we were in the world. It was a celebratory dinner well worth the price tag and experience. We felt well cared for, and that's ultimately the goal in fine dining. 

Our dessert choices were deservedly decadent and expertly executed, as we'd come to expect in a pastry-crazy city like Budapest. I'll simply insert the photos here and let your imagination run wild, as I didnt save a copy of the dessert menu, and so your guess is as good as mine as to what these dishes are, at this point!
I do know that this was our final evening in the Hungarian city, and that we went out with a bang. It was a pleasure heading back to our lovely apartment at the Corinthia Hotel Budapest, to a good night's sleep and to the next leg of my trip, which was back to Rome. We'd finally made it to this lovely city on the Danube, and were able to experience a bit of what the old Austro-Hungarian empire must have been like...or at least, what it looked like. And we soaked in the culture and enjoyed some delicious central European fare all the while.

Corinthia Hotel Budapest
Erzsébet körút 43-49
Budapest H-1073

Tel: +36 1 479 4000
www.corinthia.com/en/hotels/budapest
budapest@corinthia.com

Macesz Bistro
Eastern European bistro in the Jewish quarter
26 DOB Street, 1072 Budapest
+36 1 787 6164
http://maceszbistro.hu

Szimpla
Kazinczy utca 7
Budapest 1075
+36 20 540 4891
http://szimpla.eu/
Ruin pub

KIOSK Budapest

1056 Budapest, Március 15. tér 4.
+36 70 311 19 69

http://kiosk-budapest.com/

Aszú Étterem

1051 Budapest, Sas utca 4
+36 1328.0360
+36 1328.0155
www.aszuetterem.hu

Feny Utca Market
Lövőház u. 12, 1024 Budapest
http://www.fenyutcaipiac.hu/
Open 6 am - 6 pm daily, closed Sunday

RECIPES BY REQUEST: Calamari in Guazzetto

Since the response to the photo I posted on social media elicited quite a few oohs and ahhs, I promised some people I'd post the recipe in my blog's "Recipe By Request" section. But first, of course, I had to write the recipe.

For this particular recipe, we're talking the classic Italian IN GUAZZETTO preparation, which basically means it's something slowly stewed in what it usually olive oil, white wine, a little broth, and often cherry tomato, onion, and garlic. It's a standard, particularly in southern Italy, where it's most commonly made with seafood or fish of some kind. This version is a bit fancier than your average in guazzetto, but fully in the tradition of using local ingredients and flavors of the southern half of the Italian peninsula. The stew is often served in some kind of shallow stew pot, cast-iron mini skillet, or some such stove-to-table vessel. It's a rustic presentation that I love.

Squid -- calamari, in Italian -- can be a tricky creature to cook, though I adore making it and eating it, for its versatility and briny, tender deliciousness...when it's done right, that is. Who hasn't endured a rubbery squid situation, which becomes an over-mastication situation, which is elevated to a sore jaw and where-can-I-spit-this-out dilemma? Don't let it reach an I-refuse-to-cook-calamari-conundrum! Following a few easy steps will provide you with a painless calamari cooking experience. The basic theory is this: squid is a protein which benefits from either a very quick, 2-3 minute toss in the pan (or deep fryer), or a longer, lower-temp stew on the stove. It's about hitting that sweet spot -- or rather, about avoiding the peak of the hill. What do I mean? Fammi spiegare (let me explain).

Basically all proteins all have a little cooking hill, as it were. A short cooking time will allow them to cook either to rare, or medium rare (in the case of a more dense protein like a steak or a chop), or juuuust enough to be perfectly tender and cooked through to be edible, as in the case with shrimp, scallops, calamari, etc. The longer you cook them, the higher up that hill you climb. When you reach the top of the hill is when the protein has reached its most firm, fully-cooked point -- which is when you DON'T want to eat it. Think a well-done steak, or shrimp that's been cooked to the point of being rolled up little balls of iodine-laden beach pebbles. Non bene! What we want is the sweet spot on almost-flat ground, as it were. So, you either sear the steak and enjoy it medium-rare, or throw it in a stew for 3 hours and enjoy the falling-apart tenderness that is a good boeuf daube. Similarly, calamari is either flash-fried or -sauteed, or stewed for longer, though the longer cooking time for squid is far shorter than for a beef stew. It's more like 3 minutes on the short end or 30 minutes-plus on the long end. Still, time flies when you're stewing calamari! (Okay no one says that, but we could try to make it a thing). As you will learn from doing, the slow braise is totally worth it and really a cinch once you get the hang of it. The recipe that follows is proof positive of that. 

CALAMARI IN GUAZZETTO
Serves 2

1/2 cup top quality olive oil
4 cloves garlic, sliced
2 stalks celery, finely diced
1 small red onion, sliced into thin half-moons
2 liberal tablespoons of 'nduja Calabrian sausage*
1.5 pounds cleaned calamari, separated into tentacles and tubes sliced into rings
1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
2 tablespoons capers with a touch of their brine
1/4 cup dry white wine (preferably Italian)
1/4 cup fish stock (optional)
liberal squeeze of lemon juice
chopped parsley, to taste
salt and pepper, to taste

(*'nduja sausage can be hard to find, though it's DEFINITELY worth seeking out. A decent substitute would be andouille sausage, whipped in a food processor with some olive oil to soften -- or even a soft Mexican chorizo could fill in here. Otherwise, make your own mixture of smoked bacon or pork belly, lots of chili flakes, and olive oil or lard pulsed in a food processor).

- Heat a cast iron or heavy-bottomed skillet on medium-high until when you hold your hand over it, you can feel a good bit of heat. Pour in enough of the olive oil to coat the bottom of the skillet. 
- Throw in the celery and onion and let that cook for 2-3 minutes until it begins to soften. Add the sliced garlic. Turn the heat down to medium.
- Toss in the calamari and 1/2 of the cherry tomatoes, 'nduja, and capers + brine, and stir to mix the flavors up a bit. Cover and cook on medium-low for 5 minutes.
- Remove the cover and pour in the white wine. Let this cook, cover off, for another 5 minutes until the alcohol burns off but you still have plenty of liquid. 
- Sprinkle in some salt and pepper to taste and cover the calamari and continue cooking on medium-low for another 10 minutes.
- Remove the cover, toss in the second half of the cherry tomatoes, a bit more olive oil, and cover again to cook for another 10 minutes or so (if the calamari is a little dry here, you can add the fish stock, or even water, at this point).
- Test for doneness of the calamari. If it's not tender enough, keep cooking over low heat, covered, until it is.
- When calamari is tender, remove the cover and add the lemon juice and half of the chopped parsley. Taste and adjust salt and pepper as needed.
- Finish with a drizzle of olive oil and the rest of the freshly chopped parsley, and serve directly from the cooking skillet/vessel, with plenty of crusty bread to sop up the delicious sauce!

SEASONAL INGREDIENT: Beets

"Heartbeet" salad for a client's Valentine's dinner party

Anyone can write about chocolate or champagne or romantic getaways for Valentine's Day. But to me, beets are actually the perfect food on which to focus for San Valentino. (Witness the heart-shaped beets in the salad above).

And beets are having a moment. In the 20th century, this would have confounded me. I was, seemingly, a born beet-hater, notorious for my acrobatic skills and back bends to avoid having pureed beets spoon-fed to me from the time I was a wee baby. As a child, I knew beets mostly in borscht form in Jewish delis, and as the coloring agent in the horseradish that accompanied my father's beloved (and to me, gag-inducing) matjes herring. It was all very eastern European old-school. In the interim, however, I've grown to adore beets, and like to play with their flavor and texture as much as I love using their bright color to make gorgeous plates of food, fuchsia dressings, and aiolis and sauces. The beets greens are delicious too -- which really speaks to my adoration of whole-vegetable cooking.

The rich, wine-dark magenta of many beets (they come in other brilliant colors and patterns, of course), are a perfect late winter vegetable: a root veggie to brighten cold weather cooking, which can get heavy...and a gorgeous color that speaks to the love and romance of February's romantic holiday: Valentine's Day. That these veggies are actually good for your heart is just the icing on the (healthy) cake.

So first, some history. The wild beet, the ancestor of the beet with which we're familiar today, is thought to have originated in prehistoric times in North Africa, and grew wild along Asian and European seashores. In these earlier times, people exclusively ate the beet greens and not the roots. The ancient Romans were actually one of the first civilizations to cultivate beets to use their roots as food. (You have to love the ancient Romans). The tribes that invaded Rome were responsible for spreading beets throughout northern Europe where they were first used for animal fodder, and later for human consumption, becoming more popular in the 16th century.

Beets' value grew in the 19th century when it was discovered that they were a concentrated source of sugar, and the first beet sugar factory was built in Poland at that time. And when access to sugar cane was restricted by the British, Napoleon decreed that the beet be used as the primary source of sugar, catalyzing its popularity even further. Around this same time, beets were first brought to the United States, where they now also flourish. Today the leading commercial producers of beets include the United States, Russia, France, Poland, and Germany.

As for the nutritional benefits of beets, preliminary research shows beetroot juice to reduce blood pressure in hypertensive individuals and so it may have an effect on mechanisms of cardiovascular disease. Beets are a unique source of phytonutrients called betalains. Betanin and vulgaxanthin are the two best-studied betalains derived from beets, and both have been shown to provide antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and detoxification support -- which make beets a good source for likely risk reduction of many types of cancer, including colon, stomach, nerve, lung, breast, prostate, and testicular cancers. Even well before current-day scientific evidence, those living in the middle ages knew something was special about beets: back then, beetroot was used as a treatment for a variety of conditions, especially illnesses relating to digestion and the blood.

More good news: beets belong to the chenopod family — along with chard, spinach and quinoa — which continue to show an increasing number of health benefits not readily available from other food families. The red and yellow betalain pigments found in chenopods, their unique epoxyxanthophyll carotenoids, and the special connection between their overall phytonutrients and our nervous system health (including specialized nervous system organs like the eyes), point to a unique health value in beets. 

When selecting beets at your local market, choose small or medium-sized beets whose roots are firm, smooth-skinned and deep in color. Smaller, younger beets may be so tender that peeling won't be needed after they're cooked. These beets are also wonderful grated or sliced paper-thin in salads, and for topping proteins. While the quality of the attached beets greens does not reflect that of the roots, if you're going to consume this very nutritious part of the plant, look for greens that appear fresh, tender, and have a lively green color. One great way to utilize beets and their greens in one single dish is the Greek-inspired preparation of skordalia: it's a whipped potato-garlic mixture that's half-way between a sauce and a dip, and very delicious, usually served with a combination of roasted or boiled beets, which can also be served with their greens sauteed in olive oil, lemon juice, and garlic. Here, I've made it with purple potatoes for a colorful dish that's great for a gathering.

I often speak about the connection between color and nutrition: the more colorful your plate, the better-balanced your nutritional intake will be. And we also eat with our eyes, so what better way to have a gorgeous, healthful meal than to "eat the rainbow" as it were? Beets help in bringing bright colors and their inherent vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants to the plate. Beets can range in color from pure white to golden to deep, dark burgundy. This dish pictured is a Moroccan-spiced salad of beets and carrots that have been roasted, peeled, and cubed. I used the carrot and beet greens to make a pesto to serve along the outer rim of the plated salad. This is an elegant appetizer, vegetarian-friendly, and nutritious and delicious. It checks all the boxes!

Chioggia beets, or "candycane" beets as they're nicknamed, are amazing, with concentric circles  visible as you slice through them, in brilliant crimson and white or pink. The liquid you get from cooking beets or marinating beets can be used to make countless beautifully-colored sauces and dishes. It's the great base for a magenta vinaigrette, and it makes one gorgeous pink aioli just perfect for a romantic Valentine's Day meal. You can still make that electric-colored borscht, which when updated seems very modern and in line with the popularity of Eastern and Northern European foods. You can still pickle eggs in the briny beet juice, which makes for very pretty deviled eggs.

As a vegan-friendly substitute to beef tartare, I often do a beet tartare, which is meaty and earthy and delicious. A beet-tahini dip served with crudite is also a great party hors d'oeuvre. And around Hanukkah, and in fact year round, an interesting version of potato latkes is the beet-and-carrot latke. And since veggie juicing has become so popular, and beets-and-vodka are a natural Eastern European pairing, you can even make your cocktails healthy: beautiful, vibrant beetini anyone? 

Beets are so versatile! You're really limited only by your own imagination...

Happy and healthy Valentine's Day, everyone! xoxo

DINING OUT: Antico Arco, ROME

I will always have my perennial favorite dining spots in Rome. Some are so inherently tied to wonderful meals with friends and loved ones that I will return, time and again, with fond memories. Some are casual trattorias and bars where we, our Roman crew, were regulars. Some were my local neighborhood joints. And others are more of the special occasion ilk, places to which I'd happily return as frequently as possible, but more realistically where I might dine once every year or two. Antico Arco is one of those beloved ristoranti in the last category.

The restaurant is situated at the top of the Gianicolo Hill above Trastevere, very near the American Academy of Rome and the Villa Aurelia (I used to spend a lot of time in this area, working, walking, swimming at a nearby hotel pool, etc., so I have many a memory tied to the immediate neighborhood). The space itself is unique. In this 19th century structure, there is a ground floor with a bar area upon entry and a long and narrow dining room, and an upstairs that used to seem like a cozy attic, but with a very tasteful, modern rehab several years back, it's now an elegant, airy space.

The restaurant was founded as a partnership between Patrizia Mattei, who studied for and dedicated herself to the creation of a fine dining establishment, along with her husband Maurizio Minore, and their friend Domenico Calio'. Their current chef is the talented Fundim Gjepali, Albanian by birth with culinary training under his belt in France, Spain, and Italy. He grasps Mediterranean flavors and Italian technique and brings a sophistication and eclecticism to Antico Arco's menu.

The Antico Arco wine cellar, storing some 20,000 bottles, is located in the catacombs of San Pancrazio which date to the 4th century AD. This cellar keeps the wines at a perfect temperature (both for aging/preserving but also for quaffing as soon as the bottle is brought to your table). The restaurant's wine list is an expansive one, and with 1200 labels, it's enviable for its depth of Italian varietals but features wines from all over the globe. I must admit I prefer to stay within the Italian peninsula when eating and drinking in Italy (with the occasional foreign invader!), and when in Rome, at a restaurant with an excellent wine list, I prefer to explore top local producers who might be under-appreciated, or whose varietals are lesser known. I put my trust in the hands of gifted somms who can bring interesting local wines to my attention, which is often how I find a new vino "obsession"!

Antico Arco cheese plate

As for the food at Antico Arco, you can select from an a la carte menu, or from the tasting menu. You can't lose with either option, and both types of menus allow you to sample from some of Antico Arco's most time-honored dishes, as well as the newest seasonal creations of the chef. Upon our last visit, we preferred to sit back and enjoy the tasting menu, so we didn't have to make many choices and could be a little, well, coddled. (Nothing wrong with that upon occasion!) We started off with the Crudo di ricciola (amberjack tartare) with ginger, lime, and puntarelle, that most Roman of winter veggies (shaved chicory stems). I love to start out any Mediterranean meal with a raw fish dish. It makes me happy and sets up a great meal to follow with a light, vibrant opener.

Our next course was another Antico Arco classic: a bright orange egg yolk nestled in a bed of creamy ricotta made to look like the egg white, studded with tones of black-and-white in cauliflower pieces and black truffle. The next dish was a chickpea soup with chestnuts flavored with anise and toasted rosemary breadcrumbs. My then-boyfriend (now husband) enjoyed this dish while I opted for a vegetable tart with melty toma cheese, as I try to avoid dishes featuring chestnuts and/or anise. It was a nice reprieve and nice of the chef to accommodate my rare-but-insistent whims! 

Then came the pasta course: another local classic of spaghetti alla carbonara, this time amped up with the delicious Verrigni pasta and lots of truffles, both cooked within the pasta sauce and shaved on top. It was rich and warming and exactly what a brisk Roman night was calling for. This was followed by a meat course of crispy-skinned duck, a foie gras medallion, and artichoke leaves: a dish more Roman than most people realize, but one that harks back to the days of the Roman empire, when it was traditional to eat game and their livers, which had been enriched by feeding the ducks and geese lots of local figs.

Artichokes are of course the current-day quintessential Roman vegetable. All of this was accompanied by wonderful white and red wines paired to perfection (I don't have a record of exactly which wines we were served, only that they were wonderful recommendations and that we left very happy)! We were also served a lovely cheese course before dessert -- a tradition that has waned in modern (lactose-intolerant) times, but one I thoroughly enjoy. Ours on this tasting menu was a "cannolo di caprino" -- a goat cheese cannolo that set the stage for the dessert of our choice to come.

Now, Antico Arco has been famous for a very long time for a dessert that has become pretty much ubiquitous the western world over...but that doesn't mean it's not completely worth it to get the dessert anyway. Yes, it's the molten chocolate cake. And yes, it's a winner. I don't care if squiggles of raspberry coulis are passe', either. I like them and they're the perfect accompaniment to the deep, melty dark chocolate of the warm cake. Its decadence is the perfect end to a great meal.The mini profiterole with chocolate filling on a pool of vanilla bean creme anglaise, and various sweet mignon didn't hurt, either. 

We called a taxi to take us home after dinner. As we headed down the Gianicolo hill at the end of the evening, we asked the driver to pull over for a moment as we passed the Fontanone, lit up and gurgling away. It was the perfect spot to get out of the car for a moment, to show off Rome to my boyfriend, and take in the breathtaking view of the city at midnight, its monuments aglow and it streets bathed in amber lights, traffic still clogging its ancient roads. It's hard in that moment not to fall in love -- with Rome, with each other, with Italian food and Italy in general. It's amazing what a great meal can do.

Antico Arco
Piazzale Aurelio 7  00152

Roma
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SEASONAL FOODS: Persimmon

I am a big fan of what many consider "exotic" fruit -- though nothing is terribly exotic considering that nowadays in New York City, we can find just about anything, from anywhere, if you now where to look. Perhaps it's better to say that some fruits are not yet "mainstream", or "everyday" fruits. Everyone knows what an orange, or a banana, or an apple looks like, tastes like. But the persimmon? There are a lot of people out there who are unsure what a persimmon even is (or if it's a fruit at all), much less how it tastes or how it's eaten. I'm here to declare that persimmons are great eating out-of-hand, but are also a wonderful ingredient in salads, in savory dishes, and for baking. It's worth getting to know these beauties. So, let's take a closer look at the versatile, brilliant persimmon, in season throughout late fall and into the winter.

There are two main categories of persimmons, generally speaking: hachiya and fuyu. The hachiya variety is acorn shaped, usually a deep or bright orange, and should only be eaten when ripe and soft (unripe, these guys are incredibly astringent and seem pretty, well, inedible, thanks to their high tannin content). The fuyu variety is more squat and round, can range in color from a pale orange or more golden hue to the bright orange of the hachiya variety, and can be eaten like an apple when it's more firm, even crisp, as it's much less astringent than the hachiya variety. Much like the tomato, persimmons are technically a berry in terms of botanical morphology, though most people don't lump them into the berry category with raspberries, blueberries and the like. (It's actually amazing how many foods are technically berries!) There is a third type cultivated in Japan, and prized for its rich brown flesh when ripe (instead of bright orange). "Chocolate persimmon" contains dark brown flesh within, the maru variety is sold as "cinnamon persimmon" for its spicy taste, and "brown sugar" is prized for its deep sweetness. A fourth variety, grown in Israel and known as the Sharon ("shah-RON") fruit, named after the Sharon plain in Israel, is the marketing name for the Triumph persimmon, an Israeli-bred cultivar. This variety has no seeds, is very sweet, and can be eaten whole. In Valencia, Spain, one can find a variety that's variegated called the Spanish persimon (one "m"), in Spanish called Ribera del Xuquer or Rojo Brillante. In Italian and Japanese, the persimmon shares the same name: kaki (pronounced more or less "cocky").

As you can probably guess from their varietal names, the persimmon is of Asian origin, native to Japan, China, Korea, Burma, and Nepal. Cultivation of the persimmon extended throughout east and south Asia, and was later introduced to southern Europe and California (they have similar growing climates) in the early 1800s, and to Brazil by the end of the 19th century. In Korea, the matured fermented fruit are used to make a persimmon vinegar called gamsikcho (I'm now obsessed with the idea of this vinegar!), and for hundreds of years, the Japanese have consumed persimmon leaf tea made from the dried kaki leaves. In the northwestern U.S., persimmons are a commonly-found ingredient in pies and various desserts, like persimmon pudding (baked to the consistency of pumpkin pie, but resembles more of a brownie), almost surely topped with whipped cream. And Mitchell, Indiana is the proud home to an annual persimmon festival. As for nutritional value? Persimmons are high in dietary fiber and some dietary minerals, and offer a significant source of vitamin C and iron. They are also, when ripe, high in glucose (that sweetness comes at a cost), so make note.  

Most importantly, how do we use the persimmon as a seasonal ingredient? I love baking with persimmons, in cakes and tarts in which the fruit holds its form and beautiful color, but I also love using its puree in cakes and cheesecakes, and frozen in ice cream or sorbet. You can whip up a great smoothie with persimmon flesh, and it's easy to transform into a jam or mostarda to spread on bread or to accompany a gorgeous cheese plate. But arguably the best way to enjoy the pure flavor of the persimmon flesh is to eat it out of hand -- or rather, by removing the green-brown stem of the fruit (if it's ripe, it should "unplug" to remove easily), and scooping out the tender, sweet flesh with a spoon. It's like a ready-made fruit custard. 

Beyond utilizing the fruit to finish a meal, I also like to incorporate the persimmon into savory preparations, as a counterpoint to sharper bitter or salty flavors. it works marvelously well in seasonal salads, like this Tuscan kale, feta, and persimmon salad with pomegranate and sunflower seeds. Dressed with a white balsamic-pomegranate vinaigrette, this salad hits all flavor and texture notes and is a nutritional fall or winter salad to boot. Move over, avocado toast! Toasted bread with a shmear of fresh ricotta, sliced persimmon, and cracked pepper is insanely good. The fruit even works in highly-spiced dishes, like a curry or a spicy salsa dressing for fish or meat. I love it in a winer ceviche too. Really, it's all about using this seasonal ingredient however you enjoy it most. The important thing is to try it, get used to its flavor, and soon the "exotic" persimmon will become for you, as it is for me, an everyday winter food love affair!