30 AMERICANWAY
DECEMBER 1 2008
R O M E
onemenu. Indeed, the very same antipasti
items you’d find at Enoteca Trastevere can
be found at
L’Antica Enoteca (Via Della
Croce, 76; 011-39-06-679-0896)
, a wine
bar just, ah, steps from the Spanish Steps.
While sipping an eight-euro, or about $10,
glass of Brunello di Montalcino, a highly
respected Tuscan red, and watching some
German touristsorderbypointing, Idecide
tobreakout theonly Italian I know— food
Italian. I order pomodori secchi, funghi
ripieni, and carciofi sott’olio with fluency.
But I get hung upwhenmywife insists on
deviled eggs.
Still, there areplentyof exceptions to the
singularity of the food served inRome, and
many of those exceptions are now found
in the city’s wine bars, where small and in-
creasingly innovative dishes rule. Indeed,
newwine bars are opening all over the city,
many of which look and feel nothing like
theirpredecessors.
Among the avant-garde types is
Enoteca
Ferrara (Piazza Trilussa, 41; 011-39-06-
583-33920)
, a slick, modern operation in
Trastevere that would be at home inMan-
hattan or San Francisco. Ferrara began as
a high-end wine bar. Today, after several
expansions, it’s as much a restaurant as it
is a bar. And it is popular — impressively
popular. It tookmemultiple attempts over
successivenights just tofind anopeningon
one of its tall metal stools. The wine list is
immenseand the foodau courant. Ferrara’s
successhas inspired theopeningof similar-
ly swanky wine bars across Rome, and the
new venues treat wine and foodwithmore
solemnity than the enotecheof old.
Thethingaboutthat, though, isIcouldn’t
care less. Imean, good for theRomanswho
wantsomethingotherthantheoldstandbys.
But IcangetRiedel stemwareandbrushed-
metal bar stools and a “wine philosophy”
— and the high prices that go along with
all that — at pretty much every U.S. wine
bar I’ve ever been to. What I can’t usually
find in theStates, though, is the Italianway
with wine: informal and not intimidating.
Take
Vin Allegro (Piazza Giuditta Tavani
Arquati, 114; 011-39-06-589-5802)
, for in-
stance, a homey space lit by large candles
and featuring an assortment of dusty game
boards—backgammon, chess, and soon—
scatteredabout.Thiswasmy last enoteca to
visit before leaving Rome. So I went for a
glass of Barolo, a red from Piedmont that
is arguably Italy’s best style of wine. It cost
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